Start-up investment booms as AirTree banks biggest Aussie VC fund yet

Australia’s venture capital sector looks set to defy the rising caution in global markets, with AirTree Ventures closing the biggest fund yet in the country, banking $700 million to launch three vehicles, including the biggest seed fund in the country and a new fund to back so-called Web3 companies.

The new funding at AirTree is the first of what is tipped to be a bumper year for new local VC funds and comes as new figures showed funding of Australia and New Zealand-based tech start-ups jumped by more than 100 per cent in 2021 to more than $10 billion.