AO Ventures (Tennis Australia's venture capital fund)

Australia

Seed

About AO Ventures (Tennis Australia's venture capital fund)

AO Ventures (Tennis Australia's venture capital fund) is a venture capital firm based in Australia, focusing on Seed stage investments. The fund actively supports founders building innovative solutions in AI/ML, Digital Health, providing strategic guidance and capital to help startups scale.

Investment Focus

Location / RegionAustralia

Funding StageSeed

Industry Focus

Ai Ml

Digital Health

Investor Signals Profile

active

Sweet Spot

Youth-focused sports health tech with global scale potential

sports tech

entertainment & media

health (non-medical)

youth engagement

seed & series A

global founders

Bullish Signals

Official VC arm of Australian Openexternal

Advisors: Feld, Cohen, Settle — top tierexternal

Built-in pilot program for portfolio cosexternal

Global mandate, no geo restrictionsexternal

2026 mid-year intake now openlinkedin

Sustainability/circular economy in scopelinkedin

Portfolio co bettercup live at AO eventslinkedin

Tennis Australia actively promoting programlinkedin

Wimbledon networking — extends to global eventstennis_australia_social

High-level political/business network accesstennis_australia_social

Ready2Rally: youth social tennis co-design successtennis_australia_social

Gender-inclusive youth engagement proven track recordtennis_australia_social

Contrarian Signals

Never leads rounds ($300k–$1.5m)external

Warm intro strongly preferredexternal

8-stage process — slow for early stageexternal

Founder Do's

Have global ambition + big vision

Solve real-world sports/media/health problems

Seek strategic platform, not just capital

Target youth/grassroots sports engagement models

Apply AO Startups 2026 mid-year intake (closes 11 May)

Warm intro preferred for first contact

Founder Don'ts

Don't pitch medical/healthcare (excluded)

Don't expect to be lead investor

Don't pitch niche tennis-only solutions

Key GPs & Partners

Todd Deacon

General Partner

sports ecosystemstrategicearly-stage

Machar Reid

General Partner

sportsinnovationtennis

Brad Feld

Advisor

veteran VCadvisortech

David Cohen

Advisor

acceleratoradvisorecosystem

Dana Settle

Advisor

VC veteranadvisorgrowth

Nick Crocker

Advisor

healthadvisordigital

Paul Naphtali

Advisor

mediaadvisornetworks

Jay Weatherill

Network Partner

governmentsportsinternational

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Fund Overview

Fund Size$30M

Saves0

Website

Key People

Todd Deacon, Machar Reid

Todd DeaconGeneral Partner

Machar ReidGeneral Partner

Brad FeldAdvisor

David CohenAdvisor

Dana SettleAdvisor

Nick CrockerAdvisor

Paul NaphtaliAdvisor

Jay WeatherillNetwork Partner

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