Defence Trailblazer at ADSTAR 2026: impact and legacy
Defence Trailblazer showcases its researchers, ventures and projects at an Adelaide defence summit, citing over $140 million in industry support, as it prepares to hand over to AUSDII.
Government · 28 deals
Every published round Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted, and a place in one of its own programs is under Cohorts.
Everyone Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator has named to a program in published coverage. A place in a program is not a raise: the cheque is the figure recorded with the place, which is the program's standard terms where we hold them, and a blank is one we don't.
Companies Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VTOL Aerospace | 30 Jan 2024, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| University of Western Australia | University analyzing recovered experimental panels | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| University of Technology Sydney | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 | |
| University of South Australia | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| University of New South Wales | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 | |
| University of Adelaide | University leading the Current and Emergent Quantum Technology training centre | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 |
| SYPAQ Systems | Drone manufacturer | 21 Apr 2026, Grant | 2 | 2 |
| QuantX Labs | Quantum sensing startup developing optical atomic clock technology | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 |
| Q-CTRL | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| Penten | 6 Feb 2025, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| Nomad Atomics | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| Monash University | University partnered on Remagine Labs spin-out | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 |
| Infleqtion (Cold Quanta) | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| Ichor Autonomy | 30 Jan 2024, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Grabba Technologies | 21 Aug 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 | |
| Geodrones Australia | 30 Jan 2024, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Edinburgh Drone Company | 30 Jan 2024, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Diamond Defence | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| Deteqt | Deep tech spin-out building diamond quantum chips for magnetic field detection | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| DefendTex | 30 Jan 2024, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Crystalaid Manufacture | 30 Jan 2024, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Consunet | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 | |
| Boresight | 21 Aug 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 | |
| Bask Aerospace | 30 Jan 2024, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Autonomous Technology | 30 Jan 2024, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Analog Quantum Circuits | Superconducting quantum technology firm | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 1 | 1 |
| AMSL Aero | 12 Feb 2024, Grant | 3 | 2 | |
| Aimdefence | 21 Apr 2026, Grant | 2 | 2 | |
| Advanced Design Technology | 6 Feb 2025, Grant | 1 | 1 |
Fund closes reported for Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator did.
Stories naming Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Defence Trailblazer showcases its researchers, ventures and projects at an Adelaide defence summit, citing over $140 million in industry support, as it prepares to hand over to AUSDII.
A Perth-based maker of military drones has lodged listing paperwork with the corporate regulator ahead of a planned sharemarket float; its current Defence Force munitions contract is worth $24.2 million.
The federal government is paying Electro Optic Systems $5.7 million under a Mission Syracuse contract to mature its R400 Slinger counter-drone weapon system, adding to earlier backing of AIM Defence and SYPAQ.
Canberra has awarded initial contracts worth $21.3 million and $10.4 million to two counter-drone companies under a defence accelerator program, with billions more set aside for drone technology across the coming decade.
Defence's innovation accelerator has awarded three more contracts under its emerging and disruptive technologies program, funding quantum and information-warfare work at CSIRO, four universities and Silicon Quantum Computing, adding $9 million to the program.
Breakthrough Victoria highlights recent achievements of portfolio companies including funding, awards, and expansions for firms like Liquid Instruments, Quantum Brilliance, and Samsara Eco.
ADT and Penten have received federal contracts totalling above $8m through a national defence accelerator, funding year-long electronic warfare prototype projects which, the minister says, secure over 150 jobs.
Also Defence Connect
Roundup of the week's five most-read manufacturing stories: a defence radio contract for Codan, university facility funding, a WEF white paper, ASCA missile-defence awards, and a port chair's farewell.
ASCA has contracted two unnamed defence firms, one from Adelaide and one from Brisbane, to mature technology that degrades enemy air-defence systems, under a $61.5 million initial government investment.
The National Reconstruction Fund has taken a $13 million stake in quantum maker Quantum Brilliance, while a defence accelerator funds University of Western Australia quantum research and Germany's Cyber Agency contracts the company.
Also Forbes Australia·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany
Defence grants totalling over $60 million went to 21 Australian organisations, with quantum software firm Q-CTRL among the recipients of contracts under a federal emerging technologies program.
Canberra is funding 21 quantum and counter-disinformation defence projects, awarding $60 million in grants through ASCA's Emerging and Disruptive Technologies programme to universities and companies nationwide.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing
Three local drone makers won defence accelerator contracts worth $2.2 million apiece to finish prototypes and build 100 uncrewed aerial systems, while the Ghost Shark underwater drone reached America for trans-Pacific testing.
Also @AuManufacturing
AuManufacturing analysis weighing whether Defence's drone purchase shows procurement reform is working, tracing Sypaq's Corvo from 2018 concept work to selection alongside a German rival.
Sydney computer vision firm Visionary Machines won a Phase 2 Defence technology demonstration contract for its Pandion counter-drone sensor after pitching at Army Innovation Day 2023 via the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator.
Defence Connect reports the launch of Periscope Capital Partners, a private equity fund aiming to deploy $1 billion of private capital into Australian defence businesses over the next decade, led by Mark Stevens.
More than eleven Australian defence firms have contracted to build drone prototypes under ASCA's Sovereign UAS Challenge, with contracts worth a combined $1.21 million and demonstrations planned for April.
Also @AuManufacturing
Eleven companies will develop prototype drones for Defence's Sovereign UAS Challenge, run by ASCA, under contracts worth a combined $1.21 million, with demonstrations due in April.
Techboard's May 2023 roundup of Australian startup funding: 42 private raises topped by Fleet Space's $50m round, two $40m acquisitions, multiple grants, accelerator intakes, and fund news including GiantLeap's $50m fund raise.
Australia will create the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, backed by a decade-long $3.4 billion commitment, to speed defence innovation and procurement; the news follows Fleet Space's recently revealed $6.4m Defence contract.
An academic explainer of directed energy weapons, covering AIM Defence's newly launched Melbourne testing range, a Defence deal with QinetiQ for a prototype laser, and the ASCA program.