<article>Australia-based venture capital firm King River Capital has announced the first close of its debut fund and the completion of two investments into local companies.</article>

Australia-based venture capital firm King River Capital has announced the first close of its debut fund and the completion of two investments into local companies.
The VC firm did not disclose how much it raised for the first close or its overall target for the fund. It said it has secured commitments from investors in Australia, the US, Asia and Europe.
King River is looking to invest in 15-20 early-stage companies in Australia and overseas with an average check size of A$10 million ($7.07 million) over the next three to four years. It added that it will focus on late-Series A and Series B investment opportunities in the tech and software sector.
Upon its first close, the fund has invested in two Australian companies &#8211; wholesale financial services provider FinClear and insurtech startup Cover Genius.
“King River Capital is focused on finding companies that offer high-growth, scalable opportunities in the technology sector. As a smaller fund, we have the benefit of greater agility, low pressure to deploy capital, high filtering and high-touch oversight,” said King River Capital co-founder Chris Barter.
Prior to co-founding King River, Barter led investor syndicates in multi-stage software ventures via London-based VC firm CKA Capital and other entities resulting in 28 early to mid-stage investments in verticals including fintech, AI-enabled businesses, and digital healthcare.
His portfolio includes Flipkart, DiDi, Palantir, Wish, Ola, Delos and Meituan. The Harvard physics graduate also worked for nearly two decades at Goldman Sachs, where he was a partner.
King River also announced the appointment of Megan Guy as partner and co-founder to lead its operations in Silicon Valley. She was most recently the director of carbon landscape finance for The Nature Convervancy in California. Before that, she was vice president at clean energy technology venture capital firm Angeleno Group, where she co-led investments including Stem, Renew Financial, New Forests, Click Energy, and ParkMe.
“King River Capital will be the bridge to Silicon Valley for Australia’s burgeoning tech start-up scene. We will be deploying capital, knowledge, relationships and expertise for Australian tech start-ups seeking to go global. And we are providing access to some of the best investment opportunities in Silicon Valley for our investors here in Australia,&#8221; said King River Capital co-founder Zebediah Rice.
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King River is looking to invest in 15-20 early-stage companies with an average cheque size of A$10 million ($7.07 million) over the next 3-4 years.

Australia's King River Capital hits first close of debut venture fund

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Australia's King River Capital hits first close of debut venture fund

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