The Australian Business Growth Fund (ABGF) has made an $11 million investment in business development software company Capsifi.
Co-head of investment at ABGF Ghazaleh Lyari said: “With digital transformation fueling the largest wave of technical investment of our time, we are excited to invest in an innovative technology business that has experienced significant market traction.”
Capsifi was founded in 2013 by Dr Terry Roach based on extensive experience of implementing enterprise technology applications for large complex organisations including IBM, Apple, PeopleSoft and Oracle and his 2011 PhD thesis at the University of NSW.
Roach said the Capsifi team had recognised that there was a universal problem in consolidating disconnected and disjointed business knowledge. The business was set up to deliver real-time insights into the inner workings of organisations.
Global IT research firm Gartner has recognised Capfisi’s technology in its Magic Quadrant for enterprise architecture tools. Capfisi first gained recognition in 2020 as offering the most visionary product in the category and last year was elevated to a leader in the field.
Roach said the company had received other investment approaches prior to ABGF but decided ABGF was the right fit.
“The appeal came from their unique philosophy on nurturing and building businesses, rather than taking them over,” he said. “We have been very impressed by the careful and mutual consideration we have experienced from ABGF, with a clear focus on making sure the growth potential of the business is realised.”
ABGF provides patient minority capital to promising Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs) which have reached expansion stage but may not meet the fast growth expectations of private growth investment firms.
To qualify for ABGF funding, businesses must have proven their business model and be generating more than $2 million in annual revenue.
The independently managed fund was set up by the federal government with additional investment from Australia’s big four retail banks plus Macquarie and HSBC.
The fund has initial capital commitments of $540 million and is expected by the federal government to grow to around $1 billion over time.
As well as providing growth capital, the ABGF is expected to facilitate mentorship, access to talent pools and provide expertise and advice.
Image: The Capfisi team, Dr Terry Roach centre.