MA Growth Ventures

We support companies led by amazing founders and management teams with the knowledge and aspiration to succeed.

Ocean

Overview

We invest in growth-stage Australian businesses. Since 2016, we have provided over $600 million of growth capital to support more than 40 companies.

For our investors, we have realised over $400 million in exit proceeds at an average return above 20% p.a.1

We are part of the Asset Management division of MA Financial Group (ASX:MAF).

Our investment philosophy

We believe successful businesses are built by people - founders and executives - with insight and aspiration to succeed. It requires expertise, focus and persistence.

Our investment philosophy centres on partnership, alignment and mutual trust with founders and leadership teams, combined with a shared belief in the potential of a business.

We support companies across a broad range of sectors, with particular focus on companies which:

  • generate repeatable revenues and margins from a diverse client base
  • leverage technology and innovation to build and maintain a competitive advantage
  • demonstrate a track record of growth; and
  • include founders and executives as shareholders.

We support the businesses in which we invest with capital, connectivity, experience, and assistance. To do this effectively we focus on businesses based, or with significant operations, in Australia.

Our typical first investments range from $5-$30 million and we aim to support future capital needs as the business itself grows.

As part of the MA Financial Group and through our relationship with Moelis & Company, we can facilitate access to professionals with expertise in investment, corporate and capital markets advice, equities research and sales both domestically and internationally.2

Our portfolio

Current and past 

13 sick logo with 13 in aqua and sick in navy capitals.
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Ansarada logo written in black with apple green A made up of shapes before wordmark.
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Apera Hotels logo with capital A in brown above.
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Avena communities logo with green circle filled with thumbprint pattern.
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Avoka logo written in black with inverted orange V above word.
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CartonCloud logo. Blue box package with white cloud on side.
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CitrusAd logo written with Citrus in black and Ad in apple green. A green circle before the C.
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Clinical Genomics logo written in black. Double helix shape before writting. One strand black becoming a person . The other strand coloured blue.
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Cloudwave logo written in black with CW made up of rainbow colours.
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comestri logo in blue. Icon outline of a blue person.
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Demyst logo written in indigo with lines and dots indicating network.
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DG tek logo with words fibre network written underneath.
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Blue DR with superscript 2 with thick green line underneath the 2.
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Ed Camps logo written in orange with a green tent before Ed.
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How too logo. An aqua vertical stroke with a pink and yellow dot and top and bottom beside stroke.
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Infin8care logo. 8 is enlarged and coloured in blues and greens.
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Liquid instruments logo with blue ripple and water droplet illustration.
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Paisley park logo. A brown tree with leaves made up of paisley shaped leaves.
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Pendula logo written in black.
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Quantum brilliance logo with blue diamond shape and lines ending in circles to indicate networks.
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ROKT logo written in black with arm/leg of k in fuschia.
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SafetyCulture logo written in black with line underneath made up of purple/blue/yellow.
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Shippit in purple written with a purple shape to the left.
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Smart sparrow logo written in grey.
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Sonder logo in mid blue. Blue circle with white sideways S in front.
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Sparesbox logo written in black with orange top half of O in box and blue lower half.
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Splend logo written in purple.
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Tel Aviv Stock Exchange logo in navy blue.
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Upstream written in blue
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Valiant logo in black with outline of a lion.
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Vault logo. Vault in black with yellow underline.
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Meet the team

Alex Mount Headshot
Alex Mount
Executive Director
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Alex is an Executive Director within MA Growth Ventures. He has over a decade of experience in investing, M&A, capital markets and special situations advisory. He joined MA Growth Ventures after a five-year stint in the investment banking division of MA Financial.

Alex’s favourite part of his role is getting to meet and work with exceptional founders and teams, supporting their growth journeys, and trying to help them solve tough problems. Away from work Alex tries to stay active by doing spin classes or going for walks with his wife Jacky and dog Ajax. He is a golf and cricket tragic, loves cooking, travelling and is a keen skier. 

Daniel Ezekiel Headshot
Daniel Ezekiel
Legal
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Daniel is a Senior Legal Counsel at MA Financial with over 10 years of legal experience. Prior to joining MA, Daniel was a senior associate at MinterEllison where he advised private equity and venture capital clients on a wide range of transactional and advisory matters.

He assists the MA Growth Ventures team on a variety of legal matters across the MA funds and portfolio companies. Daniel spent time studying abroad in Belgium, enjoys travelling and is an avid golfer.

Daniel Hudson Headshot
Daniel Hudson
Investment Team
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Dan is an Investment Manager in the MA Growth Ventures team, having joined in 2021. He has five years' experience in principle investment, M&A, special situations and restructuring.

Dan is passionate about solving complex problems and learning about new and interesting businesses, technologies, and trends. Dan studied a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Finance and Accounting which included a semester abroad to Uppsala, Sweden.

In his spare time, Daniel is an avid cyclist, runner and skier and enjoys reading and eating anything spicy.

Erin Donohoe
Finance
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Erin has 10 years experience Funds Management finance experience, Erin joined MA in 2010 as a Financial Accountant prior to joining the Asset Management division of MA Financial Group. Erin is currently a Senior Finance Manager for the Equity and Private Equity asset classes.

Prior to joining MA Financial Group, Erin worked as a financial accountant at BCP Accountants and Business Advisors. Erin holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from the University of Western Sydney and is a fully qualified member of CPA Australia.

Aside from working with numbers, Erin loves riding her bicycle through Centennial Park in the early mornings and searching for Sydney’s best coffee and almond Croissant on weekends.

Hannah Morrow Headshot
Hannah Morrow
Legal
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Hannah is Legal Counsel assisting MA Growth Ventures. With 7 years M&A, Private Equity and Venture Capital experience, Hannah has worked both in private practice most recently at Ashurst, and then as in house counsel for Artesian Ventures before joining MA Financial Group.

Hannah’s experience advising both investors and start-ups through the capital raising process means she is uniquely placed to bring a pragmatic approach to completing investments. For her, the best part of the job is meeting founders, hearing about exciting new ideas, and working together with the deal team to complete transactions which can kick growth companies into the next gear.

Outside of work, Hannah loves attending live events be it sports, theatre or music, is an avid reader, and can otherwise often be found swimming or sunning (when we used to see sun) on or near Sydney’s best beach, Manly.

Jaron Yuen Headshot
Jaron Yuen
Managing Director
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Jaron has been an investor and partner of private businesses for 25 years. He has invested and managed over $5 billion in private equity and private credit across diverse sectors including software, communications, data, renewables, energy, transport, public utilities, and social care.

Before MA Growth Ventures, he held roles at UBS, Citigroup, ABN AMRO and Lend Lease and spent too long abroad in London and Amsterdam. He has an economics degree and was admitted as an actuary a long time ago.

Jaron enjoys bicycle commuting and Sunday dim sum. He would love to travel more, wake up late, get a puppy, and spend more quality time with his wife and three children.

Myles Gunter Headshot
Myles Gunter
Investment Team
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Myles is an Investment Director within MA Growth Ventures and joined MA Financial in 2016. Myles has over 10 years’ asset management, corporate finance, and advisory experience.

Prior to MA Growth Ventures, Myles held roles at Ernst & Young (transaction advisory) and PPB Advisory (restructuring). Currently, Myles is a board member of Apera Hotels.

Born and raised on a farm in country NSW, Myles long ago swapped his RM’s for a city life. Myles loves keeping fit at the gym, cooking and playing the guitar and piano. In the warmer months you might see him at Bondi attempting to surf.

Will Botha
Will Botha
Managing Director
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Will has been part of the MA Financial family since 2015, originally working in the investment banking division before pursuing his interest in growth companies at MA Growth Ventures from 2017.

He previously spent time in the transaction advisory division of Ernst & Young in Adelaide where he became a Chartered Accountant and followed the South Australian trend towards heavy red varietals.

Will enjoys travel and has spent time living in Cape Town whilst completing his commerce degree. On the weekend you will find Will chasing down a local tennis court booking, walking the dog in Centennial Park, absorbing too much Netflix or catching the latest AFL game.

Peter Nicolaou Headshot
Peter Nicolaou
Investment Team
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Peter is an Investment Executive within MA Growth Ventures, having joined in 2021. He has five years’ experience in assurance, transactions, and operational integration advisory, previously at Ernst & Young.

Peter is involved in our venture capital, operating real estate and private equity strategies and is responsible for origination, management, and value maximisation in our growing Australian companies. He has a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance and Accounting.

Away from work, Peter enjoys the odd round of golf, game of tennis or days out on the water, fishing when weather permits. 

Richard Barresi Headshot
Richard Barresi
Executive Director
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Richard has been an investor and partner of private businesses for 20 years. He has domestic and international markets experience, with significant experience in infrastructure and real estate sectors.

Richard previously spent time at Hastings Infrastructure, NSW Land Registry Services, Sydney Desalination Plant, Port of Portland, Ballarat Water, RBC and KPMG. Richard is a qualified Chartered Accountant and is a GAICD.

Richard enjoys a bicycle commute, always ready to let the team know that he has logged a workout on his Apple Watch. He enjoys spending quality time with his wife and two children. Having completed the Camino de Santiago and spending a considerable time overseas, Richard has plenty of stories to share.

Richard Du Headshot
Richard Du
Investment Team
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Richard is an Investment Manager and has been with MA Growth Ventures since 2019 and has worked with high growth companies from first raise to exit.

He was previously a management consultant with Venture Consulting (Altman Solon) helping Aussie and Kiwi tech, media and telco businesses develop their growth strategies. Prior to that, he spent time with Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division across Asia Pacific.

On the weekend, you might find Richard playing video games online or offline at your local noodle joint. Richard has previously made short films and is still working on his cinematic magnum opus.

Amelia Hill Headshot
Amelia Hill
Senior Advisor
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Amelia is a senior advisor to the MA Growth Ventures team, assisting with new investments and as an advisor to existing portfolio companies, particularly ahead of further capital rounds or exits.

Amie brings a wealth of corporate advisory and capital raising knowledge to the team, with her most recent roles leading Equity Capital Markets at MA Moelis Australia (the corporate advisory and equities division at MA Financial Group) and, prior to that, Co-Head of Small to Mid-cap Corporate Advisory. Amelia has over 20 years of investment banking experience including mergers and acquisitions and public/private capital raising, working at UBS in Australia before joining Moelis.

Amie has worked closely with the MA Growth Ventures team over a number of years as a director for some of their investee companies, overseeing further raising rounds and successful exits within the portfolio.

Outside of work, it’s hard to have a conversation with Amie without hearing her talk about at least one of her three young children, planning a ski trip or attempts at getting a golf handicap. She has also recently become more active in her spare time giving back in the sphere of education, with appointments to the School Council of Cranbrook and Alumni Council of the University of Sydney.

Brad Moran Headshot
Brad Moran
Strategic Advisor
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Brad is a strategic advisor to the MA Growth Ventures team providing analysis on new investments and acts as an advisor to our existing portfolio companies.

Brad brings a wealth of startup knowledge and first hand experience to MA Financial having been the founder and CEO of two tech startups over the past 13 years. His most recent venture, CitrusAd was an MA Growth Ventures backed business and sold for $205m after just 4 years of operation. At the time of sale, CitrusAd had enterprise clientele in more than 30 countries including some of the world’s largest retail companies and pioneered the creation of a new industry dubbed “Retail Media”.

Whilst the exit was a great result, Brad will always refer back to his first startup and the early days of CitrusAd where countless, painful mistakes were made over a 9 year period. He will tell you that it was through these tough, but valuable lessons that the global rapid growth and eventual exit event of CitrusAd was achieved.

He enjoys spending time off with his wife and 3 children anywhere the sun is shining.

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Disclaimers
  1. As at 31 March 2023, average IRR calculated on exited investments, pre-tax, pre-fees, across debt, equity and hybrid instruments
  2. For more information on the nature of the relationship with Moelis & Company, please refer to the 2022 MA Financial Group Annual Report, available at https://mafinancial.com/about/shareholders
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