Legalsuper invests in innovation | Financial Standard

Legalsuper recently awarded two active investment mandates in support of innovation and female founders.

The first of the two was awarded to Acorn Capital for investment in its Emerging Growth Strategy. The strategy invests in mis-priced ASX-listed microcap stocks with a focus on underlying value, industry diversification, stock numbers and stage of development.

The mandate is valued at $100 million.

Sectors Acorn Capital currently invests in include clou computing migration; advanced manufacturing; remote working and collaboration; learning; e-commerce; climate technology; fintech; and communications.

Sponsored by Charter Hall Group Commercial property. Currently 5%+ yield p.a.

The second mandate was awarded to Artesian, with the super fund investing $20 million in the Artesian Female Leaders Venture Capital Fund, which aims to bridge the massive funding gap between male and female-led startups. At present, it’s estimated that female-led startups receive less than 3% of global VC funding.

The fund was launched in partnership with Scale Investors and identifies under-invested female talent and unexplored business opportunities, investing across Australia, New Zealand and the broader Asia Pacific.

Legalsuper chief executive Andrew Proebstl told Financial Standard: “As a smaller, more agile fund we have both the commitment and capacity to determinedly seek out investment opportunities not accessible by larger funds. Ultimately, this is the cornerstone to us delivering strong long-term returns to our members.”

“We see institutional-quality investment opportunities which were not on the radar only five years ago in digital infrastructure, healthcare property and agri-tech platforms, for example.

“These emerging opportunities can be small with limited ability to invest at scale, however our scale means we can, not only access these opportunities, but invest in proportions that make a meaningful contribution to performance.”

In addition to the mandates, the $5.5 billion super fund recently restructured its member service and marketing functions and expanding its product management capabilities.

Former executive, member services will move into the newly created role of chief member officer while long-standing executive manager, operations and member service David Eastwood.