“Quicklook” Assessment of Greater Adelaide's Assets & Challenges ...

Vic. 204 31.3 598 24.1
Qld. 43 6.6 210 8.5
WA. 66 10.1 137 5.5
SA 16 2.6 46 1.9
Overseas 56 8.6 284 11.4
Other 21 3.2 41 1.7
Total 651 100 2,480 100
‘Other’ includes Tasmania, Northern Territory, and Australian Capital Territory.
Location was determined by using the post code of the head office of the enterprise.
• Based on Bureau of Statistics’ data, only 5 of the 16 investee companies were
from the areas of IT, Media, Electronics and/or Communications. These 5
accounted for $10M of the $46M invested. There were no Biotech or
Pharmaceutical investee companies.
• The PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report points out that a larger percentage of
Australian venture capital comes from superannuation funds (38% in 1999 x ) as
compared to the US (30% in 1999) and Europe (24% in 1998).
Quotes
Notable quotes:
• ‘Adelaide gets 2% of Australia's VC funding.’
• ‘70% - 80% of VC funds come from Sydney.’
• ‘There is a need for local seed stage money.’ Otherwise, ‘Adelaide will always be
a feeder to Sydney and Melbourne.’
• ‘Adelaide is more risk averse than Sydney or Melbourne.’
• ‘The [potential] angel investment community is hesitant to invest; they don't
understand the investments...it's not a question of adequate return.’
• ‘Adelaide's wealth is in real estate, and not entrepreneurial schemes.’
• ‘Investors are not organized.’
• ‘The culture has been about creating good employees, not creating job seekers.’
• ‘VC money will go where there are good business opportunities.’
• ‘You need to be born global.’
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