Investor · 1 deal
Geelong, VIC
Every published round Deakin University 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.
| Company | Stage | Announced | Amount | Role | Alongside | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLAIM Systems | Series A | 29 Mar 2023 | $6.7m | Participant | SmartCompany, @AuManufacturing |
Companies Deakin University has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLAIM Systems | 29 Mar 2023, Series A | 1 | 0 |
This is a stake in the fund itself, money that the fund's manager invests, not a stake in the fund manager.
| Fund | Manager | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| University Innovation Platform (UIP) | Breakthrough Victoria | Breakthrough Victoria (28 Mar 2025), Breakthrough Victoria (27 Mar 2025) |
Companies Deakin University has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Deakin University did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Alessandra Sutti | Associate Professor | @AuManufacturing |
| Christopher Hurren | Associate Professor | @AuManufacturing |
| Dr Balaji Narayanaswamy | Associate Research Fellow | @AuManufacturing |
| Dr Dylan Hegh | Circular Economy Initiatives Manager | @AuManufacturing |
| Lynn Warneke | Deputy CDO | Startup Daily |
| Dr Soukayna Bekkali | Lab Manager (former) | Startup Daily |
| Andrew Bottrell | Part-time Industry Professor and Chair in Defence and Security Capabilities | Defence Connect |
| Dr Matthias Weiss | Senior Research Fellow | @AuManufacturing (13 Jul 2022), @AuManufacturing (24 Feb 2022) |
Stories naming Deakin University. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Xefco, held by Breakthrough Victoria, has secured a $4,999,122 federal Industry Growth Program grant as it sends its first production-scale waterless plasma dyeing unit to Indonesia, with twelve systems already committed by customers.
Retired Major General Andrew Bottrell has joined defence company Aurora Labs as a non-executive director, bringing senior military and acquisition experience; he also founded Rockpool Partners and holds an academic chair at Deakin University.
Perth seaweed materials maker Uluu has closed a Series A led by Burda Principal Investments to fund a commercial-scale facility, with Main Sequence returning after leading its 2022 round.
Also Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·Startup News (WA)·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews
Engineering firm Austeng won a $500,000 federal grant to demonstrate onsite green hydrogen production and blending for industrial burners, working with SunGreenH2, Deakin University and Swinburne at its Geelong facility.
Weekly roundup: Breakthrough Victoria and Monash University co-invest $2.25 million across three university healthtech spinouts, while Blackbird backs Hall, which helps businesses win visibility on AI platforms, with $2 million pre-seed.
Also Startup Daily
Breakthrough Victoria and Monash University put joint pre-seed backing into three life-sciences spinouts and launched the $15m Monash Ventures pre-seed fund, part of a $100m platform commercialising Victorian university research.
Breakthrough Victoria's Dr Olga Hogan explains its University Innovation Platform, which co-invests pre-seed funding alongside Victorian universities, plus a fellowship helping PhD researchers turn research into companies.
AgTech firm YieldX has attracted a $1.7 million round, with Breakthrough Victoria and La Trobe University's Eagle Fund contributing $500,000 apiece alongside Mandalay Venture Partners and LaunchVic's Hugh Victor McKay Fund.
EntroMat, a Melbourne developer of high-entropy metal powders, has landed $1 million from Breakthrough Victoria and Swinburne under a university research commercialisation platform.
Weekly roundup of eight Australian startup raises, led by Sonder's $40 million round, plus AMP's $20 million raise and acquisition of the Shopify app Back in Stock.
Also Startup Daily·Defence Connect·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Defence Connect·Forbes Australia
Australian Catholic University signs on as the seventh university in Breakthrough Victoria's co-investment platform, with matched funding pledged; the article also recaps four earlier startup investments via Melbourne's Genesis Pre-Seed fund.
Roundup of manufacturing briefs: FBR's US venture option with CRH lapses, Li-S Energy appoints Rick Francis to its board as a director departs, plus sponsorship, TAFE funding, rate commentary and a hydrogen collaboration.
The Victorian government's VC fund Breakthrough Victoria slipped to a loss, its annual report showing startup investments, cost cutting and boardroom departures amid criticism of its spending and performance.
Heat exchanger maker Conflux Technology has banked an $11 million Series B, fronted by Breakthrough Victoria's $5 million pledge and supported by AM Ventures and Acorn Capital, to speed product development and expand offshore.
Profile of Uluu, a Perth climate tech startup turning farmed seaweed into biodegradable PHA to replace plastics, recalling early backing from Alberts Impact Ventures and Main Sequence plus two grants.
Also Forbes Australia
Sydney-based textile dyeing startup Xefco has raised a $10.5 million seed extension led by Main Sequence Ventures, including $2.5 million from Breakthrough Victoria, funding expansion of its water-free dyeing technology into Victoria.
Breakthrough Victoria is putting $2.5 million into Xefco, an Australian startup whose plasma coating enables water-free fabric dyeing, alongside Main Sequence, Virescent, Investible and Voyagers in a seed round.
Also Main Sequence Ventures portfolio·Virescent Ventures portfolio·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing
Breakthrough Victoria announces a $2.5 million Series A investment in Xefco, a Victorian startup whose Ausora technology dyes and finishes textiles without water, helping it scale manufacturing and create local jobs.
Breakthrough Victoria's media release marks three years, citing more than $300 million committed across direct investments, a fund, a grant and university partnerships, and discusses its Aravax and Seer Medical investments.
PV Industries, a battery-recycling consortium and 1414 Degrees win grants in the newest CRC round, covering panel recycling, battery materials recovery and hydrogen; KGM Services also enters the field with university backers.
Federal grants roundup: 21 Cooperative Research Centres Projects awards worth $51 million in Round 15, with EQ Plastics, Optiscan Imaging and NEXSEN BioTech each receiving $3 million for product development.
Also RenewEconomy
AuManufacturing columnist Peter Roberts laments the cut-price sale of wheel maker Carbon Revolution to US backers and reports plans for Mexican production, citing Tritium's offshore shift as another local manufacturing loss.
Weekly roundup of eight Australian startups together securing $149 million: One Model, SafetyCulture, Hysata, Pendula, Marqo, Medigrowth, Curiious and Zena Sport, spanning HR analytics, safety tech, hydrogen, AI, medicinal cannabis, VR and sportstech.
Also Startup Daily·thebusinesstimes.com.au·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia
Geelong sportswear startup Zena Sport has closed its first outside round, with Breakthrough Victoria putting in $148,000 and Carbine, the Smorgon family and Euphemia also taking part, after an Amazon Launchpad grant win.
Also SmartCompany
Breakthrough Victoria announces a $148,000 pre-seed investment in Geelong maker Zena Sport, whose protective vests guard female athletes against breast injury; Carbine, Smorgon Family and Euphemia also backed the first external round.
Also Startup News (WA)
Podcast interview with Full Circle Fibres founder Meriel Chamberlin on Australia's textile industry, whose Mud to Marle project recently received a Country Road Climate Fund grant.
White Graphene, majority-owned by PPK Group and working with Deakin University, won Boeing's space sustainability pitch competition, securing up to $100,000 to develop boron nitride nanomaterial uses in aerospace.
Cybersecurity accelerator CyRise, run by NTT and Deakin University since 2017, is shutting down in May, leaving Australia without a dedicated cyber startup accelerator; its portfolio startups collectively raised over $40m afterwards.
Also Startup Daily
Modo, a Melbourne company developing a mind-clarity app, has secured pre-launch backing of $800,000 from five funds plus founders of Culture Amp and Seer; the app offers subscription access from early 2024.
Manufacturing roundup: Memphasys IVF birth and Japanese orders, FIAL chair change, DroneShield's DroneGun Mk4, Austeng's hydrogen burner grant, UNSW recycling hub launch, Symbio laboratory, apprentice award, and MathWorks joining Universal Robots' ecosystem.
Deakin University spinout FLAIM Systems, which makes immersive VR training for firefighters, has raised a $6.7 million Series A, with Breakthrough Victoria taking a $5 million minority stake to fund expansion and new jobs.
FLAIM Systems, a VR firefighter training company, announced a Series A led by Breakthrough Victoria, with Deakin University and others participating, funding expansion, R&D and planned hires.
Also SmartCompany
Digital consulting startup FORMM has raised a $600,000 pre-seed round from individual investors who also take on leadership, board and advisory roles, to help mid-sized businesses digitise.
Also SmartCompany
Roundup of manufacturing items: a satellite launch plan, a biotech tax incentive payment, a boot range launch, a solar CEO's exit, a ferry study, a university battery hub, and a recycling trial.
Animal-free fat maker Nourish Ingredients closed a Series A backed by Horizons Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures and Hostplus, adding to an earlier raise as it scales precision fermentation production.
Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·Techboard·SmartCompany·AgFunderNews·Forbes Australia·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
FormFlow and Deakin University finished a 12-month research project backed by IMCRC funding, producing two steel-bending technologies and jobs for Deakin students, deepening the startup's university partnership.
Also @AuManufacturing
Padua Solutions has hired Rudy Haddad to lead technical advice and Kun Singh as marketing head, while recalling a $10.5 million raise in late 2021 that fueled its rapid expansion.
Three unnamed subsidiaries of listed technology company PPK Group have received federal grants through Deakin University's renewable energy commercialisation hub, with market valuations noted for PPK and its Li-S subsidiary.
New Zealand biotech Humble Bee Bio received a $70,000 grant via IMCRC's activate program to work with Deakin University on a bee-inspired, water-repellent textile coating.