Josh Sharp
Private Equity, Pemba Capital Partners
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Josh has over 13 years in finance experience and high performing teams including national sports teams and 10 years in PwC UK and Australia gaining experience as a Director across financial due diligence, corporate finance, SPA and strategy. During this tenure, Josh drove the PwC UKs initial development of data and AI throughout the deal’s environment, with a focus on workflow and process improvements. Josh joined the private equity firm Pemba Capital Partners in 2022 after previously working on one of their platform acquisitions, VetsCentral. Josh now supports the Accelerate team which helps partner companies with growth initiatives, assimilating buy-and-build strategies and exit preparations.
Alezeia Brown
Investment Manager, Main Sequence
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Alezeia is a deep tech investor with a background in product management, systems design and software engineering. As an investment manager at Main Sequence - a $1B deeptech venture capital fund - Alezeia works with founders who combine science & tech with the world's biggest challenges to build the next generation of global companies, with a focus on decarbonisation and AI. Alezeia sits as a board observer for various deep tech companies such as Endua, Advanced Navigation, FiveCast and Avarni, is a member of Greenpeace Australian Pacific General Assembly, and coach and mentor at many incubators and accelerator programs. Before Main Sequence, Alezeia held a number of senior product roles, including Head of Product for CSIRO’s Data61 and Executive Manager for Retail Wealth Product for GBST.
Dan Coughlan
Investment Manager, AirTree Ventures
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Dan Coughlan is an Investment Manager at AirTree Ventures. His focus is on early stage investing with a particular interest in AI applications as well as AI enablement, such as data infrastructure and machine learning tooling. He also sits as an observer on the boards of Pet Circle, FrankieOne and Qwilr. Prior to this, Dan spent time at Credit Suisse covering publicly listed software businesses such as Xero, WiseTech, Altium and AI-tooling company Appen.
Overview
At the Mindfields Automation Summit (MAS) 2023, we were joined by leaders from the Private Equity & Venture Capital community. Below are the key takeaways from the session.
- Investors are keen on companies that use AI as a product differentiator and solve real problems.
- In the funding environment, there is indeed a gold rush in generative AI.
- It's currently an excellent time to invest in forward-looking technologies in Australia. Valuations have faced downward pressure, making it an attractive opportunity for investors.
- It's a great time to start a company in Australia despite challenges. Founders should focus on market annealing, preparing the market for their technology or product.
- Consider the tactical approach when selling to different market segments. Market education may require higher value propositions, while low-end markets can focus on self-service growth.