The Mooroolbark Group (M-Group) is a leading Australian investor and provider of business assistance to a range of Australian and International businesses. M-Group has an outstanding track-record in the creation of long-term value through establishing, investing in and assisting businesses to successfully capitalize on global and domestic market opportunities.
M-Group is run by a small group of highly experienced international business owners and managers.
Established in 1997, M-Group has many successful investments in Australian and US companies and has developed a sound reputation as a specialist investor in Technology and other market sectors. M-Group takes pride in its record and focus as a long-term investor, and is motivated to achieve investment returns via investee company profits and long-term capital appreciation, rather than by pursuing short-term, deal-focused outcomes.
M-Group has offices in Melbourne and Sydney.
With offices in Melbourne and Sydney, the Mooroolbark group of companies (M-Group) is a leading boutique investor.
M-Group provides equity financing and associated business assistance to small and medium-sized Australian and international companies - particularly those with a desire for growth and expansion.
M-Group's aim is to create and enhance long-term value through equity investment and by actively assisting businesses to expand and to successfully address national and global markets. Typical assistance to our investees can comprise one or more of the following activities :-
M-Group is owned and managed by a small group of Principals who are experienced in aspects of business, including funding, strategy, management, marketing, operations, finance and corporate legal advice.
The Group is highly selective in its engagements and has a well-proven track record of success in the identification, development and strategic positioning of businesses in a variety of industry sectors.
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The principals of M-Group have a wide and varied international business experience, being founders and managers of several businesses, varying from small start-ups to some of Asia/Pacific's largest and most successful public corporations. Geographically this experience spans all of Asia, Australasia, USA and Europe. They have a well-proven record of success in the identification, development and strategic positioning of businesses in a variety of technology and other sectors. Their focus is on creating successful companies over the long-term which provide investment rewards via proft-streams and long-term capital appreciation.
The principals of M-Group have deep collective experience in :-
The principals have achieved significant international business success in establishing and expanding many companies including:-
Cohda Wireless Pty Ltd - Cohda Wireless has established itself as the leading supplier of innovative Connected Autonomous Vehicle (C-V2X) solutions that enable vehicles to connect with other vehicles and intelligent infrastructure in Highway, Smart City & Mining environments. These connections span Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P). This connectivity, as well as Cohda’s patented accurate positioning software, allows objects, people and vehicles to be accurately positioned in indoor, outdoor and underground environments. Cohda’s technology allows vehicles to see around corners, know where they are without GPS, and interact with other traffic and pedestrians seamlessly in real time to provide accurate vehicle positioning, protection of vulnerable road users, cooperative collision avoidance and congestion reduction. It is focussed on three key markets – Smart Cars, Smart Cities and Smart Mines. Cohda Wireless is headquartered in Australia and has offices in Europe, China and the USA. M-Group has participated in 3 rounds of investment in the company and was instrumental in bringing global industry players Cisco and NXP onboard as Cohda shareholders. - http://www.cohdawireless.com
Inlink Pty Ltd/ Xperior Pty Ltd - Inlink was a privately held Australian company which pioneered the supply and management of Elevator-based content delivery Systems. M-Group invested initially in 2004 as the company developed a digital media network in the elevators of high-rise office buildings to display up-to-the-minute news, information, entertainment and advertising. By 2015 Inlink had deployed some 2,800 screens across Australia’s key capital cities making its media network the largest and fastest growing CBD-based Digital-Out-Of-Home network in Australia. The company was successfully sold to oOH Media (http://www.oohmedia.com.au/ooh-acquires-inlink-and-upgrades-profit-guidance/) in late 2015. Prior to this acquisition, part of the software development team of Inlink was spun-out into a separate company called Xperior which developed online Tenant Portal software which is marketed to commercial property owners and managers. Mgroup was a foundation shareholder of this new early stage venture which was sold in 2018. - http://www.inlink.com.au - http://www.xperior.com
iPro Limited - IPro was established in 2018 following the sale of Inlink. This same investor cohort became the foundation investors for iPro. Likewise, the original Inlink board were, in fact, the founders of the new company. The iPro platform combines market leading cloud technology along with best practices to allow businesses to easily manage risk and compliance. iPro offers enterprise-wide Smart Assessments, actionable insights and process automation, to assist companies close the gap between accountability and action across a range of regulatory areas including ESG, Gender balance, anti-slavery and the like. M Group is represented on the board of iPro. The company, based in Melbourne, Victoria, has an exemplar set of clients in aged & health care, retail, property management as well as financial services. iPro is largely employing an indirect distribution model.. - http://www.ipro.com
McMillan Shakespeare Limited - McMillan Shakespeare is an ASX-listed company and Australia’s leading single source solution provider of salary packaging, novated leasing, consumer and fleet financing and management services. MMS has businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. M-Group coordinated the Leveraged Management Buy-Out of the company, provided significant investment and managed the company’s IPO on the ASX which was the most successful industrial IPO in its year of listing. - http://www.mmsg.com.au
SciVentures Pty Ltd - M-Group is the majority and cornerstone private investor in this fund which was awarded one of four AusIndustry Pre-Seed Fund licenses by the Federal Government. M-Group's co-investors include CSIRO and nine Australian universities.
Cellestis Ltd. - Cellestis is a developer of medical diagnostic technology with initial products to diagnose latent TB. An M-Group affiliate was a key partner in the establishment of Cellestis in 2000, has provided capital and managed the company’s IPO on the ASX. Since inception, Cellestis’s “Quantiferon-Tb” product range has become the global standard for diagnosing latent TB. The company’s IPO on the ASX was the most successful by share market return in its year of listing. Cellestis was acquired by Qiagen Inc. in a public takeover in 2011. - http://www.quantiferon.com
Ascend Pharmaceuticals Ltd. - Ascend is an early stage biotech company primarily focussed in the treatment of nodular basal cell carcinomas (a common form of skin cancer) which are located in areas of the human body difficult to treat with conventional radiation and chemo therapies. Ascend Biopharmaceuticals was formed from the merger of 4G Vaccines and IgAvax late in 2012, Original R&D activities, funded by SciVentures, commenced in November 2006. The investments by SciVentures in both of the original companies were based on IP from the University of Melbourne, and the Burnet Institute. In late 2016 the company announced a successful small-scale patient trial. Based on these encouraging results, the company continues the trialling of their ASN-002 product with larger cohort numbers. - http://www.ascendbiopharma.com
Glutagen Pty Ltd. - Glutagen is a biopharmaceutical company based in Melbourne. Glutagen’s primary focus is providing products to support the health and wellbeing of individuals who suffer when digesting gluten. Glutagen’s initial product, GluteGuard®, is the culmination of decades of clinical research led by Professor Hugh Cornell AO at RMIT University. This early work, which illustrated the biochemical composition of gluten, has been instrumental to today’s understanding of why gluten is difficult for many people to digest. M-Group’s funding has enabled the company to successfully develop, complete clinical trials and launch its GluteGuard product. - https://glutagen.com
Acendre (formerly NGA.NET) - Acendre, was one of Australia’s first Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers. Whilst initially focused on recruitment and talent acquisition, Acendre has evolved to provide a fully-integrated talent management system that today serves many of the world’s largest enterprises assisting them to digitally transform their organisations. The company has a leadership position in the United States federal government market. With offices in three continents, Acendre’s cloud-based solutions are deployed in over 200 of the world's largest organizations, including almost 100 federal agencies, helping them recruit, on-board, engage and develop their employees to improve workforce performance. M-Group has been involved with Acendre since 2003 and exited when the company was sold to US investment company, Strattam Capital, Washington DC. - http://www.acendre.com
Austco Healthcare Limited - Formerly known as Azure Healthcare, Austco is an international provider of healthcare communication and clinical workflow management solutions. The company is headquartered in Australia and listed on the ASX, has subsidiaries in six countries and supports more than 6,000 healthcare facilities through their global reseller network. An M-Group affiliate is a substantial shareholder of Azure Healthcare and invested as part of a successful turnaorund of the company - http://www.azurehealthcare.com.au
Avipep Pty Ltd - Avipep is a privately owned company based in Melbourne Australia which is focused on developing Avibodies (the key binding domains of antibodies) as a platform for targeting cells in the body with a focus on antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) for the treatment of cancer. M-Group has provided investment in Avipep which has assisted in funding development and clinical trials. - http://www.avipep.com.au
APVC Finance Pty Ltd - An M-Group affiliate is the majority owner of APVC Finance which provides financial services to members of the Accor Group's Vacation Club
General Information: info@mgroup.com.au
Address: 1/159 Dorcas Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205, Australia
Phone: +61 418 569 497
Email: john@m-group.com.au
Email: wayne@m-group.com.au
Phone: +612 8507 6509
Email: ron@m-group.com.au
Mooroolbark Investments Pty Ltd. ACN 080 904 927
Mooroolbark Technology Pty Ltd. ACN 080 904 892
Mooroolbark International Pty Ltd. ACN 106 691 249
Asia Pac Consulting Pty Ltd ACN 081 289 330
John Bennetts has unique experience and commercial success as a founder and investor in numerous businesses in both the technology and financial services sectors.
Through his corporate advisory business, Asia Pac Consulting, John has provided advisory services in relation to an extensive range of new business start-ups, mergers, acquisitions and fund-raising transactions carried out by technology companies in the Asia Pacific region.
John is a Director of McMillan Shakespeare Ltd., numerous private companies and the Sacred Heart Mission and was previously a director and member of the audit committee of Cellestis Limited. He began his career working as a solicitor in both private and corporate practice.
In addition to his commercial activities, John actively mentors young founders and executives and was a member of the Australian judging panel for E&Y's Entrepreneur of the Year awards programme.
Ron Cattell has lived and worked in 8 countries around the globe. After graduating in the UK his early career was in software development, moving on to the management of large-scale international IT projects and later marketing and general management. In the early 1980s he worked at the European Space Agency in Germany managing the computer systems for Europe's first weather satellite.
Ron moved to Hong Kong in 1988 as one of the founders of Datacraft Asia. First as Director of Marketing, then COO, he led the expansion of that company into 13 countries and Revenues of US$600 Million, He was heavily involved in the very successful Singapore public listing in 1995 and was CEO of the Group from 1999 to 2003. During his tenure, the company was voted the best Asian systems integrator for 5 consecutive years as well as being selected as one of the world's best 200 small companies by Forbes Global. He played a leading role in the acquisition of 19 companies throughout Asia .
Ron has 16 years of public company board experience, in both executive and non-executive roles. He moved to Australia in 2004 and is an investor, director and advisor to a number of companies, mainly in the technology sector.
Wayne Fitzsimmons is an experienced executive who has worked extensively in the US, UK, and in his home country of Australia. He was instrumental in the setting up of OpenDirectory Pty Ltd, having previously been Managing Director of Datacraft Technologies from which the Directory technology emerged. OpenDirectory emerged as the global leader in large-scale distributed directory systems and was acquired in October 1998 by Platinum Technology, who in turn was acquired by Computer Associates International in May 1999. Before joining Datacraft in December 1993, Mr. Fitzsimmons spent 14 years in senior positions in the USA and Europe. This included being Vice President, International, at Banyan Systems Inc., New England (1990-94) and Vice President, Americas Far East, for Data General Corporation, Massachusetts (1983-90). He is a director of several small privately owned early stage companies including iPro Pty Ltd. and Cohda Wireless Pty Ltd.
Wayne is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Queensland (1964). He is Chairman of the Pearcey Foundation, a not-for profit industry group that promotes the Australian ICT sector to Australians (www.pearcey.org.au). Wayne was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours.
