Melbourne Angels

Melbourne Angels are the most active startup investor in Victoria, one of the most active in Australia. Melbourne Angels is an award-winning Angel group, our members are men and women passionate about supporting start-up founders to build great companies that change the world for the better and deliver superior exits. As a member-led, non-profit association, our members do the work. You will be engaging directly with experienced business people, sophisticated investors, all passionate to help you succeed. Rapid growth, high-value businesses are the core engine of national economic growth and the most effective pathway to introduce disruptive new technologies and business models. Melbourne Angels choose companies with the potential to be sustainable, scalable, and successful businesses with strong exit appeal. We expect a validated proof-of-product/service poised for rapid growth. We choose ventures for which we have the experience and expertise to help optimize outcomes. We invest in a variety of business models and sectors using the following guidelines, understanding that your business need not match every criterion. Investment Criteria -Geography Prefer Victoria, will consider elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand. Out of state and international opportunities are best introduced to us by an Angel group/investor interested in the deal and local to the company. -Stage Seed and beyond. At a minimum, you have a working prototype, have done substantial customer discovery, know what your business model will be, and have started to explore your distribution channels. -Market Opportunity and Scalability Our attention is taken by ventures with a large, accessible market opportunity with a demonstrated demand for your solution, or a clear potential for disruptive market entry. You’ll have a business strategy with a credible plan to acquire a significant market share and grow revenue to $20m+ within 3-5 years. -Funding This round will buy 20% of the company as a full-priced round for a new class of shares. We expect to invest $100k-$500k per round and can leverage our networks to syndicate the opportunity but, will only ever do that with your permission – it’s your company. Pre-money valuations for Melbourne Angels seed rounds typically range from $1m to $2.5m. For more on valuation read our post. -Exit We expect you to have given this some thought. Our preference is for an all-cash trade sale that delivers at least a 10x return on our investment within 5-8 years based on the strategic value of the business to the acquirer. -Team Our ideal team is ethical, honest, passionate, driven, energetic, talented, and deeply experienced in the most relevant aspects of the business including the target market and sustainable differentiation enablers. We value diversity of thinking, relevant track record and look for a team that inspires others while being open to benefiting from the input provided by our Angel investors. We expect all our companies to have an employee ownership participation scheme and that an adequate provision for that will be made from the equity pool before we invest. -Business Model We are open to most business models. Our most successful companies have been deploying technology-enabled solutions and/or technology/products to business customers. -Competition and Competitive Advantage We get most interested in companies that demonstrate a deep understanding of their customers and competitors. Demonstrable and sustainable differentiation that delivers a clear and compelling value proposition for each stakeholder in your distribution channel starting with your customer (the one who actually pays you) and out to the end-user. -Intellectual Property At the heart of your unfair competitive advantage will be your intellectual property. We don’t need you to have patents, although the potential to acquire patents is desirable to enhance the exit strategy. Intellectual property is likely the key to early market entry and your initial competitive differentiation. -Technology We prefer to invest in first-of-a-kind new ideas, rather than incremental enhancements to common products and services. Is this a nice-to-have, or a need-to-have product or service? While highly complex, esoteric technologies demand caution, if the concept behind the technology is proven and verifiable we like breakthrough innovations with a strong business plan and comprehensive Go To Market plan.