VentureCrowd appoints Jesse Arundell to lead agentic AI drive
VentureCrowd has appointed Jesse Arundell, Head of Artificial Intelligence Solutions and Strategy at Optus, to its Advisory Board to lead the adoption of agentic AI tools for private capital markets.
Jesse Arundell brings experience from roles in large Australian organisations, including his most recent position at Optus, where he leads the design, development and scaled adoption of new artificial intelligence products, platforms and experiences. Prior to his current role, Arundell was Head of Emerging Technology at CommBank.
AI-driven investment infrastructure
Arundell's responsibilities at VentureCrowd will include guiding the agentic AI approach to capital raising and investment. VentureCrowd aims to streamline capital raising processes for founders and businesses, with the objective to reduce traditional fundraising timeframes from between six and twelve months to as little as three months.
Coming from a financial services background and operating in a highly regulated environment, I've long admired VentureCrowd's mission to open up and democratise private market investment.
He added, "What VentureCrowd is building with agentic AI tools has the potential to redefine how private capital is raised, allocated and scaled. I'm excited to help guide the next phase of its evolution."
Executive recognition
Steve Maarbani, CEO of VentureCrowd, described Arundell's expertise as instrumental in the company's AI strategy. Maarbani stated, "Jesse brings an enterprise-grade understanding of AI applications that few in Australia can match."
Maarbani continued, "We are building investment infrastructure for the future. As we continue embedding intelligent agents into every part of the VentureCrowd experience, his input will be invaluable in helping us build a smarter, more scalable investment platform that is globally relevant."
Advisory and industry experience
Alongside his position at Optus, Arundell is also involved as a mentor to StartMate founders and advises technology scale-ups. He has a personal portfolio of over ten angel investments in partnership with global venture capital firms. Arundell was acknowledged as one of the Australian Financial Review's Young Executives of the Year and included among Australia's Top 100 Future Leaders. He also led the national bid to help develop international innovation-management standards and participates on both the Australian and international technical committees for innovation management standards.
Technology strategy and platform development
VentureCrowd is focusing on embedding AI agents across the capital raising lifecycle, including campaign creation, investor engagement and post-raise compliance. The intention is to consolidate previously fragmented and costly processes into a digital experience. The foundation of VentureCrowd's platform is an advanced data layer, developed through data science, supporting the implementation of new AI solutions. These include a machine learning algorithm to predict investment likelihood and an AI-powered capital raising assistant, designed to provide founders with guidance throughout the process—an approach traditionally reserved for analysts and consultants.
Since its start, VentureCrowd has raised over AUD $330 million for more than 150 projects, with more than AUD $30 million returned to investors. By 2027, the company intends to assist over 3,000 founders and businesses annually in raising capital.
The company continues to invest in AI and digital solutions to develop its capital raising platform, designed to support founders and provide an investment platform for alternative assets. This approach is aligned with its strategy to create a more open and dynamic financial ecosystem in Australia and democratise access to private capital markets for all categories of investors, including retail, wholesale and institutional participants.
