VC Firm’s EVP Warns of Major Risk in Newly Led $17M Investment

Less than two weeks after announcing that it had led a $17 million round into the Melbourne software business, Sydney venture capital firm EVP has reportedly contacted police and is attempting to recover the investment it made in StrongRoom AI.

According to the AFR, EVP had enlisted the help of forensic and legal accounting specialists and was alerting investors in its Opportunities Fund that it was making every effort to recoup the money and would bear all associated expenses. Misha Saul, an EVP investor who was joining the board at the time, stated that StrongRoom AI was already on its way to becoming a worldwide pharmaceutical technology category leader.

An EVP representative did not identify the company in a statement to Startup Daily, but they did claim that they had no previous knowledge of the alleged activities and that they had proactively given police information since learning about it. They are also cooperating with the authorities as they do their investigation. It was unclear what the problem was that prompted the police to look into it.

Max Mito, Christopher Durre, and Kieran Start, all university classmates, created the medication management, patient engagement, and analytics software firm in 2017. With the money, StrongRoom was purchasing Member Benefits Australia, a healthcare loyalty program.

StrongRoom's software simplifies patient adherence, prescription monitoring, and dose management. The company reported having over 1,500 clients in Australia and the UK, including large pharmacy groups, and generating around $13 million in sales annually in 2024.