Hi everyone,
Reflecting on the year that was, we’re thankful for our TEN13 community of founders, investors, and the wider ecosystem. It’s been incredible to see the continued energy from all pushing towards year-end, the startup ecosystem remains vibrant despite the tough macro environment.
A reminder about who we are:
We're building out Australia & New Zealand's largest syndicated venture capital platform, with 500+ investors made up of early employees, execs, and founders of some of the world's most exciting companies.
If you are excited about investing in global startup companies alongside us and our investors then you can sign up here (AUS/NZ Sophisticated investors only).
The year in stats 🧮
💸 $29m invested this year
👨👩👧👦 14 new companies joined the TEN13 family
🌎 22 rounds of funding into companies on 4 continents
💥 All up, we've invested just shy of $80m (37% behind female founders) since launch, fuelling 40 companies and backed our deep network of 500+ investors
🎥 For more, watch our annual video wrap below!
Runway Conference 📣
What a way to end the year. The team is finishing 2022 on a high after an incredible Runway Conference. Runway is the premier event on our calendar and brings together hundreds of founders, investors, and operators to celebrate our local startup scene in Brisbane, Australia. Filled with panels and keynotes throughout the day before progressing into the Touchdown Party after sunset, it was a perfect blend of insights and a good time to see off the year that was.
The afternoon kicked off with Kim Teo and Adrian Osman from Mr Yum, and included panels on the Future of Work and the new AI wave with the launches of GPTChat and GPT-3, before closing with Queensland’s own Luke Anear from Safety Culture. Wedged into the middle, acting as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up was the incredibly energetic Dean Boxall; the Australian Olympic swim coach made famous by that reaction.
For those who couldn’t join us, here is the 12-hour day compressed into 2 minutes below. Stay tuned, we’ll be revealing the date for our 4th annual Runway Conference and Touchdown Party early next year.
Founders Conference 💃
Last month we took the opportunity to unite our founders for a retreat in the Queensland bush. Over 30 portfolio company founders, their teams, and other builders from across Australia joined us for two days to unwind, connect, break-bread, and hear from some incredible minds.
Joined by guest speakers retelling their own founder stories of triumphs and failures, and even Wayne Bennett (Rugby League coach) for a fireside chat on high performance, we hope our founders left feeling inspired.
New to the TEN13 Portfolio ⚡️
Autograb 🚗
AutoGrab is building the most advanced automotive market pricing and intelligence platform; disrupting the traditionally opaque auto industry by creating visibility, transparency, and accuracy in vehicle pricing. We’re thrilled to be supporting Daniel Werzberger and Chris Gardner as they reshape the auto sales market; and ensure fair pricing for all players in the process. Find out exactly why we invested in our investment notes here or find out more from the AFR.
Partly 🔩
Staying in the auto space, we’re delighted to announce our investment in Partly. Partly is building the 'one API to rule them all' to power the US$1.9tn Global Auto Parts market by building a mapping and cataloging system which will match every car part to all of the possible vehicles which can accept it, globally.
A huge congratulations to the all-star team led by Levi Fawcett, Evan Jia, Mark Song and Nathan Taylor. You can read our full investment notes here or find out more about the round in TechCrunch here.
Kippa 💰
With our push to invest wider across continents, we’re excited to take part in one of Africa’s largest Seed rounds with Kippa co-investing with Goodwater Capital, Rocketship VC, Saison Capital, and more.
Kippa raised US$8.4m in funding to build simple banking & bookkeeping for micro-businesses across the continent. You can read more here in Techcrunch.
What happening in the portfolio 🛫
Chipper Cash acquires Zoona, Ham Serunjogi recognised by Forbes
Expanding into Zambia, Chipper Cash completed an acquisition of Zoona. Zoona has facilitated over US$3b in payments since its 2008 launch. It’s an important step for Chipper who is continuing to expand their operations right across the continent in their effort to offer accessible financial services to all.
This comes just a few weeks before Forbes announced their ‘30 under 30’ list. Founder Ham Serunjogi was recognised in the Forbes Finance list for 2023, joined an elite suite of rising stars in finance, including NuBank’s David Velez. A huge congratulations to Ham.
Pearler crosses $500m in assets
Pearler, our ‘boring’ investment platform, has passed A$500m in assets. While trading and making a quick buck may have been in vogue in markets recently, Pearler’s passive investment model, committed to long-term gains is paying off as markets mellow out. Read more on why over 65,000 investors are part of the ‘get rich slow’ club and what makes Pearler stand out in this article by the AFR.
Carted Elements is live
Carted is on a mission to change the way we shop online. Their latest release, Carted Elements, is the first step towards turning any site into an ecommerce site. Their new plugin can be installed on any website and redefines the traditional affiliate marketing model, allowing the shopping experience to occur without leaving the page. Read more about it, or even try it for yourself here and Holly's yearly wrap here.
Mr Yum in Forbes
Kim Teo, founder and CEO of Mr Yum, spoke to Forbes Australia earlier this month on their journey from a failed recipe marketplace, to a 9 figure success story changing the hospitality industry globally. Definitely worth a read as Kim describes the ups and downs of a founder’s journey.
Payhippo acquires Maritime Microfinance Banks
It’s been a busy few months for acquisitions in African FinTech. Payhippo, a credit business for African SMEs, completed their purchase of Nigeria’s Maritime Microfinance Bank. The acquisition primarily brings Payhippo closer to Nigeria’s Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS), allowing for quicker, more efficient fund flows.
TEN13 visits Nigeria 🇳🇬
Getting boots on the ground in one of our investment markets, Stew visited Lagos, Nigeria in mid December for a week. Visiting the teams of portfolio companies Chipper Cash, Kippa, PayHippo, and ImaliPay.
Stew also met with dozens of founders and operators in a packed schedule. Stay tuned as Stew releases more specific insights from his trip.
TEN13 around Australia
Over the last few months, TEN13 has travelled right across the country, spending time and hosting events in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Darwin.
It was a pleasure to host our founders and investors at our “Sunset Drinks” alongside Our Innovation Fund in Darlinghurst for an evening to unwind during Sunrise Festival.
Moreover, Steve Baxter and Alex Grigg played an active role in Perth’s West Tech Fest last week. Earlier this year we also visited Adelaide and Darwin. Keep an eye out for our events as we continue to connect with founders and investors in all corners of Australia. We are committed to investing time across the country, not just the big coastal cities.
10x10
10x10 is an incredible organisation raising millions for the most innovative grassroots charities around the world. Hosting Shark Tank Style pitch night, 3 local organisation pitch to a panel of judges. All attendees can then choose which charity to pledge their ticket cost too.
In September, TEN13 hosted the first Brisbane based 10x10 event (yes, it can be a tongue twister). We invited Brisbane-based eWaste Connection, This Is A Conversation Starter (TIACS) and Friends with Dignity to the stage to pitch to three all-star panel of our very own Steve Baxter, Tyler Miscannon, and Nicholas Marchesi.
In all, over $180k was raised on the night for the three charities. A massive thank you to all our guests for their generosity.
What we’re consuming
- Stew Glynn on The High Flyers Podcast - Our Managing Partner, Stew Glynn, appeared on the High Flyers Podcast, sharing his journey from Harare in Zimbabwe to investing right across the globe at TEN13.
- Building the India Stack: UPI, Aadhar & Data Empowerment - Former founder of Infosys Nandan Nilekani talks the world leading payments system India has unrolled over the last few years. For anyone reading from India, Seamus will be in Bengaluru in February next year. Reach out if you’d like to catch up talk startups and investing.
- Howard Marks - Sea Change - One of the greater fund managers of all time, Howard Marks presents his view we may be in the third 'sea change' of his career; a complete transformation in how markets, economies and the world operate.
Hiring across the portfolio
💸 Pearler is hiring across product, data and engineering
🎶 Audience Republic is hiring for 15 roles including a Head ofEngineering.
🛒 Carted has 3 positions open: a Sr Golang Engineer, an Engineering Manager and a Technical Writer.
📕 Bookipi has 10 roles open on the Dev, Design and Product side of the business.
💰 Glider is hiring a DevOps and Senior Engineer as well as a Sales Director.
🤩 Amplified Intelligence hiring across Product, DevOps, & Software.
👡 Preezie is hiring in Ops and Sales roles.
🚗 Autograb has 3 brand new roles including a Chief Digital Officer.