Playford wins as Carr invests dotcom returns

James Riley
Monday, 10 August 2009 10:52

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

South Australian venture capital fund Playford Capital has emerged as a primary winner of the Federal Government’s Innovation Investment Follow-on Fund – a temporary pool of capital set aside for the innovation sector in the face of tight financial markets.

The $64 million in IIFF funding comes from a pool money returned to the Commonwealth through investment returns from previous venture capital support initiatives – including its investment in search engine LookSmart more than a decade ago through VC firm Amwin Management.

Playford won $7.45 million – or about 12 per cent – of the available IIFF funding and was the only South Australian manager among the 22 companies eligible to apply.

Innovation Minister Kim Carr earmarked the $64 million to for the program as a “targeted and temporary” response to global financial crisis. He said current conditions made it difficult for fund managers to raise money through markets, and Government had stepped in to ensure that investments in existing innovators were safeguarded.

Playford chief executive officer Amanda Heyworth said the company would use the IIFF funding, plus more than $3 million of its own resources, to help its portfolio companies raise another $30 million in additional private investment during the next 18 months.

“This has been the toughest market I have ever seen – and I’ve been through three cycles,” Heyworth told iTWire.

Under the scheme announced by Senator Carr last week, fund managers that had already received federal dollars previously either through the Innovation Investment Fund, the Pre-Seed Fund or the ICT Incubators programs were able to apply for new money.

Of the 22 fund managers eligible, just 11 received grants last week.

“By overcoming the capital drought caused by the global financial crisis, IIFF funding will enable our companies to hire new staff; invest in product R&D and launch products in Australian and international markets,” Heyworth said.

“This IIFF support is particularly critical in South Australia which has a strong technology base but limited access to venture capital.”

Playford is the a significant VC player in the South Australian ICT market. The company is bullish about the states prospects and says it has benefitted hugely from the large defence force presence in SA – especially the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.

“What we get (in SA) from the DSTO is really well trained people, in deep technical skills.” Heyworth said. “They give us access to stunningly well trained staff – and that’s an unusual thing for a city of a million people to have.”

“And that includes project management skills, which I think is one of the reasons why we have been so good here at product development,” Heyworth said.