Chris Joannou πŸ’₯

VP - Venture Ecosystem at Draper University & Orion Fund | Connecting founders with Silicon Valley acceleration and global capital to scale deep tech, frontier innovation, and emerging technologies.

πŸ“ Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaπŸ”„ Updated September 2026πŸ’Ό 4 investmentsπŸ“… 14 years investingπŸ—“ Last invested Mar 2021𝕏 @upgrade_to_unlock
VC🌍 Australia
4
Total investments
2
Early stage
1
Mid stage
0
Late stage
14y
Years active

Portfolio

4 investments Β· sorted by recency
All investments
Early stage
Mid stage
Late stage
Investor
Mar 2021
Bevy.com is an in-person, virtual and hybrid, conference and community events software platform. Bevy incorporates a variety of tools to plan, promote, and execute virtual and in-person events and is a flexible software solution that can be used to manage and host thousands of different types of community events. Built with enterprise level analytics, integrations and data security, the Bevy platform is used by a range of enterprise, consumer and education teams who want to build, grow and scale a global Customer-to-Customer (C2C) community. Featuring a deep permissions system and webcasting capabilities, community and field marketing teams can empower local brand advocates to build, grow and scale local communities all over the world. Building communities that change the world 🌍, one event at a time.
Investor & Startup Ambassador
Nov 2015
LawAdvisor's mission is to help everyday Australians and businesses better understand their legal rights, and the different pathways you can take to protect and enforce these rights, along with the costs. The law exists to help and protect people. Sadly, too many Australians ignore their legal problems and allow their legal rights to be violated, whether by their employers, business partners, corporations, or even friends and family. We understand why. For too long, access to justice and to lawyers has been difficult. People are scared of lawyers, worried about the costs involved when enforcing their legal rights, or simply don’t know how to go about getting the right advice. Help is at hand. We have built LawAdvisor (www.lawadvisor.com) to assist everyday Australians and businesses better understand their legal rights, and the different pathways you can take to protect and enforce these rights, along with the costs. It is time that legal knowledge became widely accessible to all. People all deserve to be protected by the law.
early stageLegal Services
Investor & Startup Ambassador
Nov 2015
LawAdvisor was founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia with a fearless and ambitious belief: that everybody should have access to justice. We hypothesised that the high costs, inefficiencies, and difficulties of obtaining legal help could be overcome simply by providing greater access to legal information, and by providing everybody with real-time access to high-quality, affordable lawyers online. Our mission has since been supported by thousands of lawyers, and has allowed us to expand and set up offices across the globe. Weve since moved our HQ to London, and have attracted high profile investors and partners who have shared our mission to transform legal service delivery. The potential exists to completely revolutionise the practice of law. The start of this decade has delivered LawAdvisor with a new mandate: to overhaul and transform how lawyers work with state of the art legal practice management technology in order to: i. increase efficiencies ii. automate routine processes iii. increase transparency iv. bring legal practice into the 21st century. We look forward to working with you to create tech-enabled legal services.
Investor
2012
Startup Grind is the leading global startup community dedicated to fostering the growth of early-stage companies. From bootstrapped beginnings through Series A rounds, we support our members with access to funding opportunities, expanding market reach, and connection to a robust network of founders, tech leaders, investors and partners spanning 150 countries worldwide.
early stageEvents Services
Experience Β· 10 entries
All (10)
Investments (4)
Founder (2)
2021
Investor
Mar 2021
Bevy.com is an in-person, virtual and hybrid, conference and community events software platform. Bevy incorporates a variety of tools to plan, promote, and execute virtual and in-person events and is a flexible software solution that can be used to manage and host thousands of different types of community events. Built with enterprise level analytics, integrations and data security, the Bevy platform is used by a range of enterprise, consumer and education teams who want to build, grow and scale a global Customer-to-Customer (C2C) community. Featuring a deep permissions system and webcasting capabilities, community and field marketing teams can empower local brand advocates to build, grow and scale local communities all over the world. Building communities that change the world 🌍, one event at a time.
2020
Head of Business Development and Partnerships - APAC
Nov 2020
Draper University provides transformational pro-business and entrepreneurship training using unconventional methods that mirror real-world scenarios and pragmatic learning approaches. We are a unique institution that promotes entrepreneurship and disruption of traditional education models. We also provide venture capital investment through Draper University Ventures and the wider Draper Ecosystem. Our alumni are doing amazing things: πŸ‘‰ 3500+ Companies started so far. πŸ‘‰ 5000+ Heroes spread across 105 countries πŸ‘‰ 20,000+ new jobs - Alumni accelerate upward mobility around the globe. πŸ‘‰ $1.2B+ Raised from top global investors πŸ¦„ 8 Unicorns
Mentor
Apr 2020
MOX enables best-of-breed apps, platforms and services from around the world to reach hundreds of millions of users. MOX enables its ecosystem of startups to acquire new users with a customer acquisition cost of zero through its network of strategic partners including corporates, small businesses and creators. We aim to bring best-in-breed mobile apps to the next 4 billion smartphone users across emerging and frontier markets.
Mentor
Apr 2020
Orbit Startups is a global venture capital firm investing in solutions in emerging and frontier markets for the next four billion people seeking economic independence, digitizing traditional industries and pushing sustainability. Notable investments include VideoVerse, technology partner to the Olympics and the UK’s Premier League; fintech pioneer BitMEX; ELSA Speak, Google Gradient’s first investment in Asia; MarketForce, Africa’s leading merchant marketplace; and Dastgyr, Pakistan’s aspiring Alibaba Group.
Mentor
Jan 2020
At Startupbootcamp, we supercharge startup growth – providing capital, world-class mentorship, and direct access to investors, corporate partners, and industry experts. πŸš€ 1,700+ startups backed: $2B+ raised, 75% still scaling 🌍 30+ innovation ecosystems under management 100+ events per year | 150+ accelerators in 15+ countries Our mission: Accelerate 100,000 impact-driven startups in the next decade – shaping the future and driving real change toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Beyond accelerators, we empower businesses and governments to create, scale, and manage innovation ecosystems – from long-term innovation strategies to disruptive business models and breakthrough product innovations. We build the infrastructure that connects startups, corporates, and investors to turn innovation into real impact. ⚑ Join the Startupbootcamp ecosystem & shape the future. More information: www.startupbootcamp.org
Show all 10 entries ↓
Investment activity
2012–2021 Β· 4 investments
201212015220211
Recent (last 2 years)Earlier