Westpac increases investment in venture capital firm Reinenture
(5 August 2016 – Australia) Reinventure, a venture capital firm backed by Australian bank Westpac, has debuted its second fund with total capital investment of A$50 million.
In a similar manner to Reinventure’s first fund in 2014, the new fund is backed by Westpac, bringing the Australian bank’s aggregate capital commitment to Reinveture to A$100 million.
Reinventure’s co-founders Danny Gilligan and Simon Cant also participated, committing an undisclosed amount into the second fund. Cant and Gilligan are also retaining control of this second fund via the “early stage venture capital limited partnership” structure.
According to Gilligan, approximately 50 percent of capital in the first fund has been deployed, with the remainder being committed to follow-on investments in portfolio companies. These include bitcoin marketplace Coinbase and peer-to-peer (P2P) lender SocietyOne.
Gilligan states that the new fund will adopt a similar investment strategy as the first, leveraging on experiences gained from the first fund to target investments in fintech companies tackling credit, security, identity, data and trust.
With a focus on seed and Series A investments, Reinventure will be selecting those startup ventures that could collaborate with and complement Westpacs’ array of banking services, with an emphasis on strong founding teams, market traction and the ability to dominate a market segment.
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