Domenic Carosa

Domenic Carosa (born 1974) is an Australian businessman from Melbourne, Australia. Carosa was the co-founder of the digital music company, Destra Corporation. At the age of 25, Destra was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, making Carosa the youngest CEO to manage a company on the Securities Exchange in Australian history.[1]

Domenic Carosa
Born1974
Melbourne, Australia
Alma materAustralian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship
OccupationCo-Founder & Executive Chairman
EmployerFuture Capital Development Fund
Known forCo-Founder, Destra Corporation
Co-Founder, Future Capital Development Fund

Destra's assets were sold after the Opes Prime collapse in 2008, and Carosa became the founder of the Future Capital Development Fund in 2008. In 2014, the development fund diversified into bitcoin investment by launching the Future Capital Bitcoin Fund, which was the first of its kind in Australia.

Carosa is also the co-founder and CEO of the mobile Q&A company, Crowd Mobile.

Early life and education

Carosa was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1974. Carosa attended the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship where he earned a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.[2]

Career

Carosa began his career while he was a teenager[3] by co-founding the media and entertainment company Destra with his sister in 1993.[4] The company was originally called Sprint and owned entertainment websites in Australia. He was 25 years old when Destra was first publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, making him the youngest CEO in Australian history.[1] Carosa officially launched the Destra Corporation brand in 2004, and in 2005 announced first year revenue of over $15 million.[5] In 2004, Destra Corporation announced a large deal with Yahoo! to integrate a new suite of services with OzHosting.com's Web hosting service.[6]

Destra reverse-listed on the exchange just prior to the dot-com crash in 2000.[4] Carosa diversified the company into a web hosting company following the crash, and later led it to become a $100 million company and the second largest web hosting company in Australia.[7]

Carosa's company was greatly affected by the collapse of Opes Prime in 2008. After the collapse, Carosa had his stake reduced in the company to less than 1%, at which point he shifted from Managing Director to the role of a consultant for the company.[4][8][9]

Crowd Mobile

In 2009, Carosa launched Crowd Mobile, a mobile company where users pay experts to answer their questions, each billed at a set amount. In 2015, Carosa's Crowd Mobile announced that it would be acquiring the Dutch firm, Track Holdings for $35 million AUD.[10] During the same year, the company also raised an additional $2 million in a round of funding and also acquired Any Questions Answered (AQA Mobile) for $165,000.[11]

Crowd Mobile again featured in the media in early 2016, after it reached monthly revenues of $4.1 million. The questions and answers website at that stage had reached over 1,000 experts answering questions in over 30 different languages.[12]

Future Capital Development Fund

Around the same time Crowd Mobile launched he founded Future Capital Development Fund, which focused primarily on early stage startups.[13][14][15] Within the first two years, the Future Capital Development Fund raised more than $3 million for acquisitions, through an initial offering of shares. By late 2010, Carosa expected "to raise between $10m and $20m from a public float of FCDF later this year or early next year, depending on market conditions."[16]

By the end of 2012, FCDF had acquired 3 large stakes in three online companies, Our Wishing Well, Domain Folio 1 and SMS Central Australia.[16]

Carosa launched the Future Capital Bitcoin Fund in 2014. The bitcoin-based fund is considered the first dedicated bitcoin investment fund in Australia.[17]

Harris Technology Group

Between 2013 and 2016, Domenic Carosa served as non-executive director of Harris Technology Group Limited as part of the merger with Shoply.[18]

Collaborate Corporation

Between 2014 and 2016, Domenic Carosa served as non-executive director of Collaborate Corporation Limited (CL8).[18]

References
  1. Pirouz, Alex (September 16, 2011). "Domenic Carosa on dumb money vs. smart money". My Business.
  2. Nogrady, Bianca (March 2008). "'Jack of all trades' becomes media master". Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship.
  3. Eliezer, Christie (April 23, 2008). "Destra Dumps Founder Carosa". Billboard.
  4. Ryan, Paul (October 1, 2008). "What I have learnt (the hard way) – Domenic Carosa". Ant Hill Online. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.
  5. Corner, Stuart (September 12, 2005). "Destra Corporation reports maiden full year profit". IT Wire.
  6. "Destra, Yahoo! add new features for SMEs". ZDNet. May 18, 2004.
  7. "What I have learnt (the hard way) – Domenic Carosa". Anthill Online. October 1, 2008. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.
  8. Sharma, Mahesh (April 23, 2008). "Destra board suffers Opes fallout". The Australian.
  9. Waters, Cara (February 20, 2013). "Directors refusing appointments and considering resigning because of red tape and liability: Research". Smart Company.
  10. Reichert, Corinne (September 17, 2015). "Crowd Mobile to acquire Netherlands m-payments company for AU$35m". ZD Net.
  11. Baldassarre, Gina (February 25, 2015). "Crowd Mobile raises $2 million in latest funding round, acquires AQA Mobile". Startup Daily.
  12. "Crowd Mobile presses on with its expansion". Sky News. January 18, 2016.
  13. Bingemann, Mitchell (January 24, 2015). "Investors hang up on Crowd Mobile debut". The Australian.
  14. "Carosa's web grows ever wider". High Beam. May 16, 2011. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014.
  15. Hammond, Michelle (July 12, 2011). "Carosa ponders dual listing for Future Capital". Startup Smart.
  16. Bourlioufas, Nicki (March 26, 2010). "Another punt on net value: second dotcom boom". The Australian.
  17. Karlovsky, Brian (May 5, 2014). "Australian-based company sinks $US30 million into Australia's first bitcoin investment fund". ARN Net.
  18. "Domenic Carosa - Executive Profile". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
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