AI Founders & Investors Coffee Meetup
AI Founder Coffee Catch-Up - Gandel Invest in Partnership with Aura Ventures
We’re back with our monthly founder coffee catch-ups, this time in Sydney and in partnership with Aura Ventures, with a focus on founders building in artificial intelligence.
If you're currently raising or starting to think about it, this is a great chance to connect directly with Gandel Invest and Aura Ventures. Come share what you’re building, ask questions, and get real-time feedback over a great cup of coffee.
You’ll also meet other AI founders in a relaxed, small-group setting designed to spark meaningful conversations and connections.
Spots are limited to 15 founders to keep things intimate, so register early to secure your spot.
Coffee is on us!
About Gandel Invest:
Gandel Invest is a family office with an international mandate and a portfolio of 42 companies. We back innovative businesses that disrupt industries, offering more than just capital. We build strong relationships with founders, management teams, and co-investors, providing go-to-market strategies, brand and marketing expertise, Board placements, idea think tanks, and corporate connections to drive growth and long-term success.
About Aura Ventures
Aura Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm backing the builders of category-defining technology companies. We’re seed-stage specialists, thesis-driven, high conviction investors who've been connecting founders from Australia to the rest of the globe since 2013.
Meet the Investors
Eric Chan
Eric is a Managing Director and Co-Founder at Aura Group, an alternative funds management firm with over A$1.5 billion of assets under management or advice across venture capital, private equity and alternative credit. Eric focuses on Aura Ventures and leads early-stage investments across Australia. He led the firms seed stage investments into Shippit, Catapult Sports, Haast and many others and serves on the boards of various portfolio companies. He is an active advisor, connector and mentor to the venture ecosystem.
Mark Esterhuizen
First time founder at 16yrs old, Mark has since personally built, scaled, invested in and exited various ventures, driving disruptive growth across multiple industries. Learnings and successes from “traditional business” fuelled his passion for technologies that are the catalyst for disruption. Now a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with a remarkable ability to scale technology-led businesses, Mark built his career at the intersection of capital, technology, and operations, driving transformative growth for high-potential startups.
Romane Delvallee
Romane is part of the investment team at Gandel Invest, a family office with an international mandate and a portfolio of 42 companies. She has a background in building and scaling ventures across Australia and the Asia-Pacific, with expertise in business development, strategic partnerships, and market expansion. She brings a global outlook and commercial mindset to identifying high-potential opportunities and driving growth.