We are sad to announce that in 2018, Dr. Laurence Stuart Hammond – Co-Founder of iQFunds and inQbator passed away after a short illness. Laurie’s heritage will always be remembered in our brand.
In 2020, Rick Anstey established iQ360 to maintain the networks, expertise and profile that he and his friend Laurie had established through inQbator and iQFunds.
iQFunds is a well established investor and advisory group based in Queensland, Australia with interests and networks around the world.
The iQFunds group was formed in 1999 when Rick Anstey and Laurie Hammond met, over a coffee and established that they shared a passion for helping innovative entrepreneurial ventures become commercially successful.
The group started to operate with inQbator and was rebranded in 2007 to become iQFunds.
iQFunds is the business name of iQ Capital Management Pty Ltd, ACN 120 897 127
inQbator is a business name of Timsco Pty Ltd, ACN 087 948 454.
Since 1999 these companies have provided seed capital, incubation services, mentoring and corporate advisory services for new ventures that embrace both emerging technologies and disruptive business models.
This is what we do:
“we invest our time and funds in quality people, pursuing significant market opportunities beyond Australia, and creating real businesses where we have the networks, the knowledge and skills to add value”
Since 1999, initially with inQbator and now with iQFunds, our approach has involved access to our expertise and networks to assess the opportunity and identify the real value that we can add to the growth of the business. This has initially involved time to understand the business opportunity and the people and agree on how best to maximise the value of the opportunity for the stakeholders and then, how best to realise that value.
Activities are across the full business life cycle and have typically involved support for all aspects of:
What interests us ?
If you feel that this describes your business opportunity, feel free to contact us
Founder/Director
Laurie is a founder and director of iQ Capital Management Pty Ltd, which has the inQbator and iQfunds brands at Varsity Lakes on the central Gold Coast. He also consults to technology companies and public sector clients on commercialisation and management of intellectual property through his advisory business, the KNODE Partnership, Laurie’s background includes almost 20 years as a research director and scientist (biology and environmental science), and 10 years as chief executive in a number of organisations in Australia and New Zealand.
Laurie is a member of a number of national and state funding and advisory bodies on industry development and innovation, including:
He has participated in several New Zealand and Australian Ministerial Missions to South-East Asia and North Asia, and been a member of a number of national reviews sponsored by both industry and government.
Laurie has lived and worked in Jamaica, New Caledonia and New Zealand, as well as several Australian states, and undertaken business in North and South Asia, the Pacific region, the UK, Europe, Canada and the USA.
His qualifications include an MBA from the University of Melbourne (1990); a PhD from the University of the West Indies (1979); and BSc Hons 1st Class from James Cook University (1973).
Founder/Director
Rick has a career which spans over 40 years, initially from the U.K, entering the emerging information technology and telecommunications industry in 1971, moving to Australia in 1976, establishing his own group of companies in 1983 and subsequently transitioning his activities in 1996 into Venture Capital and Corporate Advisory roles to encourage and develop promising Australian Innovation.
Rick has worked closely with Federal, State and Local Government’s in Australia to commercialise Australian Innovation and provide support for economic development initiatives.
Rick’s initial move into early stage venture capital in 1996 was precipitated by work with the Queensland Government’s FIG program (Financing IT growth) – a Smart State initiative. This gave Rick a profile within the sector and empathy that came from his own experiences with establishing, building and exiting Australian Technology Companies.
Rick co-founded the iQFunds and inQbator brands in 1999 with Dr Laurie Hammond, and through these vehicles alone has invested in 26 companies, that have, in total, attracted over $200 Million in follow-on funds.
Rick manages his time between the requirements of his portfolio companies, various community support programs and his public and private company Directorships.
Rick is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, a member of the Australian Venture Capital Association and a Board member at the Australian Centre of Excellence for Entrepreneuriship (ACE) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) . He is also a past member of the Queensland Government’s Communication and Information Advisory Board, which advised the Government’s Minister of Innovation and Information Economy.