Australian VCs tread carefully amid Trump’s tariff turbulence
Airtree, Main Sequence and other Australian VCs are encouraging their portfolios to focus on runway and profitability as they anticipate a bumpy ride ahead.
The ripple effects of Donald Trump’s turbulent trade policies are being felt by Australia’s venture capitalists, who are likening the uncertainty to the chaos of COVID.
While the tariffs introduced — and then softly walked back — by Trump are largely aimed at physical goods, Airtree partner James Cameron said Australia’s software developers shouldn’t be complacent.
"No founder should ever underestimate the broader disruption they [tariffs] can trigger," Cameron said. "If you're running a software startup and your customers (or your customers' customers) sell physical goods, you should be prepared for increased churn risk, longer sales cycles, and tightening budgets — similar to what we saw in the early COVID period."
There is, however, a silver lining. Cameron noted that Covid, while chaotic, also created fertile ground for startup growth.
