Square Peg Capital

Paul Bassat co-founded SEEK, the Australian employment marketplace, before starting the firm, and remains a partner in Melbourne. Co-founder Tony Holt, a former investment banker, partners out of Sydney. The other two co-founders are Barry Brott, previously a director of accounting software company MYOB, and Justin Liberman, a principal of the Jagen family office.

The investing partnership now spans five offices: Dan Krasnostein in Melbourne, Tushar Roy and Piruze Sabuncu in Singapore, and Philippe Schwartz and Yonatan Sela in Tel Aviv. Amanda Hjorring is partner and chief operating officer, Leila Lee is partner and head of distribution, Luke Stevens is chief financial officer, Kate Stannett heads strategy from Singapore and Mick Viney heads technology. The firm describes itself as a mix of company builders, investors, advisors and operators, running a team of roughly fifty.

Square Peg was established in Melbourne in 2012 by Paul Bassat, Tony Holt, Barry Brott and Justin Liberman, initially deploying family and high-net-worth capital before institutionalising. Its first pooled fund launched in 2016 at roughly A$200 million.

In 2021 the firm raised US$860 million across two vehicles: Square Peg Fund 4, covering seed to Series B, and Opportunities Fund 2, which takes later rounds in existing winners. That raise took cumulative commitments past US$1.6 billion in the firm's first decade. In October 2022 Square Peg raised a further US$550 million, split US$350 million for early-stage deals and US$200 million for later-stage follow-on, one of the larger Australian venture raises of that cycle. The firm invests out of Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, Tel Aviv and San Francisco, and its three-market strategy spanning Australia, Israel and Southeast Asia is the structural reason it can hold positions from seed through to public listing.