StrideCorp Equity Partners launched Stride Equity, Aussies’ first equity crowdfunding platform that is backed by a dedicated venture capital fund, Stride Lead. Stride Equity will provide cornerstone investment to all firms successfully raising capital on the crowdfunding platform.
Who are the brains behind Stride Equity?
The unique model also goes further to provide mentoring and industry contacts to the early stage founders, further enhancing their companies’ chances of success. The founding team is Jon Brett (Chairman), Alan Chonowitz (Director) and Maria Halasz (CEO), who together have several decades of collective experience across M&A and investing in emerging firms across sectors including IT, biotech, telecom, funds management, property and consumer products.
The team, who worked together at Investec, have over 30 successful investments in scaleups and startups like Vocus, Airtasker, Goanna Ag, MediPay and MadeComfy.
To meet the team, learn more about the venture capital and crowdfunding platform and celebrate this industry first combined model, the Stride Equity team will be hosting a launch event on 28 March commencing at 5pm at the Sydney Startup Hub, 11 York Street.
Maria Halasz will provide an introduction to the company and then facilitate a panel discussion featuring two of Australia’s brightest, award-winning young entrepreneurs, Sam Brett – CEO and founder of Naked Sundays and Ben Lipschitz, CEO and co-founder of FoodByUs.
Ben Lipschitz was named 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year at the CEO Magazine Executive of the Year awards and played an instrumental role in FoodByUs’ recent $12 million Series B funding round. They will be joined by StrideCorp Chairman Jon Brett for a discussion on the funding climate for emerging companies and the outlook for venture capital generally.
What is the mission behind Stride Equity?
Stride Equity will assess each unique investment opportunity against their internal selection criteria. They will back pre-qualified companies with up to 20% co-investment from Stride Lead, with the remaining amount raised on the Stride Equity crowdfunding platform.
Commenting on the new platform, Maria Halasz, CEO of Stride Equity, said, “Around $220 million has been raised by crowdfunding intermediaries since 2018 but only a few exits executed so far. Unlike our model, where we pre-qualify investee companies, crowdfunding is normally transactional and companies are not routinely vetted by professional investors.”
“Our purpose is to close the funding gap for emerging businesses by combining our experience as successful venture investors with the power of equity crowdfunding. We back these companies with our money, expertise and connections,” Maria Halasz further added.
Alan Chonowitz, Director of Stride Equity, said, “I am especially excited about the uniqueness of our offering in the crowdfunding market, which brings our own funds as co-investment into each offer, making our model more attractive to investors and investee companies alike.”
