Managing Partner, Virescent Ventures
| Role | Organisation | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Director (former) | Clean Energy Innovation Fund | Virescent Ventures portfolio, globalaginvesting.com, evokeag.com |
| Managing Partner | Virescent Ventures | Startup Daily (26 Oct 2025), Breakthrough Victoria, Virescent Ventures, Startup Daily (13 Oct 2022) |
Stories naming Ben Gust. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Victoria's Breakthrough Victoria has committed $75m to five specialist VC funds covering climate tech, life sciences, female founders and healthcare, each pledging a quarter of its capital to local startups.
Breakthrough Victoria is putting $75 million into five venture capital funds, including Virescent, SYNthesis BioVentures, Scale and Galileo, each of which has pledged a quarter of its capital to Victorian startups.
Jet Charge, an Australian electric-vehicle charging company, has secured $72 million with Mirova leading and earlier backers returning, to develop charging technology and its subscription model.
Also SmartCompany
Virescent Ventures says QIC has joined Westpac and the CEFC backing its second climate tech fund, with new commitments lifting the initial close to roughly $125 million toward a $200 million goal.
Solar cell maker SunDrive has raised a $21 million Series B led by Main Sequence Ventures, with CEFC, Grok and Blackbird investing, and first-time backers including Turnbull, Denholm and Adams.
Also RenewEconomy·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy
Soil carbon measurement startup Downforce Technologies closed a $3 million seed round backed by CEFC's Clean Energy Innovation Fund, Perivoli Innovations and Tiverton, with Australia as its first target market.
An Australian agrifood-tech venture firm completed the close of its debut fund at an oversubscribed A$35 million, after an initial 2020 close above $20 million backed by CEFC and the Cannon-Brookes family vehicle.
Also farmingahead.com.au·Dynamic Business·agriinvestor.com·globalaginvesting.com·globalventuring.com
GBS Ventures marks its fourth FDA drug approval as Hatchtech's head lice treatment Xeglyze clears the regulator, recalling earlier wins behind Picato, Synribo and Aridol with Australian biotech firms.