NextGen Ventures

NextGen Ventures

Founded in 2013 by Mitchell Hughes and Jerry X'Lingson, NextGen Ventures operates as an early-stage venture firm that targets Australian student founders. The vehicle was built to intercept talent at the university level, often before a startup formally incorporates or raises from mainstream Australian VCs. Its network of advisors and LPs includes early backers Niki Scevak of Blackbird Ventures and Paul Naphtali of Rampersand, connecting the fund to two of Australia's most prominent early-stage managers. NextGen deploys through a first-cheque model, covering pre-seed and seed rounds for young founders it sources via university ecosystems and its own hackathon, FoundersHack. The firm's strategy concentrates on health and medical sectors, with explicit avoidance of companies active in pharmacy. Confirmed portfolio founders include Finnlay Morcombe, Liam Fuller, Anthony Tsougranis, and Mina Na, reflecting a pattern of backing student teams at the ideation stage. The geographic focus is sharply on Australia, with deal flow generated domestically despite the firm's administrative base in the Netherlands. The team operates with a lean core — Hughes and X'Lingson act as the founding partners supported by Investment Committee member Chris Gillings — and discloses no additional offices beyond Ede. In 2025, both founders were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, underscoring the firm's youth-oriented brand. The firm participates in the Cremorne Digital Hub, anchoring it within Melbourne's tech ecosystem. NextGen's structural differentiator is its university-origination mandate: it runs a proprietary student startup funding report and a dedicated hackathon series to generate pipeline before ventures reach formal accelerator programs. This model creates a sourcing funnel that is distinct from both Australian accelerator funds and later-stage early investors — effectively acting as a talent-scouting layer rather than purely a capital provider.