Former JANA consultant joins VC firm

A former JANA Investment Advisers consultant with ten years with Macquarie Group under her belt has landed at an early-stage venture capital firm.

Tania Freeman has started a new position as investment manager at Jelix Ventures.

Jelix is run by former investment banker Andrea Gardiner and her husband Ian Gardiner, a well-known operator in the local start-up scene.

After three years with JANA -  advising institutional investors on their private equity and venture capital portfolios -  Freeman wanted a change.

"I've sought to complement my more transactional, direct investment experience in the private markets with a better understanding of portfolio management and how LPs think," she said.

"I think having a more holistic, empathetic lens has allowed me to become a better investor."

Before joining JANA, Freeman's a senior manager of private markets at NSW Treasury Corporation.

Earlier, before a two-year stint as the investment director of infrastructure with InfraRed Capital Partners, she spent ten years with Macquarie Group with the group's infrastructure and real assets team.

During her career, she also set up a startup global climate specialist investment firm called Wollemi Capital.

The firm provided growth capital for technology companies in energy transition, food & agriculture, and climate services.