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Howard Leibman
Founder at EVP
Howard Leibman is a prominent figure in the Australian venture capital and startup ecosystem. He is the Founder of EVP (Equity Venture Partners), an early-stage venture firm based in Sydney that invests in Australia's next generation of global software companies.1 Leibman joined Practifi's board as a Director following a $3 million AUD Series A funding round led by Microequities Venture Capital Fund in 2018.2
Leibman's experience includes:
- Founding EVP in January 2011
- Serving as a Director for multiple companies, including Deputy, Practifi, Practice Ignition, and Fergus Software
- Previously held positions as Director at Rezdy, Fusion Sport (Smartabase), Oneflare, and Outfit.io
- Worked as Director of Corporate Development at HeartWare Inc. from 2005 to 2009
His educational background includes:
- BA in History and BE (Honours) in Electrical Engineering from UNSW (1988-1992)
- MBA in Finance from the Australian Graduate School of Management (1997-1998)
- International Exchange Program at London Business School (1998)
Leibman's LinkedIn profile (username: howardleibman) showcases his extensive experience in venture capital, board memberships, and advisory roles in the Australian startup ecosystem.13
Highlights
We're excited to launch the EVP Opportunities Fund, an evergreen vehicle providing flexible minority capital for growth stage software companies. Over the past decade we've invested in almost 50 early stage software companies. We've had the incredible good fortune to partner early with the likes of Deputy, Ignition, Shippit, Hnry, Mutinex and others. With many of these growing to become category leaders, the EVP Opportunities Fund will be underpinned by selective growth stage investments across the best of the current EVP portfolio. More broadly, the Fund meets a significant opportunity in the ANZ market for growth stage companies seeking capital and for founders, employees and early investors seeking liquidity. Through an open-ended structure with periodic liquidity, the Fund will provide investors ongoing access to some of the region's best growth-stage software businesses. A big welcome to Misha Saul, who joins the team to lead the new Fund.
Deputy today announced a landmark strategic partnership with Xero. Deputy’s workforce management software will be embedded within the Xero platform, to be made available (initially) to Xero’s entire Australian customer base. Xero has also made a USD25m strategic investment in Deputy, strongly reinforcing the partnership and long term alignment between the two businesses. Congrats to Silvija Martincevic, Emma Seymour, Frank Chila, Jaimie Buss, Deepesh Banerji, Katrina Holt, Star Levandowski, and the whole Deputy team.
