Raising Capital:
What Investors Actually Look For

What investors look for, how diligence really works, and how to raise in Victoria

From hyperscale ambition and founder magnetism to AI-era diligence, reverse due diligence, and Victoria’s tight-knit investor ecosystem: practical insights for founders deciding when, how, and why to raise.

Most founders think about raising capital backwards. They build a deck, list a target raise, and start cold-emailing investors. The four VCs in this episode flip that on its head. They explain why the best founders build relationships with investors long before they need a check, why traction alone no longer signals a moat in the AI era, and why choosing your cap table is closer to choosing a business partner than closing a sale. If you’re trying to work out whether your business is venture-backable, what investors are actually screening for at each stage, or how to navigate the Victorian investor community without it feeling networky, this conversation will change how you approach your next raise.

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The panel tackles and shares:

  • Venture-backable isn’t the only path. Hyperscale potential and the founder’s appetite for the VC journey both matter — plenty of great SMEs shouldn’t raise.
  • Founders who attract talent, customers, and capital behave like magnets. Early relationships with investors can start long before a formal raise.
  • Market sizing splits by firm thesis. Pain-first founders, real tailwinds, and “impossible today, inevitable tomorrow” thinking outrank top-down spreadsheets.
  • The bootstrap signal: how far a founder gets without capital is one of the cleanest reads on quality. Obvious unfunded steps left untaken are a red flag.
  • AI-era diligence has changed the read on traction. Hockey-stick growth without a moat is now noise; investors want a real ten-year view.
  • Investor updates are marketing emails. Build relationships before you need them — but don’t ask for half an hour, ask for the monthly update list.
  • Lead the pitch deck with traction, not problem-and-solution. Get explicit advisor consent. Don’t bury unit economics.
  • Use Victoria’s density. Co-investment is the default; investors talk to each other; programs and pre-accelerators give founders a real entry point at every stage.

What Makes a Startup Investment-Ready

Investment-ready is a combination of hyperscale ambition, a founder who pulls in talent, customers, and capital, and a real pain point in a market that’s about to break open. Four of Victoria’s most active VCs explain what they look for before the deck and the spreadsheets. →

What Investors Look for in Their Startup Picks

The panel walks through what they’re actually looking for at each stage, why the data room is a pile of clues rather than answers, and the one question Rachael asks every founder before going further. →

The Founder-Investor Marriage

Four of Victoria’s most active VCs walk through what hands-on actually looks like at pre-seed and seed, when to take a board seat, why investor updates work better as a two-way exchange than a reporting task, and how to build relationships with future investors without sounding networky. →

What Investors Actually Want in a Pitch

The Panel walk through what to put in front of an investor (market size, team, traction, competition, the ask) and what to leave off (pitching competition wins, advisors who never agreed to be there, hardware that loses more money as it scales). →

Advice for Startups Raising Capital in Victoria

Most investors know each other, co-invest by design, and call each other before they call the founder back. The panel closes the episode on what to do if you’re not ready yet, and why Melbourne’s density compounds for founders who lean into it. →

Meet the Investors

Rachael Neumann – Founding Partner at Flying Fox Ventures. Flying Fox is one of Australia’s most active early-stage venture capital firms. Former Amazon executive with deep operator experience. Rachael backs founders at eye-wateringly early stages, invests off-balance sheet to build conviction, and champions Victoria’s tight-knit startup ecosystem. Portfolio includes 70+ companies.

Justine Carzino – Investment Principal at OneVentures. Justine focuses on Series A to Series B investments and helps companies build go-to-market strategies for international expansion. She brings a sharp lens on founder-investor alignment and long-term partnership over the 10-year fund lifecycle. OneVentures is one of Australia’s leading venture capital and growth equity firms.

Timothy Hui – Partner at Mandalay Venture Partners. Mandalay is a thematically focused fund investing in agri-food technology across Australia and Southeast Asia. Engineering background with a first-principles approach to startup evaluation. Timothy takes board seats selectively and brings deep commercial networks and governance expertise to early-stage portfolio companies.

Rohan Workman – Co-Founder & CEO at Skalata Ventures. Skalata invests at the pre-seed and seed stage across a portfolio of 80+ companies. Former accelerator leader with a practical, founder-first approach to early-stage support. Rohan is known for direct advice, strong co-investor relationships, and building the infrastructure that helps founders move from chaos to structure.

Looking for aligned investors in Victoria?

Browse LaunchVic’s Investor Directory to find investors backing companies at your stage and in your sector.
Browse the Investor Directory →

About the Series

BOLD is produced by LaunchVic and filmed at Sanders Place in Cremorne. Our mission is simple: show the real journey of entrepreneurship to inspire and guide the next generation of Victorian founders.

Available now on our YouTube channel.