Accessing Techboard Funding Data

In addition to accessing the data StartupHubs that purchase a Tier 2 data subscription and organisation who purchases a Tier 3 Subscription have the option of being named as a Supporter of Techboard’s Funding Reports and can also obtain addition promotion benefits as follows:

• Being named on Techboard’s Partners Page.
• having a partner profile page.
• The ability to make post-funding announcements on the Techboard platform circulated by EDM, social media and appearing on the Techboard website.

What Data is provided to subscribers

The funding data available to subscribers and covered by Techboard’s Data Access License includes:

1. Company name (to be linked to company profiles);
2. Description;
3. Quarter;
4. Quantum (where known);
5. State;
6. Primary category from Techboard’s categorisation;
7. Full Techboard categorisation (up to 3 categories)
8. Funding type according to Techboard’s categorisation
9. Funder (where known); and
10. Sources such as links to relevant news stories.

Additional information is available to be viewed in company profiles .

Form in which Data is provided to subscribers

We have recently released our all new funding event search engine in beta form to commercial subscribers, enabling sophisticated search and filter of all funding events captured by Techboard since 2017.  Subscribers will be able to download and extract data from these funding charts in a number of different forms including Excel, .csv, PDF.

Tier 3 subscribers are also able to access raw data in spreadsheet form by special agreement.

Where does Techboard get its funding data?

Data is collated by the Techboard team from public sources both manually and via semi-automated screening of the companies in the Techboard Directory. Techboard gets its data from a variety of sources including of course the excellent startup and tech sector press in Australia, extensive desk research as well as deals, grants and other funding events that are announced on Techboard by companies wishing to increase their exposure. In addition, up to 20% of the funding events identified by Techboard have been reported to Techboard by Investors, Government Agencies, Investment Groups or the companies themselves.

Definitions/Metadata

Which Companies does Techboard collect Funding Data on?

Techboard collects funding data on Australian startups and young tech companies which are eligible for a listing on Techboard. Techboard’s interpretation of this phrase is set out below.

What is meant by “startups and technology companies”?

Companies that have proprietary technology or intellectual property at the core of their product or service offering (ie: they are commercialising a technology they have developed) OR they are a high growth potential Startup (which will generally have technology at its core).

What does “Australian” mean?

Companies that are based or born in Australia or have some significant link to Australia.

What can be included:

1. Company was founded in Australia, or
2. Company was founded overseas but has relocated both its headquarters and some significant operational activities to Australia.

What is meant by ‘Young’ for Technology companies??

At the beginning of 2017 Techboard made a strategic decision to limit Techboard to companies younger than 10 years old, with some exceptions, for example, if the Company has had a significant pivot and is effectively reborn OR if the company has yet to launch a product that has had an extended development period. Changes in corporate structure are not considered when calculating the 10 years if the business is ostensibly the same (ie through ASX listing).

Over recent years an increasing number of foreign companies have listed on the ASX. Generally speaking these companies will not be added to techboard or their Funding events included in our reports, unless the company sets up significant activities in Australia, more than establishing a registered office required for compliance purposes.

Why are ASX Listed Companies included?

The traditional source of funding for startups globally is usually private investment with seed and early expansion funds coming from private equity or venture capital sources. Techboard was born in and is based in Western Australia. WA is a State which has gone through significant periods without any venture capital funds being based in the state and the Australian Stock Exchange has become a valid source of venture capital level funding for startups, many of which are based in Western Australia.  

Categorisation of Companies

In the absence of a suitable categorisation approach developed its own approach and has categorised all Companies in the Techboard Directory with up to three categories from 43 categories. For the purposes of ease of filtering and analysis each company has also been designated a primary category. More detail on the categorisation approach is available on the Techboard website.

What type of funding events are captured by Techboard?

Techboard captures funding events including funding from accelerator programs, acquisitions, crowdfunding (reward and equity), major debt instruments (sometimes called venture debt), grants (including awards and prizes), initial coin offerings, initial public offerings and reverse takeovers, ASX placements and Private investment (covering angel/seed investment, venture capital/large scale private investment).

Funding Types – Definitions

Accelerator
Private equity investments made in connection with a formal program, generally described as an accelerator program, often where all companies participating in the accelerator are offered investment according to a predetermined formula of a set amount of equity in exchange for a agreed amount of money. Investments are sometimes made in the form of what are described as SAFE notes.

Acquisition
“Acquisition” refers to where a company acquires all shares in the company. A partial acquisition is recorded as an investment.

Crowdfunding – Equity
The term “Equity Crowdfunding” refers to a capital raise under recently amendments to the Corporations Law described in the legislation as Crowd-Sourced Equity Funding where the investor or backer receives equity or shares in the company running the crowdfunding campaign

Crowdfunding – Reward
The term “Reward Crowdfunding” refers to a company raising money in exchange for the promise or opportunity to provide backers with a product or service rather than shares or equity. Reward crowdfunding is generally associated with crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo and others.

Debt
Debt, including Venture debt is a debt facility capped at an agreed amount (which is the amount recorded by Techboard) generally to provide working capital to a company.

Grant
Refers to situations where a company receives money other than in exchange for shares or equity or as part of the purchase of goods or services. Grants are generally provided by government agencies as part of a grant program but can be provided by a corporation or individual. TEchjbnoard also uses the term ‘grant’ to cover awards or prize money.

ICO (Initial Coin Offering)
An ICO (Initial Coin Offering) is where a company has an initial sale of a new crypto-currency, a coin or token. What is described as a pre-sale or private sale is also recorded as an ICO. Where a company raises investment before a pre-sale or private sale this will be recorded as an Private investment

IPO/RTO (Initial Public Offering/Reverse Takeover)
IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) are when a company first lists on a public stock exchange, usually, the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).  A RTO (Reverse Take-Over), often called a ‘Backdoor’ Listing is where an unlisted company is acquired by a listed company and then the acquired company takes over the listed company. Many RTOs took place over the last few years on the ASX, hover due to a number of factors Reverse takeovers of listed companies by Startup or Tech companies are becoming increasingly uncommon.

Placement
The term “Placement” has been used to describe any form of raising by a listed company after its initial listing.  

Private investment
This descriptor covers all private investments including investments made by Venture Capital funds, Angel investors including high net worth individuals and corporates. This is regardless of how the round is described, unless the investment is properly recorded as Equity crowdfunding or as Accelerator funding, as appropriate.