The Australian Business Growth Fund (ABGF) has appointed Elana Rubin AM as its new chairperson.
Rubin's appointment comes after the departure of former chair Mike Baird who stewarded the fund’s first eight investments and opened offices in Sydney and Melbourne.
She is a seasoned non-executive director with roles across the superannuation, investment, professional services, technology, telecommunications, insurance, government and financial services sectors.
Rubin also sits as the chair role of the Victorian Managed Insurance Agency and is also a non-executive director of Dexus, Telstra and Slater & Gordon.
ABGF provides growth capital to Australian small to medium sized enterprises, founded with initial capital of $540 million as a public-private partnership between the federal government and six Australian banks.
The fund aims to fill the spot between late-stage venture capital (VC) and larger buyout funds.
“There is a clear gap in the market for long term patient (minority) growth capital at scale to support small-medium businesses to grow and thrive," Rubin said.
"Providing these businesses with the capital to grow is vital to support innovation, technology and skills” she added.
ABGF CEO and MD Anthony Healy welcomed Rubin and her extensive experience across a range of organisations including public-private partnerships.
He added that she is driven by the same values as the fund, which is to back ambitious businesses to help them grow and thrive.
“ABGF was set up as a unique public-private partnership to address a market failure - the lack of depth in the market for long term patient growth capital for SME’s," Healy said.
"Leveraging government and private sector capital, the fund’s purpose is to support SMEs to scale and in turn create jobs, economic growth and support Australian entrepreneurship,” Healy said.
In 2022, the ABGF invested in $11 million in digital architecture planning platform Capsifi.
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