When Maxine Minter launched Co Ventures as Australia’s first solo female GP fund, she expected others would follow.
After all, only five funds in the country regularly deploy capital at the pre-seed and seed stages, and around 40% of the early-stage market is funded by international investors. Co Ventures remains the only specialist pre-seed fund — what Minter calls "a deeply uncompetitive market".
"I have been a little bit surprised that no one has since we launched," she told Capital Brief. "There's a bunch of really excellent investors in Australia — be they angel investors or principal talent in Australian funds that are looking up and around. There's huge amounts of talent in those groups that I think could build really compelling funds."
"Do I think other women could do what I have? Categorically, yes."
As Capital Brief reported on Tuesday, many women are leaving VC for coveted operational roles at startups, exhausted by limited advancement opportunities and the burden of acting as diversity advocates.
