We have a long history of crowning champions. As these athletes redefine what’s possible on court. We partner with founders to shape the future of sport. Providing the capital, platform and network to turn your potential into greatness.
Sport, Entertainment, Media, Health
AO Ventures is a venture capital fund built to turbocharge startups shaping the future.
As the official VC arm of the Australian Open Grand Slam and Tennis Australia, we provide the capital, global platform and networks to build reputations and accelerate commercialisation of startups changing the shape of the sports, entertainment, media and health industries.
What Kind of Companies?
We are passionate about investing in technology-driven startups that are transforming the sports, entertainment, media, and health industries.
Our focus goes beyond providing capital - we seek opportunities where we can also be a client or make a significant impact on your commercial growth from the earliest stages of your journey.
Put simply, if you’re developing innovative technology that tackles large, real-world global challenges with applications in these industries, we want to hear from you.
What We Offer Beyond Money
We pride ourselves on being a highly strategic fund, offering far more than just capital to our investments.
Tennis Australia, one of the world’s most innovative sports organizations, brings unmatched expertise and resources to the table. It governs the sport at the grass roots level, manages the elite pathway, owns events and tournaments including the Australian Open Grand Slam, as well as a large media business that produces the TV broadcast for the AO and its events portfolio.
Our platform, combined with the expertise of the people behind it, is designed to elevate your business to new heights. We aim to build your reputation as a valued partner while driving revenue growth through our extensive networks across the sports, entertainment, media, and health industries.
When We Invest
Our preference is to back founding teams from the earliest stages of their journey, where our involvement can have the greatest impact. Typically, our initial investments are made at the Seed and Series A stages, with additional capital reserved for follow-on funding rounds.
Our deep expertise in the industry allows us to identify and back exceptional teams with bold visions - often before others are ready to take the leap. Many early-stage companies choose to participate in our piloting program, AO Startups, to demonstrate their technology within our business ecosystem prior to securing investment.
What We Look For
We are on the search for exceptional founding teams who are technology led and equipped with unique insights to tackle large, global challenges within the sports, entertainment, media, and health industries.
Much like sport itself, we embrace a truly global perspective, recognising that extraordinary talent and groundbreaking ideas can emerge from anywhere in the world.
We pride ourselves on being a highly strategic fund, offering far more than just capital to our investments.
Tennis Australia, one of the world’s most innovative sports organisations, brings unmatched expertise and resources to the table. It governs the sport at the grass roots level, manages the elite pathway, owns events and tournaments including the Australian Open, as well as a large media business that produces the TV broadcast for the AO.
Our platform, combined with the expertise of the people behind it, is designed to elevate your business to new heights. We aim to build your reputation as a valued partner while driving revenue growth through our extensive networks across the sports, entertainment, media, and health industries.
What is your investment process?
Typically each time we make an investment, it will have passed through the following 8 stages with a go/no-go after each stage.
1. Initial Review: we begin by either receiving a warm introduction or connecting through this site. From there, we review your pitch deck to understand your vision, the opportunity and fit for our fund.
2. First Meeting: we organise a coffee or video call to learn more about you and your vision.
3. Internal Discussion: our investment team conducts an internal meeting to evaluate initial impressions.
4. Deep Dive: a comprehensive analysis of your business with our investment team and Tennis Australia experts.
5. Terms Clarification: discussion and alignment on investment terms and allocation.
6. Investment Case: creation of an investment case, presented to the Investment Committee.
7. Final Allocation Approval: confirmation of allocation following Investment Committee approval.
8. Documentation: signing of investment documents to formalise the investment.
At what stage do you invest?
Our preference is to back founding teams from the earliest stages of their journey, where our involvement can have the greatest impact. Typically, our initial investments are made at the Seed and Series A stages, with additional capital reserved for follow-on funding rounds.
Our deep expertise in the industry allows us to identify and back exceptional teams with bold visions - often before others are ready to take the leap. Many early-stage companies choose to participate in our piloting program, AO Startups, to demonstrate their technology within our business ecosystem prior to securing investment.
In what areas do you invest?
We are entirely focused on investing in technology-driven startup companies with applications in the sports, entertainment, media, and health (excluding medical) industries.
We always look for technologies that has application in our business whether that is in sports and entertainment events, media, high performance sport or mass participation sport and fitness.
What are you looking for?
Teams with a big vision, global ambition and an enormous will to succeed.
Technologies addressing significant, real-world challenges within the sports, entertainment, media, and health industries.
Companies with the potential to dominate their specific market or carve out a leading position in their niche.
Do you invest in specific geographies?
We’re fortunate to have the freedom to invest without geographic limitations. We firmly believe that, just like world-class athletes, the best founders and teams can emerge from anywhere on the planet.
You are founded in tennis, do you only invest in tennis tech companies?
Absolutely not.
While tennis is at the heart of what we’re known for, our focus extends far beyond the sport. We’re looking for visionary teams solving real-world challenges in industries aligned with our expertise - sports, entertainment, media, and health. Our goal is to help you build a global reputation through our platform while empowering you to achieve commercial success far beyond our ecosystem.
What size of investments do you make?
The size of our investment depends on the stage of your company, typically ranging from US$300k to US$1.5m.
We generally don’t lead funding rounds, preferring to contribute as the second or third largest investor alongside notable VC funds. This approach allows us to collaborate with other leading investors while maximising our impact.
Do you have a standard set of terms?
Each deal is different, however our preference is to work with industry standard terms that are fair for the founder and investor.
How do I get in touch?
The best way to connect with us is through a warm introduction. However, if you don’t have someone who can make that connection, feel free to reach out directly using the ‘Contact’ section of this site.
How do you add value beyond money?
We pride ourselves on being a highly strategic fund, offering far more than just capital to our investments.
Tennis Australia, one of the world’s most innovative sports organisations, brings unmatched expertise and resources to the table. It governs the sport at the grass roots level, manages the elite pathway, owns events and tournaments including the Australian Open, as well as a large media business that produces the TV broadcast for the AO.
Our platform, combined with the expertise of the people behind it, is designed to elevate your business to new heights. We aim to build your reputation as a valued partner while driving revenue growth through our extensive networks across the sports, entertainment, media, and health industries.