Side Stage Ventures

# Side Stage Ventures: Australia's Founder-Led Seed Fund

High-Level Overview

Side Stage Ventures is a founder-led seed fund headquartered in Sydney, Australia, dedicated to backing the top 1% of early-stage founders across the country.[1][2] The firm's core mission is to be the most valued early-stage partner for outlier founders building in large markets, writing initial checks of up to $500,000 into pre-seed and seed-stage companies.[1]

The fund's investment philosophy is distinctly founder-centric. Rather than imposing rigid sector constraints, Side Stage Ventures remains sector-agnostic while maintaining a bias toward big markets—those with either billions of potential customers or billions of dollars in accessible revenue capacity.[1] The firm invests across fintech, AI, health tech, blockchain, Web3, and traditional sectors including education, media, food, property, travel, transport, and agriculture.[2] What sets the fund apart is its emphasis on solving the 0–1 challenges of building: hiring, fundraising, and achieving product-market fit. The team operates with what they describe as a high "Helpfulness to Cheque Size ratio," meaning founders receive disproportionate support relative to capital deployed.[1]

Origin Story

Side Stage Ventures was founded in 2022 as a collective of founders and operators who had experienced both success and failure in building businesses.[1][2] The firm was established by Ben Grabiner and Markus Kahlbetzer, alongside team members including Alex Zaccaria, Anthony Zaccaria, Jaddan Comerford, and Matt Allen.[1][4] The founding team's motivation was explicit: to build the seed fund they wished they had when starting their own ventures.

The fund gained significant traction quickly. In August 2023, Side Stage Ventures completed the first close of SSV Fund I at $15 million, with a target of $30 million.[2] The fund's early investors included founders of prominent Australian tech companies—Go1, Linktree, and Airtasker—signaling strong validation from the local startup ecosystem.[2] This investor composition reflects the fund's positioning as a community of founders supporting founders, rather than a traditional institutional venture vehicle.

Core Differentiators

Founder-First Operating Model

The team explicitly positions itself as founders who behave like founders, bringing passion, enthusiasm, and belief to every investment decision.[1] This translates into flexibility on valuation and ownership structures—the partners believe what's best for the founder is best for the fund. This contrasts sharply with institutional investors who often impose rigid terms and governance structures.

Active, Collaborative Support

Rather than passive capital deployment, Side Stage Ventures leans into hands-on support during the earliest, most fragile stages of company building. The firm is comfortable backing companies pre-revenue and very early in their journey, recognizing that the 0–1 phase requires different expertise than later-stage scaling.[1]

Global Network with Local Expertise

While based in Australia, the team operates as a global collective with international reach. The fund is "super collaborative" and enjoys investing alongside other great investors both domestically and internationally.[1] This hybrid approach gives Australian founders access to global capital and networks while maintaining deep local market knowledge.

Sector Agnosticism with Market Conviction

Rather than betting on specific verticals, Side Stage Ventures seeks "the best surfers riding the biggest waves"—exceptional founders operating in large, addressable markets.[1] This philosophy reduces the risk of sector-specific downturns while maintaining conviction around founder quality and market size.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Side Stage Ventures arrives at a critical inflection point for Australian technology entrepreneurship. For years, the country's startup ecosystem has produced world-class founders—the team notes that Australian entrepreneurs possess "the same grit, determination, hustle, vision and ability as any in the world"—yet early-stage capital has remained fragmented and often required founders to look offshore.[2]

By establishing a founder-led, locally-rooted seed fund with global ambitions, Side Stage Ventures addresses a structural gap in the Australian venture ecosystem. The fund validates that exceptional founders don't need to relocate to Silicon Valley to access quality early-stage capital and mentorship. This has ripple effects: it encourages more founders to build in Australia, strengthens the local talent pool, and creates a flywheel where successful exits generate the next generation of founder-investors.

The firm's sector-agnostic approach also reflects a maturing market. Rather than chasing hype cycles in AI or Web3, the fund backs founders solving real problems across diverse industries—from agriculture to healthcare to fintech. This diversification reduces concentration risk while positioning the fund to capture value across multiple waves of innovation.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Side Stage Ventures has established itself as a credible, founder-friendly alternative to traditional venture capital in Australia. With $15 million deployed from the first close and a $30 million target, the fund is well-positioned to become a significant player in Australian early-stage investing over the next 3–5 years.

The firm's trajectory will likely be shaped by several factors. First, exit velocity: as portfolio companies mature and begin generating returns, the fund's reputation will hinge on demonstrating that founder-led investing produces superior outcomes. Second, capital formation: the ability to raise subsequent funds will depend on Fund I's performance and the team's ability to attract institutional LPs who believe in the founder-first model. Third, ecosystem influence: as more successful exits emerge from the portfolio, Side Stage Ventures could catalyze a broader shift toward founder-led investing in Australia, potentially inspiring similar models in other geographies.

Looking ahead, the fund appears well-positioned to ride several tailwinds: the continued globalization of venture capital, the maturation of Australian tech talent, and growing skepticism toward traditional VC models that prioritize control over collaboration. If the team executes on its promise to be the most valued early-stage partner for top founders, Side Stage Ventures could become a template for how seed funds should operate—not as gatekeepers, but as genuine partners in the founder's journey.