Background: Seek is Australia's largest online jobs marketplace, with platforms across Asia and South America. It has also been an active startup investor through Seek and its VC arm, Seek Investments. One of its biggest bets was Employment Hero. Seek has backed the $2 billion HR tech company since 2017 and continued to support it in ongoing capital raises.

What happened: In January last year, Seek's VC arm sold $95 million worth of Employment Hero shares, but kept a sizable stake. Months later, Employment Hero took SEEK to Federal Court over access to SEEK's job ad posting API. The dispute was settled out of court.

What else: But now, SEEK has announced plans to sell its remaining stake, marking a full exit. SEEK claims the sale reflects a standard investment lifecycle decision. After nearly nine years on the register, it's time to realise returns. So basically, all forgiven, but nothing forgotten.

What's the key learning?

💡An exit strategy is the plan investors use to realise the value of their investment. Venture capital and corporate venture funds don't make money simply because a startup grows in valuation - they only generate returns when they sell their shares.

💡There are typically three main exit pathways:

• A company can IPO on a stock exchange - like when Google Ventures invested in Uber in 2013 and made billions when the latter listed in 2019
• It can pursue a trade sale to another company or private equity firm
• It can complete a secondary sale, where investors sell to new investors while the business remains private - as Seek is doing

💡 After investing since 2017, Seek is trying to turn paper gains into realised returns. So while it may be part of the investment lifecycle… it’s also part of the healing process.