Australian fintech accelerator H2 Ventures has secured a $4 million warchest from Investec to invest in up to 40 startups, underwritten by a Government-backed guarantee of $2 million
Jobs for NSW, the state’s private-sector led New South Wales Government-backed job creation agency says the loan guarantee will help H2 Ventures create up to 400 new jobs across NSW.
H2 Ventures in October scrapped plans to raise $55 million in investment capital through an IPO after failing to drum up sufficient interest from institutional investors.
Instead, it has turned to banking and asset management group Investec - which already has a stake in the venture's startup accelerator - to proceed as a private fund.
Investec, however, was unwilling to put up the cash unless it could guarantee a minimum 50% return on its stake.
Ben Heap, founding partner of H2 Ventures with his brother Toby Heap, says: “With the support of the NSW Government and Investec Australia, we are looking forward to taking the H2 Accelerator to the next level. This support will allow us to attract more domestic and international entrepreneurial talent to NSW and to support a significant number of new fintech ventures, creating new channels growth and jobs.”
H2's existing portfolio includes equity crowdfunding platform Equitise, automated investment service Stockspot, and sharemarket visualisation platform Simply Wall St.