Launch of Glow Capital Partners

When I think about the "why" behind starting Glow together with Kate, I think about it in terms of an endeavour of head and heart.

Head:  The success of our investments in ecommerce businesses during my time at the Quadrant Growth fund was a real wake up call to me that there is so much opportunity emerging as a result of the acceleration of digitisation and the consequent disruption of existing business models.  The venture firms tend to focus on Software as a Service and yet product based businesses are being disrupted by technology and innovation at a faster rate than ever before.  It is now possible for niche Australian businesses to go global – very few Australian businesses in the past had been able to do this.  In the case of ecommerce - enablers such as Shopify and Afterpay are allowing more rapid scaling than ever before. I find this new emerging environment very exciting and reinvigorating and I am very passionate about the possibilities. 

There used to be only one Silicon Valley in the world and only one true venture capital sector associated with it.  But global digitisation has now meant there are silicon valleys emerging all around the world and that includes Australia. Over the last 10 years the VC and tech sector has grown from almost nothing to the point where we have a constant stream of unicorns now emerging such as Atlassian and Canva.

This newly formed VC ecosystem forms the bedrock of an emerging growth equity sector - that invests in proven business models, but still with rapid growth and scalability enabled by emerging technology.  This area has been underdeveloped in Australia as many of the existing growth investors are more akin to small buyout funds - using debt funding with a conservative and domestic approach to growth and more of a value rather than a growth mindset.  The Americans have seen the gap in our market and AKA Brands has bought Princess Polly and Culture Kings and more recently General Atlantic swooped in on Mable.  Whilst these are great global firms, it's time for an Australian firm to emerge and fill the gap in the market for future focussed growth equity. The trend is also for rapidly growing businesses to stay private for longer, just as we are seeing with Canva.

Heart:  Glow will be the third private equity firm for me, but the first time building something from the start.  My desire is to partner with innovative, entrepreneurial, values and purpose driven people and businesses that help make the world a better place.  At this stage of my career it's not about making the most money, but rather it’s about building something great, and Kate Morris is a key enabler for this.  

My partnership with Kate and James Height at Adore Beauty has been very fulfilling. Adore has been a great journey of building a leading Australian online business - but in this case, one that is values based and purpose driven and about making our future a better place.  I have been privileged to work with some great entrepreneurs over the years and I have always found that helping them to realise their dreams, also meant I realised my own dreams.

By starting Glow from scratch with gender balance targets at the executive level, we can make a step change in moving the industry forward from its low levels of diversity and inclusion.  This will allow us to attract and retain the best talent and make better decisions -which will lead to better returns for our investors. By applying an ESG mindset to our own firm and our investments, we can not only make a difference to improve our environment and increase diversity and inclusion, but we can create future focussed businesses with the right processes and practices to ensure that they can soar for the long term.