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Starfish Ventures
Starfish Ventures manages over $385 million in investment funds. Their focus areas include life sciences, cleantech, and information technology.
Starfish Ventures
Starfish Ventures manages over $385 million in investment funds. Their focus areas include life sciences, cleantech, and information technology. Investments have been made in 73 companies, with the latest being Dial4242 in September 2023.
General information
Firm type
Venture Capital
Year founded
2001
Location
Region
Oceania
Country
Australia
City
Melbourne
Corporate office
Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Principals
Michael Panaccio
Co-Founder and Investment Director
Tony Glenning
Investment Director
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions at Starfish Ventures?
Investment decisions are led by Co-Founder and Investment Director Michael Panaccio, alongside Investment Director Tony Glenning. Panaccio has anchored the firm's investment committee since its founding in 2001. The partnership has historically remained small, with decision-making concentrated among its senior directors.
How does Starfish Ventures source its deals?
The firm draws proprietary deal flow from Australia's university research-commercialization ecosystem, CSIRO spinouts, and affiliated medical-research institutes. This contrasts with broker-intermediated sourcing and gives Starfish early visibility into scientific founder teams commercializing IP from Australian academic labs.
What investment stages does Starfish Ventures target?
Starfish invests from seed through growth equity, typically leading or co-leading early-stage rounds. The firm has historically focused on first institutional capital into deep-tech and life-science startups, while reserving capacity for follow-on investments through expansion stages.
Does Starfish Ventures invest outside Australia?
The firm's primary geographic mandate is Australia and New Zealand. It has made selective investments in US-based companies with Australian founding teams, maintaining a nexus to its domestic sourcing network even when backing offshore-incorporated entities.
What is Starfish Ventures' relationship with Australian institutional investors?
Australian superannuation funds and government innovation programs have been recurring limited partners across the firm's fund families. These relationships provided a stable institutional capital base that supported Starfish's long-duration deep-tech strategy through venture-market cycles.
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