When APAC Investors Access the World's Most Consequential Deals, People Take Notice

About three dozen investors, from Silicon Valley titans to a family office in Tampa, hold stakes in all three companies—SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic

Australians are scrambling for a slice of the technology and artificial intelligence-related deals flooding Wall Street, as investors lose patience with the lack of high-profile transactions on the local market and instead chase the flurry of mega-floats hitting the United States.

BFA Global Investors is evolving from a deal-by-deal shop to a private assets investment manager and has brought on an operative to lead its Australian sales efforts.

Gavin Ezekowitz, CIO at BFA Global Investors, says the industry must do a better job of managing liquidity events in unlisted funds.

The meetings with Australian superannuation funds come as SpaceX assembles a syndicate of nearly 30 investment banks for its IPO which is expected to raise $US75 billion.

Australia’s wealthiest investors are scrambling to get a slice of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company and his artificial intelligence group xAI, with one family office raising more than $US50 million ($72 million) to invest in the world’s richest man as he seeks to develop data centres in space.

A proposed merger between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and AI company xAI is shaping up as the largest M&A transaction in history at US$1.25 trillion.

Wealthy Australians are flocking to buy stakes in some of the world’s biggest artificial intelligence companies and local start-up stars such as Canva, with data showing secondary share sales in technology companies globally reached a record $US103 billion ($155 billion) in the first half of the year.

Australia’s sophisticated wealth investors are increasingly seeking out the world’s most significant growth companies via investments in US private markets.

After years at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, Jonathan Belz founded BFA Global Investors with a mission to reshape how Asia-Pacific families access the world’s most transformative companies.

The private assets investment manager will set up shop in Singapore as it looks to capitalise on growing institutional demand across Asia-Pacific markets.

Wealthy Australian investors are grabbing their passports and chasing opportunities in some of the world’s biggest artificial intelligence and technology companies.

Australia’s wealthy investors are jostling for a piece of the global artificial intelligence action as names such as OpenAI and Nvidia dominate the headlines.

Peter Barrett dropped out of Sydney uni to head to Silicon Valley in 1986. He gave Elon Musk his first job in the Valley, worked with Bill Gates, and started a venture fund, Playground Global, that has had 20% of its portfolio hit billion-dollar valuations.

BFA Global Investors, the advisory firm of Jonathan Belz and Gavin Ezekowitz which connects wealthy individuals and family offices with opportunities, has nabbed a $US10 million ($14.8 million) slice of Groq AI’s $US300 million Series D equity raise.

Playground Global, the Palo Alto-headquartered investor in deep tech, is having a big year. It has already secured the federal government as a $1 billion backer of PsiQuantum, one of its portfolio companies. Now it is back in the country, meeting investors ahead of the launch of a mega fund.

Jonathan Belz, founder of BFA Global connects Australian and Asian family offices with top global investment opportunities in venture capital, private equity, and technology. He shares insights into the future of alternative assets and investment strategies.

There’s a new breed of private investment vehicle for the super rich.

A group of Australian investors has acquired a small stake in electronic gaming and software company Epic Games, owner of Fortnite and Unreal Engine platform, in a rare deal valuing the American group at about $US42 billion.