Item3 To Invest In Regional Start-ups
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday August 25, 2000
Technology incubator ITem3 will direct some of its $15 million in capital into investments in fledgling companies in regional Australia, managing director Mr Rob Forage said at the program's launch yesterday.
ITem3 was among nine companies to receive funding from the Federal Government under the $78 million BITS program.
A BITS grant of just over $7 million to ITem3 will be matched by private investors.
``Good ideas come from all over the place, not just Sydney and Melbourne," said Mr Forage.
ITem3 has developed a ``virtual incubator" program that will allow start-ups in Wagga or Newcastle, for example, to receive relevant training and problem-solving support without the need to relocate the venture to the incubator's main site in Sydney.
Mr Forage said the new BITS incubators would form a bridge between start-ups and the venture capital industry.
``Our customers will be the venture capital firms and ``angels" investors upstream from us.
They will be looking for pre-qualified deal flow, so among the tasks we have is to get the intellectual property in order," Mr Forage said.
ITem3 would make investments in about 12 start-ups a year, concentrating on hardware, software and ``old economy" businesses that think they can gain new efficiencies through using the Internet as a delivery mechanism.
Mr Forage said companies would typically be at the commercialisation stage, with a prototype to show: ``We provide the management advice, marketing and money."
Mr Forage comes from the biotech sector, and formed consulting company Iplus Developments in 1993 to help the CSIRO, universities and small businesses commercialise technology. Among the success stories, Iplus took an idea from a group of industrial design students for an ergonomic guitar through to sales of a real product in the United States.
Another BITS incubator, the Bluefire Group headed by 24-year-old Mr Ryan Glick, won $6 million. E-Park, backed by venture capital firm Allen & Buckeridge and Deloitte Consulting, was granted $5 million.
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald
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