First Cheque with Cheryl Mack & Maxine Minter 
About Ben Grabiner
Ben Grabiner is co-founder and general partner of Side Stage Ventures, an Australian early-stage venture fund. Before moving into Australian venture capital, he was an investor at London-based LocalGlobe and co-founded Platoon, a talent platform that helped launch Billie Eilish's career, which Apple acquired in 2018. At Side Stage, Grabiner applies a product mindset to venture investing, building metrics to track fund performance despite the long feedback loops typical of early-stage investing. He has appeared twice on First Cheque with Cheryl Mack & Maxine Minter to discuss why Australia produces more unicorns per dollar invested than most markets.
- Talks about
- Going Global, Venture Capital, Startup Lessons
In conversation.
2 episodes
Start hereWhy Australia Builds More Unicorns per Dollar Than Anyone | with Ben Grabiner from Side Stage VenturesThe original 2025 interview on Side Stage's Dealroom report; the 2026 episode is a replay of it.
First Cheque with Cheryl Mack & Maxine Minter 
First Cheque with Cheryl Mack & Maxine Minter Why Australia Builds More Unicorns per Dollar Than Anyone | with Ben Grabiner from Side Stage Ventures
Go straight to the good bits.
Key moments from Why Australia Builds More Unicorns per Dollar Than Anyone (Replay) | Ben Grabiner, Side Stage Ventures.
- 0:00Cold open: more unicorns per dollar than anywhere
- 4:48Ben's first investment: 250 pounds in Tottenham Hotspur
- 7:01The headline stat and what drives Australia's capital efficiency
- 9:24Why constraints breed efficiency, and why it's good for VCs
- 12:31Decacorn creation: Australia on par with Israel and India
- 14:3540% of seed capital comes from overseas
- 16:24What needs to happen to close the capital gap
- 20:41Can startups scale globally from Australia?
- 26:14What global LPs need to understand about Australian venture
- 28:28The rise of second- and third-time founders
In their own words.
“Australia is this underestimated, underappreciated opportunity sitting right in front of us.”
The path so far.
- Now
Co-Founder & General Partner · Side Stage Ventures
- From 2018
Operator (post-acquisition of Platoon) · Apple
- 2016–2018 · Startup
Co-founder · Platoon
- Earlier
Early-stage investor (first employee) · LocalGlobe
- Earlier · Startup
Co-founder & Head of Product · Pollonize
Sources: techcrunch.com, startupplaybook.co
Side Stage Ventures on Day One
Side Stage Ventures is a Sydney venture capital firm that invests $500,000 to $1.5 million in pre-seed and seed rounds, mainly backing Australian founders, with no fixed…
3 people · 4 episodes
Across the network.
Spot something wrong? Suggest a correctionUpdated 29 October 2026
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