About Starfish Ventures
Starfish Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2001. It is primarily based out of Melbourne, Australia. As of Aug 2023, Starfish Ventures has invested in 42 companies. It primarily invests in Series A round in Australia based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and Consumer. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of DIAL4242 Overall, Starfish Ventures portfolio has seen 6 IPOs and 16 acquisitions including key companies like Protagonist Therapeutics, Nitro and iSelect. A lot of funds co-invest with Starfish Ventures, with names like Lilly Ventures sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Starfish Ventures has team of 5 people including 2 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series A, Seed & 3 more
Portfolio IPOs
Starfish Ventures' List of Top Investments
Starfish Ventures has a portfolio of 42 companies. Their most notable investments are in DesignCrowd and DesignCrowd.Their portfolio spans across Australia, United States, India and 2 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Consumer and 23 other sectors, across stages such as Series A, Seed and 3 more. Here is the list of top investments by Starfish Ventures:Developer of oral peptide therapeutics for gastrointestinal diseases. It offers orally stable peptide therapeutics for drugs against inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome disease-related targets, and gastrointestinal diseases and disorders. It offers IL-6, a peptide antagonist as an anti-inflammatory agent; and a novel hepcidin peptide mimetic for the treatment of iron overload related disorders. Its pipeline includes PTG-100, an a4ß7 integrin-specific oral peptide antagonist for the treatment of IBDs; and IL-23, a receptor oral peptide antagonist for the treatment of IBDs.
Key facts about Protagonist Therapeutics
- Founded Year: 2001
- Location: Milpitas (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $434M as on Dec 31, 2024
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $67M
- Employee Count: 112 as on Dec 31, 2023
- Investors: Aisling Capital, RA Capital Management and 12 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Aug 09, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Public
2. Aktana
Provider of AI-powered solutions for healthcare provider engagement in life sciences. The company offers tools for strategy orchestration, automated intelligence, and amplified engagement. These solutions support brand, commercial, medical affairs, and medtech teams. The platform uses contextual intelligence, omnichannel data interface, and agentic AI to provide insights and recommendations.
Key facts about Aktana
- Founded Year: 2008
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $90.7M
- Employee Count: 131 as on Feb 28, 2026
- Investors: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Transformation Capital and 8 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Oct 16, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. Nitro
Cloud-based digital transaction management suite solutions. It allows users to create, prepare, and edit PDF documents while collaborating with the team. It also provides users with a software solution that enables users to create, merge, edit, convert, and review PDF files. It also provides secure and legally binding e-signature solutions. It is the tool available on a subscription-based pricing model.
Key facts about Nitro
- Founded Year: 2005
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $36.6M
- Employee Count: 157 as on Dec 31, 2022
- Investors: Regal Funds Management, Alium Capital and 4 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Apr 03, 2017, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
4. iSelect
iSelect is an online aggregator of financial products. Offers comparison services for health and life insurance, car insurance, home insurance, travel insurance, credit cards and home loans. Users enter the required details on the platform and an advisor contacts for providing assistance. The advisor helps the users to choose from the multiple products provided by service providers. Also provides the comparison of utility services including electricity, gas, broadband and mobile phone plans.
Key facts about iSelect
- Founded Year: 1999
- Location: Cheltenham (Australia)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $30.2M
- Employee Count: 422 as on Dec 19, 2025
- Investors: Starfish Ventures, Spectrum Equity and 1 Other
- Latest Funding Round: PE, Mar 2011, $*****
- Highlight: Public
5. Audinate
Audinate is a digital audio networking technology provider. Its Dante platform distributes digital audio signals over computer networks and is designed to connect IT networking to the professional AV industry. Its patented Dante media networking technology has been adopted by various manufacturers and professionals in the audio/visual industry. It is used for broadcast, live performance, recording and production events, commercial installation, and communications systems.
Key facts about Audinate
- Founded Year: 2006
- Location: Sydney (Australia)
- Annual Revenue: £4.66M as on Jun 30, 2024
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $7.39M
- Employee Count: 161 as on Jul 01, 2024
- Investors: Herald Investment Management, UBS and 4 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Sep 08, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Starfish Ventures' Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Starfish Ventures has invested in 42 companies over the last 22 years, with an average of 0 new investment annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in DIAL4242 and most recent follow-on round was in DesignCrowd.Starfish Ventures' Investments by Stage
Starfish Ventures has made 21 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $4.26M, 11 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $732K, 3 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $6M, 3 investments in Series C stage with an average round size of $36.6M and 1 investment in Post IPO stage.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series A | 21 |
Seed | 11 |
Series B | 3 |
Series C | 3 |
Post IPO | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Starfish Ventures' Investments by Sector
Starfish Ventures has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Life Sciences, Consumer and HealthTech. Notably, it has invested in 32 Tech companies, 27 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 18 Software companies and at least 12 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 14 |
High Tech | 6 |
Life Sciences | 6 |
Consumer | 4 |
HealthTech | 4 |
Others | 40 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Starfish Ventures' Investments by Geography
Starfish Ventures has made most investments in Australia (20), followed by United States where it has made 16 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Australia | 20 |
United States | 16 |
India | 1 |
Netherlands | 1 |
United Kingdom | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Starfish Ventures' recent investments
Starfish Ventures has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Starfish Ventures:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 21, 2023 | India | Seed | 6069 | [+7] | |
Aug 20, 2021 | Australia | Seed | 3388 | ||
Feb 01, 2021 | Australia | Series C | 7625 | [+5] | |
Jun 08, 2016 | United States | Series B | 1683 | ||
Jul 24, 2015 | United States | Series C | 4098 | [+6] |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Starfish Ventures' Portfolio
6 of Starfish Ventures' portfolio companies have become public. Audinate got listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), in Jun 2017 at marketcap of $52.1M and Protagonist Therapeutics got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) at marketcap of $196M.Here are Starfish Ventures' portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 30, 2017 | Apr 17, 2008 | Series A | 7528 | |
Aug 11, 2016 | Sep 19, 2006 | Series A | 9273 | |
Dec 11, 2013 | Apr 2008 | Seed | 1364 | |
Jun 24, 2013 | - | - | 7853 | |
Oct 24, 2007 | Aug 08, 2006 | Series A | 1931 |
Acquired companies in Starfish Ventures' Portfolio
16 companies from Starfish Ventures' portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Echoview in Sep 2025 by Zunibal for $*****.Here are Starfish Ventures' portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 03, 2025 | Nov 2007 | Series A | 5828 | |
Jan 30, 2024 | Nov 20, 2012 | Series A | 6258 | |
Nov 15, 2022 | Apr 03, 2012 | Series A | 2094 | |
Oct 07, 2021 | Oct 25, 2010 | Series B | 4092 | |
Nov 09, 2018 | Sep 2005 | Post IPO | 1381 |
Team profile of Starfish Ventures
Starfish Ventures has a team of 5 members including 2 Partners and 2 Principals located in Australia, Thailand and 1 more location. Starfish Ventures' team sits on the board of 1 company.Here is a list of all team members in Starfish Ventures:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Melbourne | |||
Partner | Melbourne | - | ||
Principal | Hoffman Estates | - | - | |
Principal | Thailand | - | - |
Co-investors of Starfish Ventures
Over the past 22 years, 119 investors have co-invested in Starfish Ventures's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Starfish Ventures: Startmate, Government of Australia and 28 others have invested in rounds before Starfish Ventures. There are 2 companies where Startmate has invested before Starfish Ventures and 1 company where Government of Australia has invested before Starfish Ventures.
- Top Co-investors of Starfish Ventures: 39 investors entered a company along with Starfish Ventures. These include investors like Lilly Ventures (1 company).
- Invested after Starfish Ventures: A total of 50 investors have invested in Starfish Ventures's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Regal Funds Management (2 companies), Alium Capital (2 companies) and Canaan (1 company).
Recent News related to Starfish Ventures
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Swinburne 3D printing spinout H3D lands $5.8 million Series AStartup Daily•Sep 16, 2025•H3D, Significant, Starfish Ventures, H3D and 2 others
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Custom earpiece startup Hearables3D raises $1 millionStartup Daily•Aug 20, 2021•H3D, Significant, Starfish Ventures
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DesignCrowd raises $10 million AUD to grow its DIY platform, BrandCrowdTechCrunch+•Feb 01, 2021•DesignCrowd, BrandCrowd, Perennial, Alium Capital and 5 others
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CIBC Innovation Banking Provides Aktana with $20 Million Growth FinancingBusiness Wire•Sep 25, 2019•Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Aktana, HLM Venture Partners, SVB Leerink and 2 others
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DesignCrowd Raises $6M To Grow Its Creative Marketplace In The WestTechCrunch+•Feb 04, 2015•DesignCrowd, AirTree, Starfish Ventures, Starfish Ventures
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Workflow Startup BugHerd Just Landed $1 Million In Funding | Business Insiderbusinessinsider.com.au•Aug 25, 2014•BugHerd, Starfish Ventures, Tank Stream Ventures, 500 Global
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Funding Announcement: BugHerd secures $1M - Bugherd Blog BugHerd•Aug 25, 2014•Macropod, 500 Global, Tank Stream Ventures, Starfish Ventures and 1 other
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