Australian telecom company Telstra is looking to sell its investments in the venture capital fund it established in 2011, Telstra Ventures, which has rebranded as Titanium Ventures.
“Consistent with our focus on capital discipline and active portfolio management, we are exploring options to sell our current investments in Telstra Ventures funds,” said Telstra CFO Michael Ackland.
Telstra Ventures, now Titanium Ventures, has almost $1 billion in funds under management and has invested in 99 portfolio companies that resulted in 12 IPOs, 17 unicorns, and 42 liquidity events that returned $678 million cash to investors.
The venture capital firm raised $350 million for its third vehicle in 2022 to invest in pre-growth and early-growth companies. The Asian Financial Review reported that Telstra owns half of Titanium’s third fund.
The previous fund, Telstra Ventures Fund II, raised $515 million in 2018 and has overseen 26 company exits, including the US cybersecurity platform CrowdStrike which exited via IPO on the New York Stock Exchange at a $6.08-billion valuation.
Titanium Ventures said the rebranding reflects the continued evolution of its relationship with Telstra since its spin-out in 2018. The firm’s team and investment thesis remain the same.
The firm said it will continue to identify and scale the most promising companies across a variety of AI, digital, and software sectors.
“This is an exciting next chapter in our story. Titanium Ventures will accelerate the extraordinary, fuelling the growth of standout disruptors. That’s what we have done for over a decade and that’s what our investors and founders expect us to do in the decades to come,” said Sydney-based managing partner Matthew Koertge.
Mark Sherman, the San Francisco-based managing partner, said Titanium Ventures looks forward to continuing to work with Telstra on a commercial basis to generate more revenue for its portfolio companies. “It’s business as usual,” he said.
