The CNMV has given the green light to the launch of a new fund – the third – from Seville-based fund manager Austral Venture. Austral Venture Pyme SCR will focus on investing in technology startups and scalable businesses, with a target fund size of up to €5 million. With this vehicle, the fund manager founded by Jaime Ventura, plans to invest in a range of between 20 and 40 startups, especially in the south of Spain, focused on early stages, with investment tickets of up to €80,000 and the possibility of follow-on on future rounds.
This vehicle is in addition to asset management in two vehicles worth €300 million in the renewables sector, with the aim of expanding the possibilities for investors and family offices seeking to diversify their sources of return beyond renewable energy, and to add value to start-ups and growing companies. Although the formalisation is taking place now, the fund manager has been analysing potential transactions for months.
Austral’s team focuses on Andalusian projects and will be looking for excellent management teams, since, as Jaime Ventura, one of its founders, explains, ‘success in these phases is always determined by the team. Only a team of exceptional people is capable of reacting to the complex problems faced by early-stage companies. In addition to capital, we focus on bringing them closer to experienced entrepreneurs who are willing to help. The fund manager has been supporting entrepreneurship in Seville for years through the Entrepreneurship Ideas Competition of the University of Seville, where the fund has already ‘fished’ for investments such as Biomixing.
Manuel Ibáñez, interim manager and consultant to Andalusian startups, has joined the management team, made up of former executives from Everwood and Santander. ‘Having a close relationship and involving our investors beyond the financial aspect, being a channel to connect entrepreneurs with potential clients and supporting them in what they need for their management is key to continue adding successes in the management company,’ said Ibáñez.
Andalusian companies Oritia & Boreas, Biomixing, Zonox, Caplex and ZVQ, and Madrid-based companies Hirint and nTeaser will be the first 8 investees of the vehicle, which has already disbursed or committed a total of €350,000.
