Co Ventures

Maxine Minter and Alexey Mitko make all investment decisions as the firm's General Partner and Partner, respectively. Minter founded the fund after building and angel investing in startups across Australia and the US. Mitko joined after operating roles at Canva and founding Eucalyptus. The firm's website and portfolio pages consistently cite Minter as the lead voice on investment rationale for each portfolio company.

The firm relies on a Venture Partner network of early builders from companies like Linktree, Eucalyptus, and Mr Yum, who refer founders often before a formal round forms. Its portfolio pages describe meeting founders through Venture Partners when companies are still an idea shared among friends. The community syndicate of vetted operator angels and LPs also generates referrals from within the Australian and New Zealand tech ecosystems.

Co Ventures operates as an asset manager structured like a venture firm, not a family office. It runs a core pre-seed fund alongside two sidecar syndicates — one for LPs and one for vetted operator angels — and operates through corporate authorised representative entities under Boutique Capital Pty Ltd, an AFSL holder. The firm does not disclose any single-family wealth backing it.

Co Ventures invests exclusively in direct pre-seed deals. It does not make fund commitments. The firm reinforces this on its website, stating it invests at pre-seed only and backs software-led companies with at least one Australian founder. Its sidecar syndicates allow LP and community co-investment into the same direct deals as the core fund.

Co Ventures targets pre-seed exclusively, often backing companies before they have traction or a concrete product. The firm describes itself as investing in "pre-pre-seed" ventures in at least one case (Marloo), funding founders to explore and develop before an idea is fully formed. Its portfolio companies are typically months away from a seed round.

The firm publicly states it does not invest in hardware, biotech, or companies with a high regulatory burden to reach market. Its portfolio and investment thesis confirm a focus on software-led companies only, which excludes deep tech, life sciences, and physical-product startups.

Co Ventures does not maintain a separate philanthropic foundation. Its "Co Founders" program shares 5% of fund upside across all portfolio founders, which functions as a structural alignment mechanism rather than a philanthropic vehicle. The program is embedded within the fund's commercial structure.