What stage does Side Stage Ventures invest at?

Side Stage Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.

What is Side Stage Ventures's typical check size?

Side Stage Ventures typically writes checks of $1.5M.

What sectors does Side Stage Ventures focus on?

Side Stage Ventures focuses on Sector Agnostic.

Where is Side Stage Ventures located?

Side Stage Ventures is headquartered in Sydney, AU.

Side Stage Ventures

Venture capital

Sydney · Pre-Seed–Seed · 5 people tracked

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✨ Fox Verdict

Investment thesis

Side Stage Ventures specializes in pre-seed and seed investing, focusing on the challenges of going from 0 to 1. It typically writes cheques up to $1.5M and is comfortable backing very early, often pre-revenue companies. The firm is sector agnostic but biased toward large markets with billions of potential customers or dollars in revenue capacity. It prioritizes outlier founders with proven hustle, a compelling global vision, and drive to build billion-dollar businesses, alongside differentiated products that solve real problems and can be dramatically better than competitors. Positioning itself as founder-first and highly collaborative, it co-invests with other investors in Australia and globally and offers hands-on support with hiring, fundraising, and reaching product-market fit.

Invests inSector AgnosticAustralia Global Sydney

Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.

Stage

Pre-Seed–Seed

Check

$1.5M

Sydney, AU

Instruments

Equity

Last 12 months

2 investments

Tracked investments

Team · 5 people

from the firm's website

Ben· General Partner & Co-Founder

General Partner and Co-Founder of Side Stage Ventures. He previously co-founded Platoon, a creative talent platform acquired by Apple in 2018, and was earlier an investor at UK venture fund LocalGlobe.

Markus· General Partner & Co-Founder· Sydney, New South Wales, Australiain 𝕏

General Partner and Co-Founder of Side Stage Ventures with over 18 years of investing experience across venture, agriculture, real estate, and equity markets. His VC track record includes backing Go1, Airtasker, and amaysim, and he co-founded Tank Stream Ventures.

Elli Hanson· Partner· Australiain

Partner at Side Stage Ventures backing early-stage founders building globally ambitious companies from Australia. Her background spans industrial design and brand strategy, including Global Director of Design Strategy at Ogilvy Worldwide and co-founding consumer hardware company Flaus.

Harrison Wright· Principal· Manly Beachin 𝕏

Principal at Side Stage Ventures overseeing operations and investments, having joined in 2023. He previously worked as an Investment Analyst at BridgeLane Capital.

Alice Williams· Head of Operations· Londonin

Head of Operations at Side Stage Ventures overseeing operations and the portfolio. She previously was a Portfolio Manager at Crowdcube and ran her own resale clothing business in London.

Founder mafia

2 people who came through Side Stage Ventures went on to found or lead other companies.

Emily CaseyInvestment PrincipalFounded What The Health MarkusGeneral Partner & Co-FounderFounded Brickx

What they invest in

from 2 of 2 portfolio companies

Advanced Manufacturing ×1AI & Machine Learning ×1Deep Tech ×1New Materials ×1Retail Tech ×1SaaS ×1

Investments · 2 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

By year:2026 · 1 2025 · 12 dated

Atomic Tessellatoratomictessellator.com in 𝕏Apr 2026 · $71.8M

Atomic Tessellator combines computational physics with machine learning and enterprise software architecture, though the page does not specify its product offering or customer market.

AI & Machine LearningDeep TechNew Materials

BoardDr. Priyank KumarProf. Simon Ringer

Co-investorsCrane Venture Partners In-Q-Tel Outset Ventures Salus Ventures Confluent GD1 +1 more

Fabrafabra.com inNov 2025 · $2.8M

Fabra is a browser-based 3D product design platform for creating apparel and physical goods, letting users drag and drop materials, Pantone colors, prints, and graphics with realistic lighting.

Advanced ManufacturingRetail TechSaaS

Co-investorsRLC Ventures January Capital

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Hyades raises $1.5m in Auckland AI funding wave

Atomic Tessellator · b2bnews.co.nz · Jul 13, 2026

Fabra raises $2.8m as design platform makes a public debut

Fabra · businessnewsaustralia.com · Nov 11, 2025

Frequently asked questions

What stage does Side Stage Ventures invest at?: Side Stage Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
What is Side Stage Ventures's typical check size?: Side Stage Ventures typically writes checks of $1.5M.
What sectors does Side Stage Ventures focus on?: Side Stage Ventures focuses on Sector Agnostic.
Where is Side Stage Ventures located?: Side Stage Ventures is headquartered in Sydney, AU.

Images

Co-investors · 2

LOWERCARBON

Lowercarbon Capital is a venture firm that invests in companies commercializing technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and cool the planet.

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WovenEarth

WovenEarth Ventures is a venture firm providing access to US early-stage cleantech companies through diversified funds.

Firms observed investing alongside Side Stage Ventures, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Side Stage Ventures's recorded portfolio.

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