2020 WA Award
The 2020 WA Pearcey Entrepreneur Award recipient is Greg Riebe, co-founder of Entrepreneurs in Residence. This Award was part the 29th WAITTA Incite Honorary Awards announced on Wednesday 25 November 2020.
Greg Riebe
Greg is an active member of ICT, technology innovation and emerging entrepreneurial businesses and early stage investor communities in Western Australia and was recently awarded the 2020 Australian Angel of the Year.
In 2000, Greg co-founded Entrepreneurs in Residence Pty Ltd (EiR) which has helped over 400 emerging technology companies with advice, capital raising, deals structuring, business development and exit management. Between 2000 and 2008, EiR had the mandate to manage investment funds on behalf the Federal Government to invest in information technology start-ups. He went on to manage an incubator worth 15 million dollars in Federal Government funding and which helped secure a further 34 million in private co-investment funds for 30 investments.
Greg is a co-founder, immediate past Chairman and present Chair of Industry Development, Education and Events for Perth Angels. Since founding Perth Angels (the then WA Angel Investors Inc.) with colleagues, Ray Hart and Jim Tweddle, Greg has established a significant profile with industry, government, the higher education sectors and, particularly, the entrepreneurial business space.
In industry, Greg is a speaker, mentor, adviser and judge of many WA entrepreneurial initiatives including Curtin Ignition, and the Innovator of the Year and Incite Awards. Greg provides insights on stages of growth being invited to speak at numerous events on Angel Investing. He is often heard commenting that "A great way to get better due diligence on investment opportunities in early stage ventures is co-investing via an Angel Investor group." Greg has been invited to join Government panels, leader forums and summits on innovation strategies and, contributed to university business school innovation strategies.
In the startup ecosystem, Greg was integral in the establishment of e-Group - a community of entrepreneurs, innovators, tech experts and Angel investors - and was its inaugural President and has watched it become a highly successful community group. He also organised and hosted the first Annual Angel Investor Breakfast.
Greg is passionate about building the investor community through educating existing and aspiring investors in investing in diverse technologies and innovative businesses. In 2015, Greg was the inaugural winner of the TechBoard Startup Community Award presented by WA's Chief Scientist, Professor Peter Klinken in recognition of his outstanding individual contribution to the entrepreneurship community.
In 2018, Greg created the Angel Investing Series encompassing new economy technologies, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, Drones, MedTech, Digital Health and Cyber Securities. A key area of focus for the Series is the transformative opportunities that new technologies present and the criteria by which to evaluate the commercial merit when considering investing in them bringing together leading experts and advisers in Perth (representing specific industries: legal, financial, fund managers as well product ventures).
Greg also volunteers much of his time to working with community groups and City Councils to energise their economies and diversify job growth and opportunities as well as providing business advice and mentoring to startups and SMEs. He is presently a Non-Executive Director/Chairman/Advisor to a number of Australian emerging businesses such as Calytrix Technologies and Digital Therapeutics Labs, stepping into the role of interim CEO.
In addition to being a founding member and immediate past Chairperson, Greg currently serves as Perth Angels' Chair of Industry Development & Education, he sits on the Board of newly founded angel group, South West Angels, and is an Advisory Board Member of WA Leaders.
Greg is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, has a Masters in International Business from Murdoch University and Bachelor of Information Processing from Curtin University.
