Investor
Melbourne, VIC
Every published round RMIT 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.
Companies RMIT has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No portfolio companies recorded yet. | ||||
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 RMIT has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal RMIT did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Dr James Waldie | Adjunct Professor | @AuManufacturing |
| Priya Kanniappan | Industry Mentor | Australian FinTech |
| Prof Alan Wong | Professor (former) | Startup Daily (19 Dec 2025), SmartCompany (19 Dec 2025), Virescent Ventures, Startup Daily (16 Dec 2025), RenewEconomy (16 Dec 2025), RenewEconomy (16 Dec 2025), SmartCompany (16 Dec 2025) |
| Professor Sharath Sriram | Professor | @AuManufacturing |
Stories naming RMIT. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Skalata Ventures, the seed fund and founder-training program led by Paul Little and Rohan Workman, is raising a second vehicle plus growth capital, reporting 30 investments and a 44 per cent IRR.
As Breakthrough Victoria and LaunchVic combine into Innovation Victoria, nine partner organisations will share government funding to run pre-accelerator programs for founders at the idea stage.
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.
Breakthrough Victoria's release marks Infleqtion's New York Stock Exchange listing, the investor's first portfolio listing, and notes further quantum backing of Quantum Brilliance plus Infleqtion's Victorian operations and partnerships.
Also Breakthrough Victoria·Breakthrough Victoria·Breakthrough Victoria·Breakthrough Victoria·Startup Daily·SmartCompany
Roundup of seven trans-Tasman raises worth $93.1m this week, headlined by IND Technology's $50m round, with LawVu also acquiring ClauseBase.
Virescent Ventures announces it has invested in grid-tech firm IND Technology's inaugural institutional round, led by Energy Impact Partners and Angeleno Group, profiling the Melbourne company's early fault detection technology, founders and utility customers.
Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily
Press Play Ventures, a program for aspiring women founders, took out the GSD trophy at Startup Daily's 2025 awards; alumni noted include GonGlobal, which raised pre-seed funding, and Umbrellus, now in a LaunchVic challenge.
Breakthrough Victoria reflects on its 2022 investment in quantum company Infleqtion, part of a larger raise, detailing Victorian operations, university partnerships, workforce programs and a planned US listing via SPAC.
NASA confirmed the Australian-built Roo-ver will reach the Moon by 2030 under its Artemis program. The ELO2 consortium, technically led by Lunar Outpost Oceania of Melbourne, has $42 million in Australian Government backing.
Two Victorian backers put a combined $2.25 million into three university spinouts pursuing biologics, antibody drugs and delivery devices, launching a new $15 million pre-seed vehicle.
Also @AuManufacturing
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.
Manufacturing roundup: two hydrogen aircraft developers register cryogenic hydrogen tanks, a new WA Chief Scientist begins, a battery recycler wins a state grant, and the steel lobby seeks US tariff relief.
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.
Student-run venture fund NextGen Ventures has locked in $1.5 million toward a $2.5 million target, backed by Blackbird's cofounders, Airtree and angel investors, and has already invested in AI startup Fluency.
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.
Solar panel recycler Elecsome has secured a patent for its dismantling and glass recovery methods; the piece also recaps its accelerator participation, a feasibility study with AGL and an Enel Green Power agreement.
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.
Profile of plant-based leather textiles maker Alt. Leather, recalling its 2023 raise backed by LaunchVic's Alice Anderson Fund and growing interest from global fashion and automotive brands.
Profile of a Melbourne agtech startup commercialising leaf protein, recalling grant funding from LaunchVic with co-investment plus matched research funding that helped it scale production and court food manufacturers.
Breakthrough Victoria defends its spending and investment record against critics urging its abolition, pointing to portfolio companies, university partnerships and recent backing of startups including Aravax.
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.
Profile of Bodd, a Melbourne maker of 3D body scanners for uniforms and apparel, covering its Bosch-built hardware, defence and police customers, university ties, scan-based revenues and roughly $8 million raised to date.
Melbourne tax app maker TaxLeopard has bought Airtax, a PwC-born tax tool with tens of thousands of users, and is now seeking new funding.
LaunchVic has granted Startmate $300,000 to run its Student Fellowship, a three-week program training at least 320 Victorian university students in startup skills over two years.
Weekly roundup of eight Australian startups raising a combined $30.2 million, spanning SME lending, quantum computing grants, proptech, consumer apps and recycling, plus Stylerunner's earlier sale to Accent Group.
Also Startup Daily
Roundup of Australian manufacturing news: government grants for Wide Open Agriculture, FYI Resources and female founder programs, an XTEK armour order, Oventus Medical's wind-up, an Osteopore board appointment, and Monash's new venture program.
Also AgFunderNews
Breakthrough Victoria's technology director writes on quantum trends from the Sydney conference, noting the firm's earlier investments in Infleqtion and Quantum Brilliance and Infleqtion Australia's launch under a new president.
Australian quantum computing startup Quantum Brilliance has raised US$18 million to scale its room-temperature diamond-based mini quantum computers, following a smaller round in 2021.
Also Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Zeller hires Priya Kanniappan as Head of Marketing in Melbourne; she previously held senior marketing roles at carsales and Eventbrite and mentors at RMIT.
Melbourne body-scanning startup Bodd raised $5 million led by Candice and Nick Hirons to expand into North American wellness, fashion and pharmaceutical markets and grow its uniform business.
Roundup of manufacturing news: Fortescue's ammonia locomotive trial, Nova Eye's US regulatory delay, Wellnex completing its Mr Bright acquisition, ClearVue's research tax payment, and a photonic chip breakthrough.
Podcast conversation with Esper Satellite Imagery's young chief executive about hyperspectral imaging satellites, customer pre-orders, a joint space mission with other Australian firms, and a consortium grant.
Human Aerospace launches a two-year collaborative research programme to develop health-preserving spacesuits, funded by a grant from the Australian Space Agency's Expand Capability programme, led by Dr James Waldie.
Breakthrough Victoria launched a $100m program with nine Victorian universities to fund university startups; its first $7.5m went into Melbourne's $15m Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, and RMIT spin-out Atmo Biosciences recently raised $9.6 million.
Manufacturing roundup covering Tritium's Nasdaq listing via SPAC merger, LAVO's NSW government grant, AnteoTech's regulator request, Osteopore's quarterly revenue, a JAT-Pinnacle dairy partnership, and 2021 Australian EV sales figures.
A Q&A with the Plexus chief executive covering the company's 2011 founding, its Legal Gateway platform, client pricing reform, emerging legal roles, and his outlook for the profession.