Kim Jackson leads investment fund Skip Capital with her husband,Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar.Credit:Rhett Wyman
She said the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March was “an incredibly stressful time” for all businesses with Skip focused on supporting its portfolio companies and deploying more than $100 million over the course of the year into existing and new investments.
“There’s been a lot of excitement in tech markets,you have seen the NASDAQ perform so well and that has trickled down all the way through to startups at all levels,” she said.
Skip is now turning its attention to solar and wind projects,recycling infrastructure and aged care,with the latest fund ready to invest a further $100 million a year in innovative outfits.
The fund has already partnered with renewable energy impact investment fund Solar Bay to invest in projects including Australia’s largest corporate power purchase agreement with food manufacturer McCain and the solar infrastructure on the Sydney International Convention Centre.
It has also invested in seven large scale advanced greenhouse assets and five data infrastructure assets in the United States.
“The essential infrastructure fund is going to create a real differentiator for us because traditional super funds focus on the really big,old,large scale infrastructure,so think toll roads and airports,while we’re focusing on emerging and innovative infrastructure,” Ms Jackson said. “It’s also really a sweet spot for us because the venture funds don’t really play there.”
She pointed to recycling infrastructure as an area of particular interest for Skip Capital.