Tip 2: ASIC and Competitors - A Practical Guide for Aussie Founders
Did you know that you can buy your competitors cap table and latest investment round information?
Did you know that you can buy your competitors' cap table and latest investment round information in Australia?
It sounds strange but access to this data is a feature of our system not a bug. Thanks to Australia’s pursuit of system transparency and to promote investor confidence, some private company data is publicly available to buy.
This data is crucial for building comparable lists for investors during funding rounds.
Similar private company data access is available in countries like New Zealand (free in NZ though) and Singapore.
Let’s get into it!
Types of Information You Can Find on Company’s on ASIC
Investment Round and Valuation Evidence: Find details on investment sizes and valuations from rounds completed by your competitors and adjacent companies.
Target Investors: Identify investors in complementary companies (but avoid approaching your competitors' investors!).
Revenue Data: Sometimes, you can even find the financial statements of private companies!
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Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Identifying Your Target Company
First, we need to find your target company’s entity.
Determine the company you’re interested in (competitors or adjacent companies).
Search for the entity names linked to that company (e.g., ABC Pty Ltd). I usually first check their website’s footer, Privacy Policy, or Terms of Use and search the in-page search for terms “Pty Ltd”.
Step 2: Checking ASIC for Entity Information
Now, we need to search ASIC to find the company’s entity information.
Identifying the company’s head entity: This next bit can get a bit tricky…
Once you’ve found an entity name (eg. ‘ABC Pty Ltd’) you then need to figure out which entity that investor’s invest into. Usually, it is the referred to as the ‘head entity’.
Pre-seed and Seed stage startups commonly have very simple entity structures with usually only one entity (eg. ‘ABC Pty Ltd’) but as they get bigger they will get more complex with more entities present.
Common head company naming conventions:
‘ABC Pty Ltd’
‘ABC Group Pty Ltd’
‘ABC Holdings Pty Ltd’
‘ABC Corporation Pty Ltd’
I would use the entity name that you found on their website to search ASIC to discover the list of similar entity names in pursuit of identifying the head entity. Here, you make an educated guess based on entity names in the list, their address, status, registration date etc.
Here is an example how the international multi-billion dollar Australian company Visy’s entities show in an ASIC search. The head company in this example is “Visy Industries Holdings Pty Ltd”.
Identify Useful Information Available on ASIC: Once you’ve got the head entity’s name then we can start checking for useful information such as capital raise data and revenue data!
Enter the entity name (eg. “Visy Industries Holdings Pty Ltd”) into the ASIC search function and press enter. Then select the entity from the list.
Now, scroll down to the list of documents lodged with ASIC by that entity and click the “Show all documents” text
Now, we want to search for and identify two different things from the list of documents:
If a capital raise has occurred then it will be indicated by the appearance of "+ Change to Company Details (484)”
Skip to Step 3 to learn how to use this data!
To note: SAFE note and convertible note capital raises don’t need to be lodged with ASIC, only priced rounds do. Therefore, if a round is missing compared to media reports then they either forgot to lodge it with ASIC (unlikely as it is a illegal) or they used a note!
If their financial statements are available then they will be indicated by the appearance of “Financial Report (FR 20XX) (288)”
Skip to Step 5 to learn how to use this data!
To note: It is uncommon in the startup world to have to lodge financial statements with ASIC but it can occur if a company has more than 50 shareholders or raised funds from a crowdsourced funding platform like Birchal.
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Check out some of my other Aussie founder focused fundraising articles:
Step 3: Using Capital Raise Data
If you’ve discovered the appearance of a capital raise in Step 2 through the presence of documents "+ Change to Company Details (484)” then we need to confirm if it is a relevant capital raise.
Click the “+” signs next to the “Change to Company Details (484)” documents to reveal the associated documents. You are looking for a pattern of three documents that are present together that signify that a capital raise has occurred which are:
“Changes To Share Structure (484O)”
“Notification Of Share Issue (484G)”
“Changes To (Members) Share Holdings (484N)”
Once you’ve identified that an ASIC lodged capital raise has occurred then you can go ahead with spending money to buy the data… but don’t buy it from ASIC!
I find the data broker “InfoTrack” to be the best source to buy this initial report:Open InfoTrack and search the entity
The best report to buy is the ‘ASIC Company Extract Historical’ for $47
Once you’ve purchased the report, we need to do a bit of cap table math to work out the company’s valuation at the latest round. See the next step.
To work out a company’s valuation at the last round, we need to locate a few inputs from the report you just bought:
Find the number of shares outstanding before the investment round was completed (pre-money outstanding shares).
This example shows 1,308,249 Ordinary Shares + 500,000 Seed Preference Shares were issued totalling 1,808,249 shares prior to the Series Seed 2 Preference Shares. The number that is relevant here is 1,808,249.
Now, we must calculate the share price of the new share issuance.
Using this example, we divide the total amount paid in the Series Seed 2 Preference Share round of $7,691,001.69 by the number of shares issued 612,622 plus add 10% on to it to account for an ESOP pool which gives us 673,884 shares equalling $11.41 per share. $11.41 per share is the number that is relevant here.
Now, multiply the number of outstanding existing shares with the share price to get the pre-money valuation:
1,808,249 outstanding shares x $11.41 per share = $20,632,121.
If we want the post-money valuation then we add the amount of funds raised in the Series Seed 2 Preference Share round with the pre-money valuation.
$20,632,121 + $7,691,001.69 = $28.3m post-money valuation
To note: You can buy more documents to get as close as possible to an exact number but for most this rough math is enough.
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Step 4: Finding Target Investor Info
Instead of shooting in the dark looking for investors, sometimes it makes sense to look at the investor base of a similar adjacent company and approach them. Luckily, each investor’s information is published on ASIC when they buy shares in a company.
Repeat the same process in Step 3 and when you buy the entity report then you get the list of the company’s investors!
To note: A lot of investors invest through an investment entity like a company or trust so it may not be immediately obvious who the investor is so you’ll have to do some more digging to uncover who is behind the entity. I usually Google the entity name and try to find some information linked to that entity. Sometimes, if I can’t find anything for free and publish then I’ll buy the ASIC reports for that company.
Step 5: Finding Revenue Data
Sometimes, your target company will be required by ASIC to lodge their financial reports which you can then buy!
Search the entity that you are interested in on ASIC
Now, look through the document list for “Financial Report (FR 20XX) (288)”
Buy the report and enjoy the data!!!!!
Other Tips for Founders
Setup Free ASIC Alerts: Stay updated with ASIC updates relating to target competitors and adjacent companies using ASIC’s free alert system.
Utilise Data Brokers: Consider using third-party services like CreditorWatch and Alternatives.pe for more detailed and user-friendly data.
Conclusion
I hope this little industry analyst inside trick is useful and gives you greater insight into your company’s valuation and capital raising potential.
Let me know if you use this method and if it helps, please!
Hi - I’m Warwick Donaldson, the author of the Aussie Startup Capital Nerd.
I specialise in providing hands-on capital raising support services for the best Aussie startups (primarily DeepTech).
And I'm always representing the best interests of founders.
Over my career I’ve worked on 150+ startup fundraises, $50 billion in debt deals, founded three companies and have been the early hire at many scaling startups.
Contact me so we can see if it's a fit to discuss the most efficient capital strategy for you!
Disclaimer: Excentricity Pty Ltd, trading as CapXcentric (ABN 42 679 978 959, AFS Representative No. 001311296) is a Corporate Authorised Representative of True Oak Investments Pty Ltd (ABN 81 002558 956, AFSL 238184). The information provided in this article is intended for companies and startups and is not directed towards investors. Any statements or representations are general information only and do not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Readers are advised to have regard to their own circumstances and consider seeking specific advice from a professional adviser before making any business decisions. No representations are made as to the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information provided in this article. Readers use the information provided at their own risk.
Awesome article.
PSA for founders: Business journalists also know how to do this, and can look up info about your business that you might think is confidential, but is actually required by ASIC.
If you're required to do an ASIC filing of any kind, best to let your PR (if you have one) or marketer (again, if you have one) know about it.