Indigenous fund First Australians Capital secures $15m ahead of $1bn investment goal

Australia’s only indigenous-led investment fund has brought in a new managing partner as it seeks to back indigenous businesses in the native grain, botanical and food industry.

First Australians Capital’s incoming managing partner, Brian Wyborn.

First Australians Capital has ­secured $15m of a new $30m fund, as the Indigenous-led lender sets an ambitious goal of co-ordinating $1bn worth of investment by 2031.

The two-decade-old organisation, whose foundation investors include AMP Foundation, the Paul Ramsay Foundation and the William Buckland Foundation, is in the midst of establishing a “catalytic impact fund” that has received a partial investment from long-time backer the CAGES Foundation.

The group also recently appointed Brian Wyborn, an infantry officer in the Army Reserve and former wealth adviser at AMP, Wilsons and JBWere, as new managing partner.

Mr Wyborn, of Torres Strait Islander and Papua New Guin­ean heritage, said while FAC wanted to do the heavy lifting, there was no way it could deploy $1bn worth of capital over the next eight years on its own and it was openly calling for partners to help it achieve that goal.

However, where FAC could help was by de-risking lending scenarios in which the fund would deploy a certain amount of capital to get a businesses deemed no longer a risk.

“In previous deals we’ve been able to come in and then played a part on the riskier end to a business to be more appetising to a large lender,” Mr Wyborn said.

“Indigenous businesses aren’t the sole businesses that are going to lift the economy. We need to bring in other VCs and institutional players. I’d love to think we can do a fair chunk of that heavy lifting and we do have ­ambitious goals, but beyond that it’s about bringing on more ­partners.”

First Australians Capital business development director Tiarne Shutt.

FAC director of business development Tiarne Shutt said while the fund wanted to support all Indigenous businesses, it did pay particular attention to a few industries.

“We’re focusing on accelerating native grain, botanical and the food industry. As you can imagine, connection to country is pretty important for our mob,” she said.

Ms Shutt is a descendant of Worimi people and has English and Danish heritage.

FAC was founded in the tourism sector but was now expanding into other sectors as it grew and increased its investment in the Indigenous economy, Ms Shutt said.

“We’ve always had tourism as a part of that focus and First ­Nations people, as the traditional custodians, are probably the best people to guide you through Australia,” she said.

“But now we’re focused on agriculture, agribusiness and environmental markets. It’s more of a focus on leveraging the Indigenous estates as over 60 per cent of Australia is under Indigenous title of some form.”

FAC was only weeks away from landing a further $6m towards its new fund, which was currently under due diligence.

The fund had operated a $13m concept fund since 2021, and had deployed $8.1m as of May 31 across 48 businesses. It had worked with about 700 businesses since 2016, and was responsible for $68m worth of funding going into Indigenous businesses.

Recent businesses to receive funding from FAC included IMECNT, Native Foodways, WV Technologies, Taka Gin, Ngali, Native Secrets, Tjuart Architects and Yaala Sparkling.

But not all were after capital, often they needed some mentorship or to be connected to a broader network, Ms Shutt said.

“We’re also helping businesses with network capital, relational capital and social capital. Sometimes when we do work with a business, they might not want money at all, they might just need support,” she said.

CAGES Foundation executive director Gemma Salteri said she was excited to see more Indigenous business scale through the fund.

“First Australians Capital is unlocking capital for Indigenous businesses in ways that genuinely support them, align with their values, and propel them forward,” Ms Salteri said.

Ms Shutt said FAC was starting to see an interest from some in the philanthropy sector, but the investment markets and banks and superannuation funds were yet to come forward.

“The level of understanding and education is still not there,” she said. “There’s definitely a push for diversity but realistically, Indigenous people are only 3 per cent of the population and when you look at investment professionals, there’s an even smaller number.”

Originally published as Indigenous fund First Australians Capital secures $15m ahead of $1bn investment goal