AirTree’s Explorer Program in Tech Central
AirTree’s mission is to back Australia and New Zealand’s most audacious and unrelenting technology founders. AirTree hopes to give founders and their teams an unfair advantage by actively partnering with them to work through challenges, see around corners and anticipate what’s to come. The team aims to be right by a founder's side, right from the start, often investing pre-product and pre-revenue to support startups from the earliest stages of their journey.
Headquartered in the Tech Central suburb of Surry Hills, AirTree has $585m funds under management, backing over 70 Australian and New Zealand startups, many of which are the fastest-growing tech businesses in the country and located in the Tech Central region. These include Canva, Pet Circle, Employment Hero, Brighte, Secure Code Warrior, Immutable, Perx and Chemist2U and Spaceship. AirTree’s funding has contributed to the creation of thousands of high-quality jobs for the local community.
Australia's future prosperity hinges upon how the innovation opportunities provided by tech are harnessed and how the startups and entrepreneurs at the heart of this opportunity are supported.
As part of Tech Central, AirTree has had a front-row seat to the wave of startup sector growth – or as AirTree’s cofounder Craig Blair says: “The sector has gone from being like a small outback village, to now being like a large country town.”
The concentration of innovation, talent and ambition within the precinct has created a thriving community that paves the way for the next up and coming local startups. AirTree has seen the positive by-products of this play out in several ways:
A drawcard for top talent
From Canva to Pet Circle, Immutable to Employment Hero, Tech Central is home to some of Sydney’s top tech startups, all just a stone's throw away from one another, creating a vibrant hub for talent attraction. The diversity of company size and industry within the precinct has become a magnet for ambitious talent and boosts Sydney’s aspiration to be a global leader in innovation.
Connection and collaboration
Playing an important role as a connector and facilitator between many company founders and their teams, AirTree has seen firsthand the desire to pay it forward and help one another out. Connecting a community of people who understand what it’s like to start and scale something from scratch has accelerated the success of local startups through the sharing of knowledge and removed the need to reinvent the wheel at every turn as they build the next big thing. AirTree hosts a variety of virtual and physical events and programs and shares resources and networks with portfolio companies and the wider Startup community via their ‘Open Source VC’ initiative.
A flywheel effect
Early investors and employees in the local breakout success stories such as Canva and Afterpay play a key role in bolstering the next generation of startups as angel investors and advisors who are keen to give back and see the sector continue to thrive.
With more and more ambitious people choosing to start companies, AirTree’s Explorer program aims to encourage diverse and underrepresented groups to invest in local startups. The program offers angel investing education and networks, access to internal investment committee meetings and funds to invest to foster a vibrant and active angel investing community.
To learn more about AirTree and the founders and startups they’ve backed, visit airtree.vc
