Alternative investment manager, Artesian Venture Partners (Artesian) and KPMG Australia (KPMG) have struck up an alliance with the aim of engaging the corporate sector with the Australian startup industry.
KPMG will give support by providing capital over the next 5 years, in exchange for jointly commercialising the accumulated data of the venture, encompassing up to 1000 investee companies over the next five years, in order to assist KPMG's research into the untapped startup sector.
Head of Innovation for KPMG Australia, Martin Sheppard, said, "although there is a lot of buzz around startups, including strong corporate interest, little actual research has been done on the sector. Our data has the potential to play an important role in unlocking entrepreneurial potential in Australia. This alliance is an incredibly exciting opportunity".
Artesian Partner and COO, Tim Heasley commented on the shift from mining to financial services, cementing a new report revealing financial services is Australia's fastest growing industry.
"The alliance with KPMG will allow the engagement of corporates in the startup ecosystem as customers, partners or potential acquirers and will help startups and technology become a substantial industry, as we move away from a reliance on mining and resources," he said.
KPMG hopes the alliance will enhance its own innovation, integration and advisory services, increase mergers and aquisitions activity with Australian entrepreneurs, and increase capability to analyse data and develop research models to better understand the startup sector and its trajectory.
"Proactively engaging with Australia's startup ecosystem is critical to our innovation strategy. It will expose us and our clients to new growth opportunities; provide early insights into emerging and disruptive technologies, and help us and our clients stay ahead of the curve. Combined with our Fintech work and other initiatives to be announced over coming months, it will position KPMG as an authority in this dynamic sector," Sheppard concluded.
Artesian currently manages funds for Sydney Angels, BlueChilli, ilab (University of Queensland), iAccelerate (University of Wollongong) and Slingshot (Newcastle), via its a co-investment model that allows the quick scaling up of its investment portfolio by outsourcing the selection, mentoring and due diligence of start ups to specialist partners.
