General Questions

What is CP Ventures?

CP Ventures is a CP Ventures is a boutique VC fund that’s run by Emlyn Scott and Chris Sang, that invests internationally in early stage, highly scalable, breakthrough technology companies.

CP Portfolio

CP Ventures currently has 2 early stage funds. Fund 1 is a tax-free ESVCLP vehicle (Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership). Fund 2 is more of a global fund with 70% of capital invested in startups outside Australia.

Who is behind CP Ventures?

CP Ventures is run by highly experienced investors who’ve built high growth businesses and invested in over 100 startups.

CP Ventures Team

Is CP Ventures regulated by ASIC?

Yes. CP Ventures is licenced as a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR #1253421) of Lazarus Securities Pty Ltd (AFS Licence # 502758).

Startups

Can CP Ventures act as my Lead Investor?

Yes, absolutely. We’re happy to lead, co-lead or follow.

What makes you unique from other VCs for Startups?

There are many things that make us unique for startups, but our top five things are:

Speed – We will often make a decision and be willing to issue a term sheet within 24 hours of meeting a startup

Founder friendly – We are successful founders and understand the journey. We don’t invest via harsh pref shares, but align our performance with founders. We only win when you win.

Advice – We are successful entrepreneurs and technologists that have experienced rapid scaling at companies like Amazon and Atlassian.

HR – We have expert recruitment capabilities in-house and often help our portfolio companies finding the best team and everything else HR.

Network – We can help with getting co-investors into your current and future rounds from Australia and overseas, including via Angelist via our syndicate, as well as corporate partnership connections.

What type of startups are you looking for?

We look for breakthrough technology startups that are creating the technology of the future, reflected by the 4th Industrial Revolution. We invest in the 1% of the 1%. Truly game changing startups.

We’re looking for the following qualities:

  • Pre-Seed and Seed stage
  • Raising between AUD$250k and AUD$2m
  • Breakthrough technology
  • Highly scalable and can expand internationally
  • Amazing founder(s) & team
  • Unique USP &/or defendable IP

We are industry agnostic (ie. don’t care what industry you are in), and invest all around the world.

We generally shy away from biotech (as we are not medical experts) and do not invest in capital intensive or unethical businesses.

Will you sign my confidentiality agreement / NDA?

Anything you share with us is treated with complete confidentiality. We do not sign NDA’s to begin discussions for several reasons:

  • It wastes time and money with lawyers
  • We are busy building CP Ventures and have no interest in copying your business
  • It reflects a distrustful relationship between you and us which is not how we like to operate

If you can’t get past the requirement for an NDA to start having a discussion with us then unfortunately CP Ventures is not for you, and we wish you well in your capital raising. We’re fine signing an NDA as we move deeper into due diligence.

Investors

Who can invest in the CP Ventures' Funds?

Our Funds are available to Wholesale/Sophisticated Investors only. Retail investors cannot invest in our Funds.

In Australia, a wholesale/sophisticated investor is defined as having annual income of $250,000 for the last two years or a net worth of at least $2,500,000.

What makes you unique from other VCs for Investors?

There are many things that make us unique for Investors, but our top three things are:

Team – Successful founders and tech engineers, with over 100 startup investments under our belt from all corners of the world

Deal Flow – Tier 1 domestic and international deal flow

Performance – Fund 1 is one of the highest performing VC funds in the world. Fund 2 is already showing similar capability

Is there a minimum amount I can invest in the Fund?

The minimum investment commitment in Fund 2 is A$200,000. Fund 1 is closed to new investors on the 30th April 2019. Fund 2 closed to new investors on the 31 May 2021.

Can I get direct access to deals I particularly like?

Sometimes.

There are often opportunities to invest alongside us or in follow-on rounds. How a cap table is structured and who is on a cap table creates signalling, so it’s important how this is done and that direct investors can add value to the company.

How does CP Ventures earn?

Investors in CP Ventures’ Funds are charged management and performance fees, as outlined in the Fund’s Information Memorandum.