Perth founders do not have to choose between local relationships and a wider investor search. Start with Western Australian capital providers who understand the ecosystem, then add national investors whose published criteria fit the company. The important distinction is eligibility, not how close an office is to your postcode.
This guide compares 15 investors and angel networks: five based in Perth or the wider WA region, plus ten broader-mandate options. They are not 15 Perth-headquartered venture funds, and they are not all suitable for the same stage. Use the stage and sector filters before preparing an approach.
Compare Perth, regional WA and national options
| Investor or network | Local connection | Published stage | Useful fit filter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose Ventures | Perth-based / WA economic connection | Pre-seed to Series B | Industry agnostic; purpose-led companies |
| BetterLabs | Perth-based / Western Australia and Australia | Seed and Series A | Mobility, clean tech, insurance, community and life/work/money themes |
| Perth Angels | Perth-based / Australian startups | Pre-seed to Series A | Multiple sectors |
| Upstart Investments | Fremantle / Western Australia | Early stage; not a Series A lead | Early-stage technology |
| South West Angels | South West and regional WA, with WA startup coverage | Early stage; precise round labels not published | Innovative, scalable businesses |
| Airtree | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Early first checks through later funding stages | Technology across sectors, with exclusions |
| Blackbird | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Pre-seed, seed and Series A preferred for first investment; later rounds possible | Technology, including software and deep tech |
| Folklore | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | First check, including pre-revenue; ongoing support | Software, healthcare, robotics, automation, AI and data |
| Main Sequence | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Company formation / pre-seed through Series B; current pitch criteria | Science-led deep tech and six published challenge areas |
| Investible | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Pre-seed to Series A; follow-on capacity | General technology excluding biotech in generalist mandate; separate climate focus |
| Square Peg | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Seed to Series A sweet spot; earlier consideration possible | Generalist technology |
| TEN13 | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Pre-seed to Series A and beyond | Technology |
| Rampersand | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Inception, pre-seed and seed | AI-native software and selected deep tech |
| Giant Leap | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Pre-seed to Series A | Climate, health and people; embedded measurable impact |
| Archangel Ventures | Wider mandate; not a Perth office | Pre-seed and first check | Technology; founder approach and current criteria govern fit |
“Local” here includes a documented WA base or regional WA investment focus. A broader mandate can include a Perth company without implying the investor maintains a Perth office. Angel networks facilitate individual investment decisions; they are not counted as one firm for every member or syndicate.
Choose the financing lane before the name
- Very early company: begin with providers explicitly discussing first checks, formation or pre-seed. Confirm what product or customer evidence they expect.
- Seed or Series A: match the milestone, revenue evidence and round role to the investor’s actual criteria.
- Science-led business: explain the scientific advantage, development risk and research connection. A general technology mandate does not automatically include biotechnology.
- Impact-led company: show how the business model creates the intended measurable outcome, not simply a broad sustainability label.
- Regional WA company: distinguish genuinely regional networks from national firms that can evaluate a suitable Australian startup.
Keep the broader Australia investor guide as the national reference. This page adds the WA-specific decision: which local routes to investigate first, and when a wider mandate is worth the effort.
The 15 investor profiles
1. Purpose Ventures
Purpose Ventures is a Perth-based fund with a published pre-seed-to-Series-B range. Its criteria emphasise global ambition, an economic connection to Western Australia and tangible customer interaction. A WA address alone is not the investment case: explain the customer problem, defensibility and how the company can matter beyond its first market.
Approach: Official Apply / Apply for Funding link. Official criteria and route.
2. BetterLabs
BetterLabs separates its venture fund from its company-building studio. The fund publicly identifies seed and Series A as investment stages and sets out specific domains, including clean technology and mobility. Match the company to those priorities rather than assuming every technology startup qualifies because the investor is based in Perth.
Approach: Official Apply to pitch form. Official criteria and route.
3. Perth Angels
Perth Angels publishes a pre-seed-to-Series-A range and describes syndication with other Australian investors. The entrepreneur page links to its funding application through GUST. Treat it as a network of individual investment decisions, not a single fund whose entire membership automatically joins a round.
Approach: Apply for Funding through the linked GUST platform. Official criteria and route.
4. Upstart Investments
Upstart describes direct early-stage investments and its work with the Curtin and Plus Eight syndicates. It explicitly says it is not a VC and will not lead a Series A. That makes the financing role important: founders should clarify the relevant route and any programme connection before treating it as the anchor for a large institutional round.
Approach: Official Get in touch; programme-linked syndicate routes where eligible. Official criteria and route.
5. South West Angels
South West Angels is a regional WA network rather than a Perth-headquartered VC. Its published process moves from application to screening and, if selected, a pitch to members. It is useful for understanding the wider state's angel landscape, while a founder should check whether the company's regional connection and evidence fit the current screening priorities.
Approach: Published application and deal-screening process / official contact. Official criteria and route.
6. Airtree
Airtree's FAQ says it welcomes early conversations and can invest before extensive customer data exists. Its geographic emphasis is an Australian or New Zealand founder connection, not a Perth office. Use the current exclusions and founder-fit criteria, then explain why the market and early product evidence support a venture-scale company.
Approach: Fundraising details form linked from official FAQ. Official criteria and route.
7. Blackbird
Blackbird explicitly welcomes pre-product and pre-revenue companies and describes a strong Australian or New Zealand connection as its geographic test. A Perth team can therefore assess the published mandate without assuming it must relocate to the east coast. Use the official pitch route and distinguish the first conversation from the later investment decision.
Approach: Official Pitch for investment / Share your vision form. Official criteria and route.
8. Folklore
Folklore presents itself as a first-check investor for Australian and New Zealand technology founders. Its funding page specifically discusses pre-revenue investing, leading rounds and interests including robotics and AI. That is more useful evidence than assigning it a stage from one old portfolio announcement. Match the company to its current approach and explain the key unresolved assumptions.
Approach: Official Get funding page and investor contact. Official criteria and route.
9. Main Sequence
Main Sequence’s pitch criteria explicitly include company formation and pre-seed through Series B, with science or difficult engineering at the core. A connection to Australian publicly funded research must form part of the investment design, even if it does not exist before investment. For a Perth research-led team, prepare that connection and the commercialisation plan rather than a generic software-growth pitch.
Approach: Official Pitch page. Official criteria and route.
10. Investible
Investible's current investment page explicitly includes Australia and pre-seed-to-Series-A companies. It distinguishes general technology investing from its climate strategy and associated co-investor network. The same page excludes biotech from the generalist scope, an important filter for a life-science founder who might otherwise mistake a broad technology label for eligibility.
Approach: Official Apply for funding form. Official criteria and route.
11. Square Peg
Square Peg's FAQ includes Australia among its investment regions and identifies seed to Series A as its core new-investment range. It also explains that very early companies can be considered. Use the venture firm's squarepeg.vc domain: similarly named businesses on other domains are not the same investor.
Approach: Get investment / founder form linked from official philosophy page. Official criteria and route.
12. TEN13
TEN13 describes early-stage technology investing from pre-seed through Series A and a wider global portfolio. The public pitch route gives a founder a direct starting point. Keep the company application separate from joining the investor network: those actions serve different audiences and do not establish the same relationship.
Approach: Official Submit your pitch page. Official criteria and route.
13. Rampersand
Rampersand's current thesis targets Australian and New Zealand founders at inception, pre-seed and seed, including those building abroad. It describes leading or co-leading and specific AI and deep-tech interests. For an eligible Perth founder, the useful distinction is its earliest-stage role, not simply another name on a national list.
Approach: Official Pitch us form. Official criteria and route.
14. Giant Leap
Giant Leap pairs a pre-seed-to-Series-A range with a defined impact mandate across climate, health and people. Its criteria ask for measurable impact embedded in the business, not an unrelated charitable story. A founder should explain how customer value, the business model and the impact outcome reinforce one another.
Approach: Official Pitch your startup / contact route. Official criteria and route.
15. Archangel Ventures
Archangel explicitly describes first-check pre-seed investing across Australia and links a founder pitch form. That provides a documented national route for an early Perth company, rather than relying on an assumed local presence. Separate the pitch form from the firm's investor-enquiry route and use the current founder criteria to prepare the submission.
Approach: Official Submit Your Pitch form. Official criteria and route.
Check current status, not just an old directory
FundWA’s current site says its first fund is fully deployed for initial checks and that it is not issuing new first-round checks today. It may still welcome relationships, but it is not counted among the active first-investment options above.
Startmate’s Summer 2027 programme page lists an application deadline of November 8, 2026, which has passed as of this research date. Do not assume a visible “apply” button makes a dated cohort open. Monitor the official page for the next eligible route instead.
Skalata now presents itself as Tall Order. It is not two investors. Its current geographic eligibility was not confirmed for this guide, so it is not used to pad the count. We also excluded candidates whose primary investment route could not be verified.
Build a shortlist you can actually use
| Shortlist field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Current criteria | Official source, check date, stage, sector and geographic connection |
| Your fit | The specific evidence that makes this company relevant |
| Round role | Potential lead, co-lead or participant, only where supported |
| Approach route | Current founder form, official contact or a relationship path worth reviewing |
| Open question | The requirement you still need the investor to clarify |
| Next action | One relationship owner, useful return and review date |
Start small enough to personalise the research. A public form does not guarantee a response, and a mutual contact does not establish permission or willingness to introduce you. Review relationship context before making the ask, and keep direct submission available where the investor publishes that route.
Put the Perth shortlist to work with Aurora
Bring the selected investors, source links and next actions into Finta. Aurora can help compare your company with the criteria you supply, prepare questions and keep the follow-up connected to the relationship.
Help me build a Perth and Western Australia investor shortlist.
Company stage, sector, location and current milestone: [paste]
Round purpose and needed investor role: [paste]
Current official investor criteria and research dates: [paste]
Separate WA-based or regional investors from wider eligible mandates.
Compare documented fit and exclusions, preserving unknown eligibility.
Deduplicate firms, rebrands and linked syndicates.
Return a shortlist with source, fit reason, open question, approach route and next action.
Do not infer a local office, investor interest or introduction permission.
Prepare a review only. Do not submit pitches or contact investors.Continue with warm introduction requests, the investor prospecting workflow and the Seed Fundraising Comprehensive Guide.
Research method
By Finta Editorial Team. Official sources reviewed November 12, 2026. This is an editorial research shortlist, not a ranking, complete market census or endorsement. We distinguish provider type, stage and local presence from investment eligibility, count each firm or network once and exclude non-investing programmes and unverified routes. Eligibility, capacity and application windows can change; confirm current criteria before approaching a provider. General information, not individualized financial, legal or tax advice.