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Westpac's Reinventure adds Silicon Valley muscle

Westpac’s Reinventure adds Silicon Valley muscle

(15 March 2017 – Australia) Westpac-backed venture capital group Reinventure has added Silicon Valley veteran Kara Frederick as a general partner.

The venture capital fund, in which Westpac has invested A$100 million, said the appointment would assist the fintech’s portfolio companies to expand into the large US market.

Frederick will join co-founders Danny Gilligan and Simon Cant to drive the firm forward. Gilligan said Frederick would add “diversity of opinion, experience and perspective”, which was critical to investing.

“Kara’s addition as the third partner will significantly build our capacity to support founders looking to expand into the US and ultimately find a US acquirer,” Cant added.

“Our partnership also now better reflects an increasingly diverse founder community, including an equal mix of male and female led start-ups in our second fund,” he said.

Frederick, who has worked in New York (for Goldman Sachs), San Francisco and Sydney, said Australia’s market was “coming of age” and rather than replicating Silicon Valley could excel in “areas that are natural strengths”.

“The high quality of founder talent, combined with the demand for fintech solutions at scale in market and beyond, means that Australia is well positioned to be a centre of excellence globally for fintech,” she said.

“Reinventure’s model, being an independent venture capital fund with the backing of ... ­Westpac, is differentiated in the market. (It) has the capital and expertise to help the fintech ­sector.”

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