In 2023, while\u00a0Mitchell Hughes was studying at Monash University, he noticed a gap: he was surrounded by friends building start-ups, but many of them struggled to find meaningful support. Sure, many universities like Monash had their own investment vehicles and incubators, but the number of students building had outgrown the support these vehicles could provide. The result? A growing\u00a0disconnect\u00a0between student founders and the broader venture ecosystem \u2013 one that traditional VCs were often too far removed to bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hughes\u2019 travels to London,\u00a0Amsterdam\u00a0and California \u2013 specifically a study stint at UC Berkeley \u2013 revealed that some of the best start-up ecosystems in the world had student-focused venture funds, which served as a pipeline between young founders and\u00a0established\u00a0investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt had been done in about 20 countries,\u201d Hughes says. \u201cWe know that some of the country\u2019s most successful start-ups \u2013 Canva, Atlassian, Immutable \u2013 were founded by young graduates, so we thought, \u2018Why not Australia?\u2019\u201d And so began a year-long investigation into why the gap existed and what the\u00a0appropriate solution\u00a0was.\u00a0<\/p>\n X\u2019Lingson\u00a0connected with Hughes over a coffee in 2023 after hearing about Hughes\u2019 mission via a mutual friend. From there, the pair\u00a0kept in touch, and\u00a0X\u2019Lingson\u00a0helped propel Hughes\u2019 mission into a full-blown venture capital fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJerry\u2019s\u00a0continued to raise the bar in terms of how we\u00a0operate\u00a0internally and how serious we\u00a0are, and\u00a0continued to push for a greater outcome for what\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0doing. We just grew so much trust in each other over the journey,\u201d Hughes says.\u00a0<\/p>\n After emailing Blackbird partner Niki\u00a0Scevak\u00a0in early 2024,\u00a0Scevak\u00a0agreed to be an advisor to NextGen Ventures, and, once Hughes and\u00a0X\u2019Lingson\u00a0proved there were enough student founders in Australia \u2013 and that they could source them before anyone else \u2013 he offered to invest.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat kicked off our fundraiser and\u00a0essentially kicked\u00a0us into gear. He gave us our first cheque in December last year. We set out to raise a $2.5 million fund, and in June this year, we had closed $2 million from about 34 LPs [limited partners].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s much more than just raising funds and investing to be able to make Australia a great place to build. You shouldn\u2019t need a network, a safety net, or a decade of experience to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n \u2013 Mitchell Hughes, co-founder, NextGen Ventures<\/p>\n The pair say\u00a0they\u2019ll\u00a0land anywhere between $3 and $4 million from about 50 LPs at the end of their second\u00a0close, and\u00a0aim to dish out $70,000 cheques to 12 companies each year for the next three years \u2013 36 in total. NextGen has so far made eight investments this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe started off looking at everything from the products to the market, but as we made more investments, we realised that at the core of it all is the founder,\u201d\u00a0X\u2019Lingson\u00a0says.\u00a0\u00a0 As two recent graduates managing millions in venture capital, Hughes and\u00a0X\u2019Lingson\u00a0knew there would be scepticism. But the pair say conviction carried them through.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe always believed in what we were building,\u201d says Hughes. \u201cThe challenge was just proving that belief to others.\u201d That meant hundreds of cold emails, countless\u00a0rejections\u00a0and endless coffees before the first yes. \u201cWe\u2019ve got about 50 LPs in the fund now,\u201d he says, \u201cbut when I checked the other day, there were\u00a0roughly 260\u00a0people who either said no or never replied.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0plenty of people to prove wrong next time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Their willingness to bet on themselves mirrors the founders they back. \u201cAt the core of NextGen, our job is to be the first believer,\u201d says\u00a0X\u2019Lingson. \u201cWe want to be that first cheque into every founder we meet, the one who takes a wild bet because we believe in the human behind the idea.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This human-first lens shapes how they assess early-stage teams. While most investors look for traction or market validation, NextGen Ventures looks for people with drive and passion. \u201cA young founder might lack network or experience,\u201d Hughes explains, \u201cbut if they\u2019ve got extreme customer obsession, charisma, speed, and openness to learn, those traits can override everything else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This philosophy has quickly earned them a reputation on campuses from Melbourne to Sydney. Many of NextGen\u2019s portfolio founders are still completing degrees, some juggling lectures between investor meetings. Yet, as Hughes points out, that\u2019s where Australia\u2019s next great companies often start.\u00a0<\/p>\n Looking ahead, the pair\u00a0say their aim is to make Australia one of the best places in the world to be a young, ambitious founder. In about 18 months, or sometime in 2027, the pair say they have plans to open another fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur maturity will come through growing a bigger fund size, so we\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0just that first cheque, but we can also follow on all the way through a founder\u2019s journey. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want to put a cap on our ambition, but I would hope to get at least $20 million, if not more. Progressively,\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0aim to have bigger funds,\u201d Hughes says.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, their ultimate ambition is much larger. The co-founders also see NextGen as more than a venture fund \u2013 think: a platform for cultivating talent and community. Plans are already in motion for nationwide events, student fellowships and eventually a physical headquarters that doubles\u00a0as a\u00a0collaborative space for young builders.\u00a0<\/p>\n That ambition, they say, is grounded in purpose, not ego. Both founders are acutely aware of how difficult it is for young Australians to get a foot in the door of entrepreneurship. \u201cThere\u2019s much more than just raising funds and investing to be able to make Australia a great place to build,\u201d says Hughes. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t need a network, a safety net, or a decade of experience to be taken seriously.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For now, their focus\u00a0remains\u00a0on execution: finding exceptional founders, building\u00a0\u00a0 Look back on the week that was with hand-picked articles from Australia and around the world.\u00a0Sign up to the Forbes Australia newsletter here<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0become a member here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on December 1, 2025 Mitchell Hughes and Jerry\u00a0X\u2019Lingson\u00a0launched NextGen Ventures in late 2024 to invest in student…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[28,527,158,2994,165482,165483,165484],"class_list":{"0":"post-324127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurs","10":"tag-entrepreneurship","11":"tag-investing","12":"tag-jerry-xlingson","13":"tag-mitchell-hughes","14":"tag-nextgen-ventures"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/30u30_Digital-Covers_7_v2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\u201cMitch and I spend a lot of our first meetings interrogating and really understanding with genuine curiosity the founder\u2019s background, what motivates them intrinsically and what lived experiences they have. The best founders have strong intrinsic motivations and\u00a0a very unique\u00a0insight into their space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
a lasting community, and proving that Australia\u2019s next generation of innovators just need a sprinkle of opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n