Vesparum is an independent capital raising advisor to growth-stage founder-led technology businesses.
Our services are tailored to minimise dilution for founders with significant equity ownership.
As tech founders ourselves, we specialise in crafting equity stories for tech companies.
Unlike other advisors that prioritise M&A, we work exclusively for founders as capital raising advisors.
FOR FOUNDERS
The decision to raise capital is one of the most difficult decisions a founder will make. Raising too early could result in excessive dilution, whereas raising too late could result in missed opportunities. Getting the timing right is essential to maximising the value of your equity over the long term. We work with you to think through this decision prior to any formal engagement.
You have done the hard work in building a successful business, and have generated millions of dollars in equity value. Hiring the right advisor can help to de-risk your capital raising and minimise dilution. Advisors can help you to articulate a more compelling equity narrative, distinguish genuine inbound investor interest, expand your investor network and enhance your valuation by creating competitive tension amongst investors. Working with an advisor can also give you leverage to focus on growing your business during the capital raising process, a time when investors are looking closely at your monthly performance as an indicator of whether you will achieve your forecasts.
You only get one chance to make the best first impression with investors so it is essential to invest significant time in preparing for a capital raising. We work with you to prepare an investor presentation and financial model to position your business, growth plans, financial metrics and financial forecasts in a coherent and compelling narrative to maximise interest from investors. A properly articulated equity story can make a significant difference to the valuation of your capital raising.
Valuation is highly subjective and is often influenced by competitive tension between investors. Competition is not a result of comparing inbound interest from a few calls or emails, but considering the whole market and proactively approaching the most relevant investors. We identify and target the most relevant investors for your company, leveraging our extensive network of investors seeking exposure to private Australian growth-stage tech companies. We manage communications and negotiations with all investors to ensure they feel the competitive nature of the process to support the best possible transaction outcome. By acting as an intermediary, we protect you from difficult discussions during term sheet negotiations, helping you to maintain strong relationships with your shareholders post-raise.
Due diligence can be time consuming and risky if not managed well. Preparing early and thoroughly for due diligence is important to minimise the risk of any surprises which could disrupt the deal. We help you stay out of trouble during due diligence, providing counsel on when to give certain information and how best to frame difficult issues. We perform the heavy lifting by cleaning raw data files, managing a data room, communicating with third parties and preparing responses to questions from investors. Knowing when and how to share key information at each stage of the process is crucial to ensuring a smooth, successful transaction.
OUR CLIENTS
Series A companies show strong early revenue traction and are establishing product-market fit.
Series A capital provides these companies with additional runway to prove out their business model.
Scale: Annual revenue > A$3 million
Profitable: Uncommon
Investment size: A$3-15 million
Founder sell-down: Uncommon
Series B companies have strong product-market fit, a proven business model and are focused on scaling up their operations.
Series B capital allows these companies to significantly increase their headcount in preparation for their next phase of growth.
Scale: Annual revenue > A$10 million
Profitable: Sometimes
Investment size: A$10-50 million
Founder sell-down: Sometimes
Growth equity companies are profitable with predictable revenue streams.
Access to external capital allows these companies to accelerate growth through specific initiatives, such as developing new products, expanding into new markets or acquiring other businesses.
Scale: Annual revenue > A$10 million
Profitable: Yes
Investment size: A$15+ million
Founder sell-down: Optional
ABOUT US
Vesparum is one of three companies as part of Affinda Group, which was founded by Melbourne brothers, Tim and Ben Toner.
Tim has a background in investment banking, previously working at Macquarie and Lazard, whereas Ben has a PhD in quantum physics from Caltech.
Affinda Group's other companies include:
Affinda and Draftable support 1,500+ customers in 75+ countries with teams across Asia Pacific, North America and Europe.
The combination of investment banking and tech expertise provides us with a unique perspective to help our clients achieve their goals.
BEYOND CAPITAL
As part of Affinda Group, Vesparum offers a unique advantage to founders by combining our capital raising expertise with Affinda’s deep technical capabilities in workflow automation and AI.
By partnering with both Vesparum and Affinda, founders can include an AI roadmap in their equity story at the time of raising capital, and immediately benefit from AI solutions to enhance operational efficiency post-raise.
As partners for the AI era, Vesparum supports founders not only in securing growth capital but also in implementing transformative AI and automation solutions that unlock rapid, tangible value for their business.
An experienced capital raising advisor will:
The right capital raising advisor will add significantly more value than the fees they charge. This can be observed directly in the improved valuation and terms achieved for your capital raising.
Vesparum charges a success fee based on the amount of capital raised. Depending on the extent of preparation required for your capital raising, a one-off preparation fee or monthly retainer may also be applicable.
The average capital raising process usually takes between 3-5 months from start to finish, including preparation time. The timeline depends on a number of factors, including what you are solving for (e.g. speed vs valuation), the complexity of your business, market conditions and investor interest.
For companies that are loss-making, it’s ideal to start raising capital with at least 9-12 months of runway left. This ensures you have sufficient time to secure funding, negotiate favourable terms and maintain control of the process without facing unnecessary pressure.
There are several common reasons why a capital raising might not be successful:
Investors typically focus on the following metrics for SaaS companies:
Every technology company should have a detailed understanding of their recurring revenue by customer by month to support the calculation of these SaaS metrics. It is important to invest significant time in cleaning the raw data to ensure the metrics are accurate and a true reflection of your customer behaviour. This will enable you to understand how best to pitch your metrics to support valuation discussions, as well as stand-up to investor scrutiny during due diligence.
We respond to all messages within 24 hours and treat all information you share with us as strictly confidential.
