The managers are responsible for the investment process and for administering the day to day requirements of the fund. Our investment opportunities are sourced from our professional network in Silicon Valley and via co-investment with other venture capital firms.
Joe Kennedy, Managing Director
Originally a marine engineer in Sydney, Joe joined OzEmail, an early ISP in 1993. His role was product manager of Web Hosting and Ecommerce when the company was sold 6 years later to MCI WorldCom with a staff of 500+. Joe enjoyed success in these areas and lead several initiatives, including the first service "Stockwatch" to broadcast Live ASX Stock Exchange quotes over the internet.
Since moving from OzEmail, Joe gained experience in the finance industry by providing due diligence assistance on technical and Internet assets to various advisors and merchant banks around Australia. This evolved into syndicated investing in similar assets and then managing portfolios and advising on Internet related investments for private individuals and companies.
Joe has completed many early stage venture capital transactions in the technology, mining and general business sectors during the last 12-13 years in the investment business. He holds a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment from FINSIA and and holds an Australian Financial Services Licence through his licensed entity TechEquity Pty Ltd.
Marc Philips, Managing Director
Whilst completing a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Melbourne in 1990, Marc built tools to analyze website analytics which he commericalized into APT Strategies, an online business which mined log file and user profile information from web servers. Nasdaq listed Jupiter Research (NASDAQ: JUPM) acquired the business in 1999.
Monetizing online content across his portfolio of domain names resulted in Marc co-founding Commission Monster in 2001, which grew rapidly to become Australia's leading affiliate company providing adserving technologies to 10,000 publishers. The company was acquired by IPMG Group in 2007.
With the video YouTube phenomena in 2006, Marc co-founded Silicon Valley-based GlanceGuide Inc, an early pioneer of online video metrics firm which was acquired by The Nielsen Company (NYSE: NLSN) in 2010.
Marc was a founding shareholder in WebIP in 2011. Marc was instrumental in growing early enterprise customers as WebIP grew to manage over 25,000 domains across 150 corporate clients. London based NetNames Ltd., the leading global online brand protection and corporate domain name management firm, acquired WebIP in 2014 and Marc led negotiations during the acquisition process.
Marc is the author of "Inside the Valley: How deals get done". The book provides entrepreneurs with advice on how to construct a start-up investment pitch deck using real examples of pitch decks, how venture capitalists think, some war stories and how to pitch business ideas in Silicon Valley to raise money.
Based in Palo Alto in Silicon Valley - California, Marc has been an investor, shareholder and board advisor for iiNet Ltd, Contivio Inc., AdSemble Inc, Geodelic Inc, Playhaven Inc, SessionBox Inc, Retargeter Inc and SearchForecast.
Marc currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of Adveritas (ASX:AV1), the listed parent company of TrafficGuard.ai. Marc provides support to the executive team and fellow board members relating to strategic oversight, corporate governance and risk management. Read more at ASX AV1 Announcement.
Marc holds a current Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL Licence No: 493852)
ADVISORY BOARD
David Spence
David Spence is the Director & Chairman PayPal Australia and currently serves on the board of directors of Hills Holdings Ltd. Prior to this, David was CEO of wireless broadband provider Unwired Australia. He began his career as a chartered accountant working for the South African Deloittes office. In 1989 David immigrated to Australia and began working for Australian Consolidated Press first as GM of Computer Publications (ACP) and then as Assistant GM to the ACP Group. In 1991 David was appointed CEO of Freedom Furniture until 1995 when he joined OzEmail as Managing Director. David has a commerce degree and post graduate qualifications from Natal and Cape Town Universities (South Africa) and is also Chairman of the Internet Industry Association (IIA).
Karl Seigling
11 years investment experience in the Financial Services Sector both in Australia and Overseas. Roles included proprietary trading in overnight currencies and bonds and bond options on the Sydney Futures for Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Goldman Sachs. Karl was MD of eFinancial (a subsidiary of Challenger Group), a private equity fund with Pooled Development Fund status, focused on early stage and expansion capital. Currently manages Cadence Asset Management and Cadence Capital, a listed long/short Equity fund.
AFFILIATIONS
Australian American Chamber of Commerce - San Francisco
Arafura Ventures is a proud supporter of the Australian American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco. It exists to embody, promote and advance the uniquely Australian way to work and play. This means taking a quintessentially Australian approach to both business and pleasure, allowing for seriousness and fun, success and relaxation. It means advancing the spirit of Australia and sense of fairness, fun and adventure that we share with like-minded people in Silicon Valley. For more information, visit SFAussies.com.