First State Super to expand VC platform

First State Super chief investment officer Richard Brandweiner spoke about his fund’s continuing investment in venture capital at the H2 Ventures Fintech Expo in Sydney yesterday.

The $52 billion super fund announced a $110 million investment in technology venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures in September 2015 alongside Hostplus, which made a smaller contribution.

Mr Brandweiner said he wants to build out a venture capital platform “triangle” within First State Super’s portfolio, with broad technology, fintech and ‘bio sciences’ at the corners.

“Broad tech is the biggest area; fintech has great relevance for us as a retail financial services provider; and a large part of our membership is in the health sector, so bio science is another area,” Mr Brandweiner said.

“In each of those areas [we want] to both seed those early stage ideas through a partner, and then hopefully get access to some promising follow-on funding.”

Source: First State Super to expand VC platform – InvestorDaily