SA’s chief entrepreneur Andrew Nunn says his mission is to boost investment flows into the state

Investors need to have a “fear of missing out” on the next big thing in SA business, chief entrepreneur Andrew Nunn says.

Lot Fourteen is filled almost to the brim with the business leaders of tomorrow and our former start-ups are turning into big businesses, but South Australia’s chief entrepreneur Andrew Nunn says getting big investors to back local ideas remains a key piece of the state’s entrepreneurship puzzle.

Mr Nunn, an engineer with a long history of innovation in environmental remediation, says he had been inspired to invest in about a dozen start-ups himself since starting in the unpaid role early last year.

But getting South Australia’s high-net worth investors and attracting venture capital funds to do the same remained a challenge – one which Mr Nunn is keen to help solve.

Mr Nunn’s role as chief entrepreneur is part of the state government’s push to generate high-growth companies locally and attract other companies and investors to the state.

Andrew Nunn, the state’s Chief Entrepreneur, outside Lot Fourteen.

The Lot Fourteen start-up hub on North Tce, which Mr Nunn says is pretty much at capacity now with about 1300 people on site, and the coming Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre, where Commonwealth Bank will be a cornerstone tenant, are at the heart of the strategy.

But it is also about creating an environment which attracts investors, and makes it easier for them to get involved in backing high-growth local companies.

Mr Nunn says with a platform now laid in terms of generating a community of entrepreneurial companies in and around Lot Fourteen, one of his key priorities was the capital piece.

He said the success of Lot Fourteen showed that results could be achieved “with a reasonably clear vision of where you’re going, and putting some capital in behind it’’.

“You’ve actually got what is a very innovative, really interesting entrepreneurial hub now in a city that wasn’t really known for it in the past,’’ he said.

Mr Nunn said a number of the companies which had started their journey at Lot Fourteen would outgrow the space and spread throughout the CBD and beyond in the near future.

“And that allows the pipeline to come in at the other end for new start-ups, new research and commercialisation opportunities.’’

Lot Fourteen, North Terrace, Adelaide. Precinct vision (indicative April 2021). Picture: Lot Fourteen.

While the infrastructure platform in the form of Lot Fourteen and that wider precinct was now well established, Mr Nunn said growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem was a process which would take years, and getting investors more involved was something close to his heart.

“We’ve got to get more capital into the system,’’ he said.

“We’ve got to get more people in South Australia recognising that it’s a genuine investment opportunity.

“Part of that is putting a spotlight on really good investment opportunities and people will say ‘I want to get involved in that’.’’

With companies such as Fleet Space technologies now valued at more than $US120m based on recent capital raisings, Mr Nunn said this sort of news needed to be shared, to generate a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) in the investor community.

“That’s the sort of FOMO we need to create so we can actually start to build some funds, where people start to invest their capital in early stage start-ups, and other types of venture capital for scale ups and companies that are looking to scale up internationally.,’’ Mr Nunn said.

Mr Nunn’s office and the associated Entrepreneurship Advisory Board have made a submission to government which suggests how the government can further encourage venture capital funds to SA.

“My view is that government’s role is not to fund everything. Government’s role is to help de-risk it for private investors to get involved. Not guarantee a return but de-risk it so more people get involved.’’

Artist impressions of the Space Discovery Centre at Lot Fourteen. Picture: Supplied

Mr Nunn said there was plenty of untapped wealth in SA, and there were various benefits for investors to get involved – one of which was a sense of contribution, but also that it was also greatly enjoyable, as well as hopefully remunerative.

On the ideas front, Mr Nunn said SA had some of the best research institutions in the world.

Along with capital, customers and talent were also vital, Mr Nunn said.

“And that’s where companies like CommBank and Accenture come in,’’ he said.

“What they do is engage with the start-up community ... and that’s where the real opportunity comes in.’’