)
Melbourne-based private markets platform FB Ventures is launching Australia’s first venture capital fund of funds for retail investors that is aimed at giving access to venture capital opportunities previously unavailable to everyday investors.
The fund of funds, which has been backed by a grant from LaunchVic, will target investments in venture capital funds across the investment sector, which FB Ventures says will provide broad exposure and diversification via a range of high-performing venture capital managers and the startups they back.
With the fund available to both wholesale and retail investors, FB Ventures co-founder Anna Nedbaylova says the initiative is about “democratising access to venture capital” to enable wealth creation for a wider group of Australians.
“FB Ventures’ Retail Fund of Funds offers retail investors previously unobtainable access to high-growth startups by investing across a diversified portfolio of leading VC funds, while also lowering the barriers to entry for wholesale investors,” she says.
“Direct startup investing can be risky due to illiquidity and concentration. Our structure offers a more considered entry point by investing through top-tier, professionally managed VC funds that provide diversification, governance oversight, and disciplined investment processes.”
FB Ventures’ Retail Fund of Funds is not a traditional VC fund, with the platform built to leverage the broader ecosystem to unlock a “vast cohort” of new investors and driving more capital into the startup space.
The private markets platform says the goal is to strengthen the Australian startup and venture capital ecosystem while providing VC managers with a new pool of capital.
“This model opens a new funding channel for VC funds, allowing them to broaden their investor base without increasing the administrative burden” says FB Ventures co-founder Richard Mulligan.
“Think of us as a new institutional investor for VC funds. We act as the professional intermediary - managing the compliance, investor relations and onboarding - so VC managers can focus on investing.”
FB Ventures was founded in 2023 as a private markets platform designed to provide startups with broader and more flexible access to capital and investors with access to increased options for both retail and wholesale.
Unlike traditional platforms focused only on public equity crowdfunding or wholesale syndicates, FB Ventures combines multiple capital raising formats including equity crowdfunding, private syndicates, equity roll-ups and wholesale and retail offers.
The platform says that with the new Retail Fund of Funds it aims to lower the barriers to entry and open access for retail investors, adding that that FB Ventures is also committed to “full transparency around the risks, including the illiquid nature of venture capital investing".
“We’re seeing a growing level of sophistication among retail investors who want to access venture opportunities,” says Nedbaylova.
“But right now, most Australians are excluded because these investments are limited to institutions and high-net-worth individuals with at least $2.5 million in assets or $250,000 in annual income.
“Our vision is to create an inclusive space where every investor looking to diversify into private markets and venture capital can find a home and where every VC fund looking to raise capital can participate.”
)
