Shearwater Capital

What Shearwater Capital does

Shearwater Capital is a Sydney-based, privately held venture capital firm that invests its own capital into Australian and New Zealand technology companies from inception through Series A and beyond, including founder and secondary share purchases. Founded in September 2018 by Zac Zavos, Mike Gregg, and Charles Gibbon — three former founders and operators — the firm operates without a traditional fund horizon, holding positions for as long as portfolio companies continue compounding. As of late 2024/2025 Shearwater held 22 portfolio investments spanning adtech, martech, consumer, SaaS, legaltech, energy, and AI, with notable positions including Lyka (>$200m ARR), Ideally, Factory, Contented, Parallel, and Vivi.

The firm's investment model is structurally distinct from conventional venture funds: capital is underwritten by the partners themselves rather than external LPs, Fund II is $100m AUD (closed 2024, led by Mike Gregg), and first cheques have ranged from A$200k to A$5m+. Deal sourcing is sales-led and relationship-driven, combining direct founder outreach, an online introduction form, warm referrals, and the Shearwater Scouts Network (launched late 2024) — a curated group of ecosystem connectors including Michael Stocks, Doone Roisin, Luke Rix, and others. Distribution is purely direct; no intermediaries are used, and the firm reviews 2–3 decks daily while explicitly welcoming cold submissions.

Economically, Shearwater generates returns through capital appreciation and exits (trade sales, IPOs, secondary transactions) rather than recurring management fees. The firm claims top-decile fund performance and roughly 1x cash returned as of December 2024, with six Seed/Series A investments having crossed $100m valuations. The six-person team includes the three founders plus Partner Matthew Parbhu (corporate/M&A background, ex-Ashurst), Investment Associate Beliz Ozturk, Investment Analyst Emanuel Shariev, and Financial Controller Greg Stevens. There are no external customers, no proprietary technology product, and no recurring revenue stream — economic value is realized solely through portfolio liquidity events.

Name

Shearwater Capital

Legal name

Shearwater Capital Pty Ltd

Website

https://shearwater.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Shearwater Capital is a Sydney-based venture capital firm investing its own capital across inception through Series A and beyond in Australian and New Zealand technology companies, with an evergreen structure and no fixed fund horizon.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

akta.pro primary industry

Sector-Focused Venture Capital (Vertical Specialists) (FSANAAAD)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Seed stage funding
• Series A investment
• Founder liquidity secondaries
• Growth equity capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Edgecliff

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns / Fund Management: Shearwater Capital generates returns through capital appreciation and exits from their portfolio company investments. As an evergreen fund structure with no fixed investment horizon, they stay invested as companies compound over time. They earn returns through trade sales, IPOs, and secondary transactions. They invest their own capital.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Shearwater Capital is a venture capital firm that invests its own capital in Australian and New Zealand technology companies at any stage from inception through Series A and beyond. The firm also purchases founder and secondary shares to provide liquidity. Operating without traditional fund horizons under an evergreen structure, Shearwater backs founders building enduring, category-leading companies across advertising, marketing, legaltech, media and other software-led sectors.

Product overview

Shearwater Capital is a venture capital firm that operates as a single, unified investment offering. The firm invests its own capital across all stages (inception, seed, Series A and beyond) and also purchases founder and secondary shares. Their investment thesis focuses on backing founders with integrity building enduring, category-leading companies in Australia and New Zealand, with a particular emphasis on advertising, marketing, legaltech, and media sectors, though they are industry agnostic. The firm does not have a traditional product portfolio; rather, it offers investment capital, strategic support, and operational expertise to portfolio companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Shearwater Capital Fund II Venture capital fund deploying $100m of evergreen capital across inception, seed, Series A and beyond stages into Australian and New Zealand technology companies.
• Shearwater Capital Fund I Initial venture capital fund of approximately $50m established in September 2018 by the founding partners using their own capital to back ANZ technology companies.
• Founder and Secondary Share Purchases Buy-out of founder and early-investor secondary shares to provide liquidity, available at any stage and regardless of existing cap-table position.

Quantifiable outcome

• Six of Shearwater's Seed/Series A investments have been valued at $100m+
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Shearwater Scouts NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Scouts Network is a community of individuals who introduce Shearwater to founders building great businesses. Scouts include Michael Stocks, Doone Roisin, Luke Rix, Albert, Gabriel Guedes, and Oliver Berger. The network was launched in late 2024 and is a key sourcing channel.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Folklore Ventures: An Australia and New Zealand-focused early-stage venture capital firm backing founders at seed and Series A. Folklore is the most direct comparable to Shearwater given its AU/NZ geographic focus, stage focus (seed/Series A), and similar founder-friendly approach with active co-investment relationships (e.g., they co-invest with Shearwater on rounds like Contented via Altered Capital, and on Ideally).
• Blackbird Ventures: One of Australia's largest and most prominent venture capital firms, focused on early-stage technology investing across Australia and New Zealand. Blackbird directly competes with Shearwater for the same AU/NZ founder pool, with overlapping sector preferences in software and consumer, and similar stage focus from inception through Series A.
• AirTree Ventures: Australia-focused venture capital firm investing from seed through growth stages in technology companies. AirTree is a primary competitor in AU/NZ venture, with larger AUM scale but similar founder-friendly positioning and a portfolio spanning consumer, software, and enterprise where Shearwater also deploys.
• Square Peg Capital: Australian and Israeli-focused venture capital firm backing technology companies from Series A onward. Square Peg is comparable to Shearwater at the Series A+ stage where both compete for software-led growth companies, though Square Peg typically deploys larger cheques and operates across additional geographies.
• Altered Capital: A New Zealand venture capital firm investing in technology companies. Altered Capital is a direct peer and frequent co-investor with Shearwater (Ideally Series A, Contented seed), targeting similar early-stage AU/NZ tech companies with adjacent deal sourcing and supporting founder liquidity solutions.
• Icehouse Ventures: A New Zealand-based early-stage venture capital firm supporting Kiwi founders across sectors. Icehouse co-invests with Shearwater on AU/NZ deals (Ideally Series A, Contented seed) and competes for similar early-stage technology opportunities in the New Zealand ecosystem.
• Main Sequence: An Australian deep-tech and early-stage venture capital firm, founded with CSIRO partnership, investing in transformative technology companies. Main Sequence co-invested with Shearwater in Zabidou's pre-seed and represents a peer in the Australian deep-tech / science-led startup ecosystem with comparable early-stage risk appetite.
• Right Click Capital: An Australian early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology companies across Australia and New Zealand from pre-seed through Series A. Right Click Capital directly competes with Shearwater for pre-seed and seed deals in the AU/NZ market with similar cheque sizes and founder-friendly approach.

Emerging players

• Tidal Ventures: A newer Australian venture capital firm backing early-stage technology companies. Tidal is comparable to Shearwater's early-stage thesis but with narrower geographic focus (AU-only) and a smaller fund footprint, positioning them as an emerging participant competing for similar AU-based founders.

Regional players

• Reinventure: An Australian fintech-focused venture capital firm. Reinventure is a regional peer given its Australian base and technology focus, though with a narrower vertical specialization (fintech) compared to Shearwater's industry-agnostic approach; useful as a comparable for sector-specialist AU VC deal sourcing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInau.linkedin.com/company/shearwater-growth-equity

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments33 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shearwater Capital