Brand spanking new! Building a bold brand for ACTivate Capital

Challenge

Venture capital is a cluttered market, and brands tend to stick to a few norms: if it’s not an abstract image of “tech,” it’s a picture of a skyscraper. But this wasn’t going to work for ACTivate Capital.

The brief: a brand that is different, feels like Canberra without leaning on postcard cliches, and above all, conveys the experience of working with ACTivate Capital, a fund that doesn’t just fund start-ups but mentors them.

Approach

We built a brand that was warm, yet polished, smart but human, accessible and quietly confident.

Feathers became the central motif used across the visual identity, representing flight and ambition. Macro photography of feathers introduced subtle textures resembling carbon fibre, a nod to Canberra’s strength in tech. The colour palette was rooted in the Bush Capital itself, sun-bleached eucalyptus, stone, and sky at dusk, pulled directly from Canberra’s natural surroundings to feel local.

Beyond the visual identity, we crafted a tone of voice built on three pillars: nurturing, local and ambitious.

The brand was rolled out across a custom-built website and a full communications toolkit, including a PowerPoint deck, pull-up banners and social tiles, ensuring the identity remained consistent across every touchpoint.

To mark the fund’s launch, we secured media placement in the Canberra Times and equipped board members with branded LinkedIn assets, professional portraits and tailored posts, extending the launch through their own established networks.