Venture capitalists are showing interest in the Australian IT sector, with Technology Venture Partners today announcing it co-led a AU$13.1 investment in storage developer Platypus Technology.

Phillip Wing, executive director at Australian-based venture capital firm Technology Venture Partners (TVP), said historically Australia's venture capital industry has lagged behind the US, in terms of sophistication and the amount of capital available.

-Venture capital for technology has been around a lot longer in the US," Wing said. -[It's a] natural migration from the universities where you had a lot of tech companies formed -- there's a long history of entrepreneurs which have attracted capital."

But he believes that at the moment there are good opportunities for venture capital in IT. -Clearly the valuations and entrepreneur's expectations are more realistic," Wing said.

He said technology companies which had global potential, with their position protected through either intellectual property or deep know-how, were particularly attractive for venture capitalists.

Australia has strong expertise in a number of technology areas, Wing said, citing fibre optic networks, satellite technologies, and software as examples.

However, Wing warned that the next couple of years could be hard for the VC, as investors such as superannuation funds wait to see the results. He believes that two or three good exits, where the venture capitalists and founders sell or float the company, would help boost confidence.

IT areas Wing sees as garnering interest this year include wireless data; software which had productivity or cost-saving benefits for end users; managed security services; fibre optics; and Web services.

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