Burgeoning innovation culture an opportunity for investors: Equitise

Australia may lag behind Silicon Valley when it comes to start-up culture, but the growing space is presenting increasing opportunities, an equity crowdfunding company has said.

Chris Gilbert, managing director and co-founder of Equitise, which facilitates investment in start-ups and businesses, told Nest Egg that while Australia isn’t quite at the level of Israel, the UK or the US when it comes to innovation, Australia’s “evolving” landscape supplies opportunities.

Responding to questioning around whether Australia lacked a strong business mindset, as Bernard Salt has previously opined, Mr Gilbert said, “I think that it definitely is true to a certain extent.

“It was far more true when I was getting in to the start-up environment myself working at Deloitte about six years ago.”

However, the days of considering start-ups a risky move are “definitely gone”, he said, pointing to the amount of money funnelled into venture capital.

“There has been a bunch of venture capital funds starting over the last three or four years and we’ve got $2 billion worth of new capital being allocated by superannuation funds and various other funding mechanisms going in to venture capital,” Mr Gilbert said.

“So the factor of risk around [start-ups] and not innovating has definitely changed.”

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Source: Burgeoning innovation culture an opportunity for investors: Equitise | Nest Egg