Raising Your First Round: SAFEs, Convertible Notes, Priced Rounds & ESIC in Australia

The funding instrument you use for your first round is not just a legal formality — it determines your balance sheet, your investor's rights, your company's valuation timeline, and the dilution you and your co-founders will experience when the instrument eventually converts into equity. Choose well, and you can raise quickly, keep your cap table clean, and preserve negotiating leverage for your Series A. Choose poorly, and you may face unexpected repayment obligations, premature valuation pressure, or compounding dilution you didn't model.

Australian founders today have three main instruments to choose from: the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity), the convertible note, and the priced equity round. Each sits at a different point on the speed-cost-complexity spectrum, and each carries distinct legal, tax, and commercial implications under Australian law. The government has also layered on significant incentives — most importantly the ESIC regime — that can make angel investment in your company substantially more attractive to investors if your company qualifies.

This guide walks you through each instrument, the ESIC and ESVCLP incentive frameworks, and the cap table hygiene principles you need to keep your ownership structure investor-ready. Read it before you sign anything.

A cap table (capitalisation table) is the definitive record of who owns your company — and in what form. It lists every shareholder, option holder, SAFE holder, and convertible note holder, along with their percentage ownership on a fully diluted basis (i.e., assuming all instruments convert and all options vest). Every time you issue shares, grant options, sign a SAFE, or issue a convertible note, the cap table changes.

Managing your cap table carefully from day one matters because: (1) investors expect a clean, organised cap table as part of due diligence; (2) multiple SAFEs with different valuation caps can create compounding dilution that is genuinely difficult to model without a dedicated tool; and (3) poor cap table hygiene — too many small angels, unconverted instruments, or unclear option grants — is a common reason Series A investors ask for clean-ups (at cost to founders). Tools such as Cake Equity, Carta, or Ledgy are purpose-built for Australian startups and will track complex instruments, model conversion scenarios, and generate investor-ready reports.

A SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) is a written funding agreement where an investor provides capital now in exchange for the right to receive shares at a future trigger event — typically a priced equity round, a sale or merger, or dissolution. Critically, a SAFE is not a debt instrument: it carries no interest rate, no maturity date, and no repayment obligation. As business.gov.au explains, the SAFE sits on your balance sheet as equity (not as a liability), which keeps your financial position cleaner than a convertible note.

The core features shared by all SAFEs are: no maturity date; no interest rate; automatic conversion on any priced share issue; and a valuation cap (the maximum company valuation at which the SAFE converts, protecting early investors if the company raises at a high price later). A discount rate — typically 15–25%, with 20% most common in Australia and New Zealand — gives the SAFE holder a reduced price per share compared to new investors in the next round.

The standard Australian SAFE template is published by the Australian Investment Council (AIC), which released an updated suite of Open Source Seed Financing Documents in November 2023. The AIC template and the US Y Combinator (YC) SAFE look similar on the surface but differ in several material ways that matter under Australian law, as analysed by Addisons Law:

• Capitalisation for conversion: The YC SAFE (current post-money version) excludes other SAFEs and convertible notes from the cap calculation. The AIC SAFE includes the SAFE itself, all other SAFEs, and convertible notes — this creates a lower conversion price and is therefore more dilutionary to the investor, but reflects how Australian investors actually model ownership.
• Insolvency treatment: The November 2023 AIC update changed the SAFE's ranking on dissolution so that it is treated as preferred equity — ranking behind unsecured creditors and debt convertible notes, equally with other SAFEs, and senior to ordinary shareholders. Under the old AIC SAFE, SAFE holders ranked equally with unsecured creditors.
• Discount rate formula: The AIC SAFE explicitly clarifies the formula as (1 − discount %) × price per share to prevent the drafting error (inserting 20% rather than 80%) that has occurred in practice.
• SAFE Side Letter: The November 2023 AIC suite introduced a new Side Letter instrument (not standard in the YC template) that includes an MFN (most-favoured-nation) clause and pre-emptive rights. The MFN clause means that if later SAFEs offer better terms (a lower cap or higher discount), existing SAFE holders can amend their terms to match.

Which should you use? Always use the AIC template or have Australian counsel review any SAFE document. The YC SAFE was developed for US law and does not automatically reflect Australian company law or local market practice, as LegalVision notes. Most Australian angel investors and early-stage VCs expect the AIC format.

Additionally, be aware that depending on how widely the SAFE is marketed and to whom it is offered, Corporations Act 2001 disclosure requirements may apply. Most Australian SAFEs rely on the sophisticated investor exemption under s.708 of the Corporations Act, as Sprintlaw explains.

These three instruments represent a spectrum from simple and quick to complex and thorough. Here is how they compare:

Sources: Sprintlaw; Cake Equity; Carta.

Use a SAFE for pre-seed and seed rounds where speed and simplicity matter, where you are not ready to set a valuation, and where angels and early-stage VCs are comfortable with convert-later structures. Rolling raises are easy since there is no maturity date. Use the AIC post-money SAFE as the Australian standard.

Use a convertible note for bridge rounds between priced rounds (the maturity creates useful pressure to close the next round); when institutional investors require debt structures; or when international investors are involved (it is a more globally familiar instrument). In Australia, convertible notes remain common for later bridge financing.

Use a priced equity round from Series A onward when the company has sufficient traction to justify a negotiated valuation, when raising from institutional VCs, or when founders want clarity on ownership and a settled cap table. This requires a term sheet, shareholder agreement, and significant legal work.

Key terms you must understand:

• Valuation cap: Sets the maximum company valuation at which the SAFE or note converts, protecting early investors if the company raises at a high price later. This is the most common protective feature in Australian SAFEs.
• Discount rate: Gives the SAFE or note holder a reduced price per share compared to new investors in the next round. The common range in Australia and New Zealand is 15–25%, with 20% being most common, according to Edition Group.
• MFN (most-favoured-nation) clause: Entitles the investor to the most favourable terms offered to later SAFE investors. Included in the AIC Side Letter template.
• Post-money vs. pre-money SAFE: A post-money SAFE fixes the investor's ownership percentage at the time of signing — making dilution modelling more predictable. The current AIC SAFE uses post-money mechanics.

Founders should model their fully diluted cap table under different conversion scenarios before signing any SAFE or note. Industry practitioners commonly describe the following ranges (these reflect global and US practitioner commentary including Y Combinator norms, not Australian-specific statistical data — treat as indicative only):

• Small SAFE or pre-seed round (≤$500K): 3–6% dilution, sometimes up to 12% at the high end.
• Pre-seed round ($500K–$2M): Approximately 10–15%.
• Seed round ($2M–$5M on a SAFE or priced round): Approximately 18–23%, or around 20% on a priced seed.

Post-money SAFEs compound: each SAFE fixes a precise ownership percentage for that investor at signing. If you issue multiple SAFEs at different caps to different investors, total dilution is the sum of all those fixed percentages plus any option pool. Model this carefully before signing. An option pool of 10–15% of fully diluted share capital is the most commonly cited range for Australian startups, with 10% being the most frequent choice at seed stage according to HSBC Innovation Banking's 2026 Term Sheet Guide.

The Early Stage Innovation Company (ESIC) tax incentive, operative from 1 July 2016 under Division 360 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, encourages private investment in innovative Australian startups by offering eligible investors two significant tax concessions when they purchase new shares in a qualifying ESIC. If your company qualifies, every angel investor who buys shares in you gets a 20% tax offset on their investment — making your startup substantially more attractive than a non-ESIC company at the same stage and price.

The two concessions, as set out by the ATO, are:

• 20% non-refundable carry-forward tax offset: 20% of the amount paid for newly issued shares in the ESIC. Capped at $200,000 per investor (and their affiliates combined) per income year — meaning the maximum eligible investment generating the offset is $1,000,000 per year. Any unused offset carries forward to future years.
• Modified CGT treatment: Capital gains on qualifying shares held continuously for at least 12 months and less than 10 years may be entirely disregarded — a full capital gains tax exemption. Capital losses on shares held less than 10 years must also be disregarded (there is no capital loss benefit either). After 10 years, standard CGT rules apply with the original cost base restored.

Investor eligibility is tiered based on whether the investor is classified as a "sophisticated investor" under the Corporations Act 2001. According to the ATO:

• Sophisticated investors (gross income ≥ $250,000 in each of the last two years, or net assets ≥ $2.5 million): eligible for the full $200,000 annual offset cap.
• Non-sophisticated investors: Only eligible if their total investment across all ESICs in that income year is $50,000 or less (maximum offset: $10,000). If the $50,000 limit is exceeded, all ESIC concessions are lost entirely for that year.

Additional restrictions apply: investors must not be widely-held companies, associates of the ESIC, or employees of the ESIC. They must not hold more than 30% equity in the ESIC after the share issue. The ESIC incentive applies only to new share issues — secondary transfers of existing shares do not qualify.

Anti-avoidance warning: In December 2024, the ATO issued Taxpayer Alert TA 2024/1 regarding schemes designed to artificially satisfy ESIC conditions via round-tripping of funds. Part IVA general anti-avoidance rules apply, as analysed by DLA Piper. Structure your round legitimately.

To qualify as an ESIC, a company must first pass the Early Stage Test — four requirements that must all be satisfied at the time the new shares are issued to the investor. These requirements are set out by the ATO:

1. Incorporation recency: The company was incorporated in Australia or registered on the Australian Business Register (ABR) within the last 3 income years (or within 6 income years if the group had total expenses ≤ $1 million across 3 prior income years).
2. Expense threshold: Total accounting expenses of the company plus wholly-owned subsidiaries were ≤ $1 million in the prior income year.
3. Income threshold: Assessable income of the company plus wholly-owned subsidiaries was ≤ $200,000 in the prior income year. Accelerating Commercialisation Grants and certain R&D clawback amounts are excluded from this calculation.
4. Unlisted: The company's equity interests are not listed on any stock exchange (Australian or foreign).

Once the Early Stage Test is passed, the company must also pass either the 100-Point Innovation Test or the Principles-Based Innovation Test. Both are described below.

The 100-Point Innovation Test is an objective, points-based test. A company needs to accumulate at least 100 points from the following criteria, according to the ATO:

The two most common pathways to 100 points in practice are: (1) claiming the R&D Tax Incentive where R&D spending is ≥50% of expenses (75 points), and (2) having previously raised at least $50,000 from unrelated external investors (50 points) — together these exceed 100 points, as William Buck notes. An accelerator program completion alone (50 points) plus a $50,000 third-party investment (50 points) also gets you there.

If your company cannot reach 100 points under the objective test, it may still qualify under the Principles-Based Innovation Test — but all five of the following requirements must be met simultaneously, tested at the time of share issuance and supported by existing documentation (such as a business plan, commercialisation strategy, or competitive analysis). The ATO requires that the company:

1. Is genuinely focused on developing one or more new or significantly improved innovations for commercialisation.
2. The business relating to that innovation has high growth potential.
3. Can demonstrate potential to successfully scale (operating leverage with growth).
4. Can demonstrate potential to address a broader than local market, including global markets.
5. Can demonstrate potential to have competitive advantages for that business.

The principles-based test is more subjective and harder to defend in a review. The ATO's online ESIC decision tool provides a useful self-assessment starting point, but the tool result is not binding on the ATO. The onus is on the investor to confirm ESIC status and maintain supporting records, as William Buck advises. If your company is borderline, document your innovation case thoroughly before the share issue date.

The Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) is a tax-advantaged fund structure for pooled venture capital targeting early-stage Australian companies. Established under the Venture Capital Act 2002, ESVCLPs offer a highly attractive tax treatment for institutional investors — which means they are a meaningful source of capital for Australian founders at pre-seed through early expansion stage.

According to business.gov.au, key features of the ESVCLP regime include:

• Fund size: $10 million to $200 million in committed capital (with conditional registration possible below this threshold). From 1 July 2027, pending legislative amendment, the cap will increase to $270 million.
• Flow-through tax status: The partnership itself is not taxed.
• Investor tax benefits: Limited partners (investors) are exempt from tax on income and gains from eligible investments. They also receive a non-refundable carry-forward tax offset of up to 10% of the value of their eligible contributions during the income year, as described in ATO T7 ESVCLP 2025 instructions.
• Eligible investment stages: Pre-seed, seed, startup, and early expansion.
• Minimum holding period: 12 months for investments.
• Investee company asset size cap: Currently $50 million (increasing to $80 million from 1 July 2027, pending legislation).

ESVCLP funds have specific investment mandate requirements: the fund must invest only in eligible early-stage businesses meeting the statutory criteria. This has a practical implication for SAFEs: a SAFE issued to an ESVCLP investor must qualify as a convertible note that is not a debt interest under Australian tax law, as business.gov.au notes. Your SAFE documentation must be structured carefully to ensure it qualifies — this is another reason to use Australian legal counsel rather than a generic US template.

Registration for ESVCLP status is managed by Innovation and Science Australia's Innovation Investment Committee. Founders do not register for ESVCLP status themselves — it is the fund manager who applies. What you need to understand is whether the VC fund approaching you is an ESVCLP, because that affects what instrument they can legally use to invest in you and what their holding period requirements are.

Work through this checklist before you start talking to investors:

• ☐ Choose your instrument: Decide whether a SAFE, convertible note, or priced round is appropriate for your stage and investor type.
• ☐ Use the AIC SAFE template: Download the November 2023 AIC Open Source Seed Financing Documents (SAFE, Side Letter, Subscription Agreement). Do not use the US YC SAFE without Australian legal review.
• ☐ Set up your cap table tool: Start tracking all equity, options, SAFEs, and convertible notes in Cake Equity, Carta, or Ledgy from the first instrument signed.
• ☐ Model your post-conversion dilution: Before signing any SAFE, model the fully diluted cap table at conversion under your expected next-round valuation, including your option pool.
• ☐ Check ESIC eligibility — Early Stage Test: Confirm your company: (a) was incorporated within the last 3 years; (b) had total expenses ≤ $1M in the prior year; (c) had assessable income ≤ $200K in the prior year; (d) is unlisted.
• ☐ Check ESIC eligibility — Innovation Test: Count your 100-point score or assess whether you meet all five principles-based criteria. Document your position in writing before issuing shares.
• ☐ Prepare ESIC documentation: Gather your R&D registration evidence, accelerator completion certificates, third-party investment records, or patent certificates as applicable to your 100-point score.
• ☐ Advise investors of ESIC status: Once you believe your company qualifies, proactively mention ESIC in investor conversations — the 20% offset is a material benefit that can help close angels.
• ☐ Use the ATO's ESIC decision tool: Complete the online self-assessment, but remember the result is not binding. Keep a written record of your analysis at the time of each share issue.
• ☐ Get Australian legal and tax advice: Before your first raise, spend $2–5K on a startup-focused Australian lawyer to review your SAFE template, cap table, and ESIC eligibility. This is the highest-ROI legal spend you will make.
• ☐ SPV strategy for angels: If you are raising from multiple small angels, consider grouping them via a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to keep the number of cap table entries manageable for future investors.
• ☐ Check ESVCLP mandate if applicable: If a VC fund is approaching you, ask whether it is an ESVCLP and what instrument it requires for its investment to qualify under the regime.

SAFEs can technically be issued to multiple investors in a rolling raise, which is one of their advantages. However, if you are raising from non-sophisticated investors, you need to be careful about the Corporations Act 2001 disclosure requirements — most SAFEs rely on the sophisticated investor exemption under s.708. For crowdfunding-style raises from retail investors, Australia's equity crowdfunding regime under the Corporations Act applies, and a SAFE may not be the appropriate instrument without additional compliance steps. Consult an Australian lawyer before marketing to non-sophisticated investors.

ESIC eligibility is assessed at the time of the share issue — not on an ongoing basis. Once the investor has acquired qualifying shares, the ESIC concessions are locked in for that investment (subject to the investor maintaining the required holding period and not exceeding the 30% ownership threshold). However, if your company issues new shares to new investors at a later date, you must reassess ESIC eligibility at that point in time, and you may no longer qualify (for example, if your revenue or expenses have grown beyond the Early Stage Test thresholds). Keep records of your ESIC status assessment at the time of every new share issue.

No. The ESIC 20% offset is a non-refundable carry-forward tax offset. This means if the investor's tax liability in the current year is less than the offset amount, the unused portion is carried forward to future income years. It does not generate a cash refund. For investors with large tax liabilities (which is common among sophisticated investors investing meaningful amounts), this carry-forward feature is generally not a problem — the offset will be used within a year or two. Ensure your investors understand this, particularly if they are non-sophisticated investors making their first ESIC investment.

A pre-money SAFE converts based on a valuation cap that does not account for other SAFEs or convertible instruments on issue — meaning founders bear the dilution from those other instruments. A post-money SAFE fixes each investor's ownership percentage at signing based on the cap (including all SAFEs and the option pool), so the investor knows exactly what percentage they will own at conversion. The current AIC SAFE and the current YC SAFE both use post-money mechanics.

For founders, post-money SAFEs are more dilutionary on a per-SAFE basis (because each SAFE fixes an ownership slice), but they are more predictable — you know exactly what you are giving up. Pre-money SAFEs can appear cheaper but become more dilutionary in aggregate if you issue multiple SAFEs. Most Australian investors now expect post-money mechanics, so this is not typically a negotiating point.

Only conditionally. A SAFE issued to an ESVCLP investor must qualify as a convertible note that is not a debt interest under Australian tax law in order to count as an eligible venture capital investment for ESVCLP purposes, as business.gov.au explains. This is a specific Australian tax law characterisation issue. If the SAFE is treated as a debt interest (which can occur depending on its terms), it falls outside the ESVCLP's eligible investment mandate. Always involve Australian tax counsel when structuring a SAFE for an ESVCLP investor.

There is no hard legal limit on the number of SAFEs you can issue, but there are practical governance and investor relations limits. Common practitioner guidance suggests that once you have raised more than approximately $1–2M on SAFEs and have 10+ SAFE holders, complexity is increasing materially. At this point, doing a priced seed round clarifies the cap table, sets a valuation all parties have agreed to, and gives investors the preferred stock rights they will expect. Institutional seed VCs typically prefer a priced round (or will convert all outstanding SAFEs at the round) precisely because a clean cap table with agreed terms is important for Series A due diligence. Model the conversion of all your outstanding SAFEs at your expected seed round valuation before deciding — if the resulting dilution is acceptable, a priced round may be the right next step.

Here is a step-by-step worked example using a post-money SAFE — the structure used in ~83% of SAFEs globally and the basis of the AIC SAFE template.

Scenario: You raise $500,000 on a post-money SAFE with a $5,000,000 post-money valuation cap. Twelve months later, you close a $2M Series A at a $10M pre-money valuation.

Step 1 — Ownership locked in at signing

Under a post-money SAFE, the investor's ownership percentage is fixed immediately at signing:

SAFE Ownership = $500,000 ÷ $5,000,000 = 10.0%

The SAFE investor has locked in 10% before anyone else has been diluted.

Step 2 — Conversion price at the priced round

Assume founders started with 10,000,000 shares. The SAFE converts at:

Conversion Price = $5,000,000 ÷ 10,000,000 = $0.50 per share
SAFE Shares Issued = $500,000 ÷ $0.50 = 1,000,000 new shares

Step 3 — Series A pricing and final cap table

After SAFE conversion (11,000,000 shares outstanding), the Series A price is approximately $10M ÷ 11,000,000 = $0.91 per share — well above the SAFE's $0.50 cap, confirming the cap applied. The final ownership after a $2M Series A (≈2,198,000 new shares):

Key takeaway: The SAFE investor's 10% locked in at signing dilutes to ~7.8% once the Series A closes — but they paid $0.50/share vs the Series A's $0.91/share, a ~45% discount. Under a post-money SAFE, the investor is not diluted by subsequent SAFEs (only by the priced round), making the post-money structure the preferred form per Carta's convertible securities guide.

The Cut Through Venture State of Australian Startup Funding 2025 report (390 announced deals, $5.4B total funding) provides the most authoritative benchmarks:

Q1 2026 saw even stronger momentum: Cut Through Quarterly 1Q 2026 recorded 81 venture rounds totalling $1.8B — the strongest Q1 since the 2022 peak. Seed round medians jumped to $6.1M and Series A to $12.5M in Q1 2026. Median seed valuations reached $16M (up 35% vs 2025 average, double Q1 2024's $7.7M), with median SAFE caps at $15M at seed stage.

2025 was Australia's third-largest funding year on record — capital up 31% year-on-year. However, the top 20 deals accounted for 58% of total capital, illustrating a two-speed market. International investor participation is now embedded: 59% of founders pursued both local and international investors, per the Folklore Ventures 2025 report.

The Australian early-stage ecosystem has several well-capitalised investors active in 2025-26:

• Blackbird Ventures — Australia's largest VC, managing 5 ESVCLP funds with $1.6B+ net assets and a portfolio worth over $9.9B (174 companies, 8 unicorns including Canva). Raised a ~A$700M sixth flagship fund in 2025. Runs a dedicated Seed fund for first cheques pre-revenue. See Blackbird's ESVCLP profile.
• AirTree Ventures — Closed a $650M Fund V in 2026: $250M dedicated to pre-seed/seed, $400M for growth. In its prior fund, 83% of investments were at Seed and 48% were pre-revenue. Details at the AirTree Fund V announcement.
• Square Peg Capital — Manages over US$3.6B; typical cheques $2M–$10M+. Backs ANZ founders globally from Seed to Series B, including Airwallex (Series F lead). See Square Peg on LinkedIn.
• Startmate — ANZ's largest accelerator. Invests $120,000 AUD on a $1.5M post-money SAFE for first-time raisers (up to 8% equity); 12-week intensive program. A Continuity Fund follows on up to $500K per company. See Startmate Accelerator and investment terms.
• Antler Australia — Inception-stage VC; 8–10 week residencies twice yearly (February and July). ~57 founders selected from ~2,000 applications per cohort; $6M available per residency for investment. Antler Elevate follows on with $3–10M average cheques at Series A–C. See Antler Australia.

For Seed and Series A, international co-investors are increasingly common — US and UK funds often join syndicates alongside local leads from Series A upward, where local cheque depth narrows significantly.

Australia's crowd-sourced funding (CSF) regime, governed by the Corporations Act 2001 (Part 6D.3A), allows eligible unlisted companies to raise up to $5 million per 12-month period from retail investors via a licensed intermediary. Key rules per ASIC's CSF regulatory resources:

Two licensed platforms dominate the market: Birchal (AFSL 502618), Australia's largest CSF platform with 130+ successful offers raising over $100M since 2018; and Equitise, which operates across both Australia and New Zealand. All offers must use an ASIC-licensed CSF intermediary — verify current licensed platforms via the ASIC intermediary register, as platforms can enter and exit the market.

CSF is most suitable for consumer-facing or community-driven businesses where customer investors provide both capital and brand advocacy. The $5M cap and ordinary-shares-only requirement make it less suitable for venture-backed startups expecting preference share structures at Series A.

Early Stage Innovation Company (ESIC) status entitles qualifying investors to a 20% non-refundable tax offset on their investment (capped at $200,000 offset per year per investor) and a 10-year CGT exemption on any capital gain if shares are held for 12 months to 10 years. This makes ESIC a powerful investor incentive to include in your fundraising pitch.

To qualify as an ESIC, a company must satisfy either a 100-point innovation test (objective criteria including patents, accelerator membership, commercialisation grants, R&D expenditure of 15%+ of total expenses) or a principles-based test (high potential for growth, genuinely focussed on innovation, IP). The company must also have: total income < $200,000 in the prior income year; total expenses < $1,000,000; incorporated in the last 6 years (or 10 years if ≥$1M R&D in prior 3 years); and shares must be in a company that is not listed.

Investor caps: the maximum eligible investment per investor per income year for the offset is $1,000,000 (i.e., 20% offset on up to $1M = $200,000 max offset). The CGT exemption applies to shares in the ESIC held for at least 12 months. Widely held companies (15+ investors) may access broader thresholds. Investors should confirm ESIC status with the company and their tax adviser before investing, as the company bears the disclosure obligation. For further detail, see the business.gov.au ESIC and ESVCLP overview.

These hand-picked videos and podcast episodes go deeper on the topics in this guide. We've favoured Australian creators, advisers and founders, with a few standout global explainers where the concept is universal. Each link was checked to confirm it is live at the time of publishing; treat any figures, tax rates or thresholds mentioned in older clips as point-in-time and cross-check against the current rules above.

Watch

• [AU] Startup 101: Ensuring Your SAFE is Safe | LegalVision — LegalVision (2023). Australian-specific 43-min deep dive into SAFE notes: structure, conversion mechanics, valuation caps, pre/post-money SAFEs, and current AU market trends — from LegalVision's corporate Practice Leaders.
• Decoding Startup Investment: SAFE Notes, Convertible Notes & Priced Rounds — Day One FM - For founders and startup operators (2025). Australian angel investors Cheryl Mack and Maxine Minter (First Cheque / Aussie Angels) break down SAFE notes, convertible notes, priced rounds, MFN clauses, pro-rata rights and founder-friendly vs investor-friendly terms from a local investor perspective.
• Unlocking Tax Benefits for Angel Investors: A Deep Dive into ESIC, ESVCLP, and Investment Strategies — Day One FM - For founders and startup operators (2024). Dedicated AU-focused episode on ESIC (Early Stage Innovation Company) tax offsets, ESVCLP structures, CGT exemptions, and investing via SAFEs — exactly what founders need to understand when pitching ESIC-eligible status to angel investors.
• Investing & Fundraising - The Truth About VC w/ Nick Crocker — The Startup Podcast (2024). Nick Crocker (General Partner, Blackbird Ventures) shares an unfiltered view on AU VC dynamics: term sheets, cap table health, early-stage valuations, and what Blackbird actually looks for — essential context for any AU founder approaching VCs.

Listen

• Startup Equity Matters | Ep. 25 Secrets to the Famous Airtree A+ Raise Documents — Cake (Startup Equity Matters) (2024). ProcurePro founder Alastair Blenkin details how he put together the data room, pitch FAQ, and investor documents for an AirTree-led Series A — a real AU playbook for preparing a funding round, with AirTree's own A+ endorsement.