Brisbane-based agri-tech and food-chain-focused venture capital firm Mandalay Venture Partners has attracted a cornerstone investment for its first fund from NSW motorists’ organisation NRMA.
Mandalay has declared a first close for the fund which has so far attracted commitments of more than $21 million of a $50 million target. The fund has been provisionally registered under the tax-advantaged Early-Stage Venture Capital Limited Partner legislation.
Other investors in Mandalay Fund I to date include co-founder and former chief executive of NOVONIX, and former chief executive of ERM Power, Philip St Baker and chief executive of Sydney hedge fund PCS Capital, Angus Cameron.
Mandalay Venture Partners was established by the former Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Creative Enterprise Australia investment team, Mark Gustowski – formerly chief executive of QUT CEA – Philippe Ceulen and Timothy Hui and experienced agricultural sector investor Al Fullerton who leads the Australian Food and Farming Fund investment syndicate.
The Australian Food and Farming Fund has made four early-stage innovation investments focused on global food security and sustainability.
The investments are in:
TomKat, which produces environmentally responsible packaging – replacing polystyrene boxes and single use plastics – to protect temperature sensitive products.
Zondii, which has developed a smartphone scanning app which picks up unique biochemical marker to verify organic status or products.
Monty, which produces a compost monitoring device and smartphone app for use to improve composting.
Agutary, a platform which harnesses satellite and climate data to provide improved insights into agricultural production.
These investments are to be used to seed the Mandalay fund.
It is planned that the fund will make additional investments in the range $150,000 to $1.2 million.
Mandalay Venture Partners was set up after QUT wound up the CEA investment program in 2020 as part of budget cuts forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
From its launch in 2012 the CEA fund made ten investments totaling more than $1.2 million. These included a stake in TrademarkVision which provided a successful return when the company was acquired by Boston-based Clarivate Analytics.
Other investments included personalised dress retailer Fame and Partners, creative talent marketplace theright.fit and music subscription platform GiggedIn.
NRMA head of investments Ainsley Lee said she had been impressed by the Mandalay team’s record and their sleeves rolled up approach to working with portfolio companies.
“We are highly focused on investing in areas of impact while helping to address sustainability, especially if we can support regional and rural parts of Australia,” she said.
Image: The Mandalay team, Mark Gustowski, Al Fullerton, Timothy Hui, and Philippe Ceulen.