Stride Lead
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This Stride Equity Enabled opportunity has been qualified for investment after extensive research and due diligence undertaken by our experienced team.
Stride Lead is available to answer all your questions through a communication facility.
This Stride Equity Enabled opportunity has been qualified for investment after extensive research and due diligence undertaken by our experienced team.
Opportunity to invest in a venture fund focused on building a portfolio of investments in high growth Australian businesses.
Why we invested
The current venture capital environment presents a once in a generation opportunity to build a portfolio of investments in private companies that have the potential to become industry leaders of the future.
Technological advancements are accelerating the growth and scalability of startups, creating new industries at an unprecedented pace.
Adding to this picture, and a growth industry itself enabled by social media and artificial intelligence, equity crowdfunding is maturing rapidly and venture capital is being democratised at lightspeed.
After a few years of over-exuberance, we are experiencing record low company valuations with significant upside potential.
We set up Stride Lead, a venture fund with cornerstone investment from us founders, to take advantage of the confluence of these forces.
We are building a portfolio of investments in private companies at the right valuation, with great founders and the potential to become leaders in their industries. We are doing so while inviting wholesale investors to join us on this exciting journey.
The Details
Stride Lead is an industry-agnostic venture fund dedicated to building a portfolio of investments in highly vetted emerging companies with the potential for significant growth in the medium term.
Stride Lead will invest in companies that meet its selection criteria (Stride Equity Enabled), and are successful in attracting additional funding on the Stride equity crowdfunding platform.
Stride Lead invests in emerging businesses with a motivated team, unique and defendable product/service, demonstrated product-market fit, high growth potential, early following and scalability with the view to exit within the medium term.
Having worked together for several years the principals of the fund plan to utilise their collective experience and expertise in investment markets and operating businesses in various industry sectors when making investments.
With experience in a number of industries including property, telecommunications, IT, biotech, medical devices, consumer products, investment banking and funds management, Stride Lead is an industry agnostic fund.
Stride Lead is an opportunity to co-invest with the team that has decades of investment experience backing a select portfolio of companies, and to share in the success of the next generation of industry leaders.
About the Stride Group
Stride Group was founded by Alan Chonowitz, Jon Brett and Maria Halasz to combine the expertise and resources of venture capital with the power of equity crowdfunding. After decades of successful investing in companies like Airtasker and Vocus, the group set out to build a business that allows them to bring other investors along the journey.
Stride Equity is a licensed equity crowdfunding platform dedicated to providing wholesale and retail investors with the opportunity to invest in highly vetted emerging companies addressing the widening funding gap.
Stride Lead is a venture fund cornerstoned by the Founders of the Stride Group and dedicated to providing co-investment, advice and mentoring for companies that successfully raise capital on the Stride Equity crowdfunding platform. An investment in Stride Lead is a co-investment with the Founders of the Group.
Stride’s purpose is to close the funding gap for emerging companies by combining the expertise and resources of traditional venture capital with the power of crowdfunding, while providing investors access to a high conviction investment portfolio in the next generation of growth companies.
Investment Strategy
Our investment principles have been consistent over the years and include:
Backing the right people;
Investing at the right time in a company’s growth cycle; and
Having exit strategies to maximise investment returns in the medium term.
We are looking for emerging businesses that:
Have a highly motivated team;
A unique and defendable product/service;
Demonstrated product-market-fit;
Have high growth potential;
Built an early following; and
Potential to reach significant scale
Founders
Stride Lead is built on its Founders’ investment experience and expertise. The founding team has worked together for several years and has decades of collective experience and expertise in investment markets and operating businesses in various industry sectors, including property, telecommunications, IT, biotech, medical devices, consumer products, investment banking and funds management.
(LTR: Alan Chonowitz, Maria Halasz and Jon Brett)
Maria Halasz
CEO Stride Equity | Investment Committee Member
A lifelong venture investor, Maria leverages 15 years’ experience as founder and CEO of ASX listed technology and consumer product company Anagenics Limited, and a prior 10 years in corporate finance and venture capital delivering IPO’s, private capital raisings and assisting with scale-ups and international expansions.
Recognised for her experience in funding and commercialising technologies internationally, Maria has executed several cross-border mergers and acquisitions, opened new markets, built multidisciplinary teams, led digital transformation, and navigated companies through complex regulatory environments.
An experienced non-executive director and contributor to the start-up ecosystem, she is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Member of Women on Boards, Women in Media, Connector at Apropela and is Councilor at the Australian Industry Group.
Jon Brett
Chairman | Investment Committee Member
Jon is an experienced private equity professional. He was a director of Investec Wentworth Private Equity and was responsible for sourcing, executing, growing, and divesting investee companies.
He was also a member of Investec’s credit committee and was responsible for Investec’s direct investments. He has extensive experience in management, operations, finance and corporate advisory. His experience includes several years as managing director of publicly listed companies and was formerly the non-executive deputy president of the NRMA.
In the mid 1990's, Jon was the CEO of Techway Limited, which pioneered internet banking in Australia.
Jon was on the board of Vocus Group Limited from its listing on the ASX until recently during which period the market cap of the company grew from $25 to several billion dollars.
Jon is a non-executive director of several other ASX listed companies.
Jon has been investing and co-investing in a number of businesses, start-ups and scale-ups for many years.
Alan Chonowitz
CEO Stride Equity | Investment Committee Member
Alan has more than 30 years experience in the banking, finance and superannuation sectors, with executive responsibility for finance, strategy, risk and investment.
Alan was the Finance Director and Deputy CEO of Investec Group Australia between 2001 and 2014. He was on the board of Investec Bank and its various subsidiaries including property and private equity businesses.
Alan chaired and was a member of Investec investment and credit committees as well as audit and risk committees.
After 7 years Alan has recently resigned from his appointment by ANZ Bank as an independent non-executive director of Insignia Financial/IOOF, OnePath Custodians, Oasis Fund Management and IOOF Investment Management. Alan also chaired a number of audit and risk committees.
Alan has been investing and co-investing in a number of businesses, start-ups and scale-ups for many years.
Why invest?
This is a unique opportunity for wholesale / sophisticated investors to co-invest with the Stride Group Founders as they build a portfolio of investments in emerging companies that have the potential for significant value increase in the medium term.
Disclaimer
The Stride Lead Fund (“Stride Lead”) is an Australian wholesale unregistered managed investment scheme for the purposes of the Corporations Act 2001(Cth).StrideCorp Equity Partners Pty Ltd (ACN 607 216 928) (AFSL 482668) is the Trustee of Stride Lead. An offer to invest in Stride Lead is only available to wholesale investors (as defined in section 761 of the Corporations Act) and will be made via an information memorandum. The information on this page is provided for information purposes only. We have not taken into account your personal circumstances and you must obtain your own independent advice.
Meet the Team
Maria Halasz
CEO Stride Equity | Investment Committee Member
Maria, a lifelong venture investor, draws on 15 years as the CEO of ASX-listed Anagenics Limited and a prior decade in corporate finance and venture capital, specialising in IPOs, capital raising, and assisting with scale-ups and global expansion.
Jon Brett
Chairman | Investment Committee Member
Jon is an experienced private equity professional. He was a director of Investec Wentworth Private Equity and was responsible for sourcing, executing, growing, and divesting investee companies.
Alan Chonowitz
Director | Investment Committee Member
Alan has more than 30 years experience in the banking, finance and superannuation sectors, with executive responsibility for finance, strategy, risk and investment.
Belinda Dorfan
Head of Governance, Legal, Risk and Compliance
Belinda, is a qualified solicitor and has over 20 years' experience in legal, governance, compliance and risk in Australian banks and other financial services businesses including funds management, private equity, asset management and capital markets.
Stefan Zurflüh
COO | Investment Committee Member
At Stride Equity, Stefan has been instrumental in the branding of the crowdfunding platform and he oversees daily operations, and he is the primary contact for investee companies.