Investor · 3 deals
UQ’s commercialisation company
Brisbane, QLD
Every published round UniQuest 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monty Compost Co | Unnamed stage | 9 Aug 2024 | $1m | Participant | SmartCompany (9 Aug 2024), SmartCompany (31 Jul 2024) | |
| Vaxxas | Unnamed stage | 9 Dec 2022 | $34m | Lead | Techboard, @AuManufacturing (11 Dec 2022), SmartCompany, Brandon Capital portfolio, @AuManufacturing (6 Dec 2022), OneVentures portfolio, Brandon BioCatalyst portfolio | |
| Spinifex Pharmaceuticals | Unnamed stage | Jul 2005 | $3.2m | Participant | bionity.com, GBS Ventures (30 Jun 2015), clinicalleader.com, GBS Ventures (3 Aug 2006), GBS Ventures (26 Jul 2005) |
Companies UniQuest has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vaxxas | Biotech/MedTech company | 9 Dec 2022 | 1 | 1 |
| Monty Compost Co | 9 Aug 2024 | 1 | 0 | |
| Spinifex Pharmaceuticals | UQ spin-out sold to Novartis in 2015 | Jul 2005 | 1 | 0 |
Fund closes reported for UniQuest, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies UniQuest has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal UniQuest did.
| Company | Bought by | Kind | Announced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spinifex Pharmaceuticals | Novartis International | Acquisition | 29 Jun 2015 | US$200m+ (A$260m+) |
| Spinifex Pharmaceuticals | Novartis | Acquisition | 29 Jun 2015 | US$700m (A$911m) |
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Dr Dean Moss | CEO | Mirage News, Startup Daily (25 Aug 2025), Business News Australia, materresearch.org.au, @AuManufacturing (4 Mar 2025), Startup News (WA), Startup Daily (28 Sep 2022), SmartCompany, @AuManufacturing (27 Sep 2022), Startup Daily (5 Apr 2022) |
| Mark Ashton | Senior Director, Commercial Engagement (Health) | GBS Ventures |
Stories naming UniQuest. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
UQ spinout Proboxis Biotechnology has received $1.5 million via the first round of the Biointelect Venturer incubator to advance a vaccine platform against mosquito-borne diseases toward human clinical development.
Uniseed-backed Australian medtech Q-Sera's blood-clotting tube technology has debuted in Japan via Terumo's VenoJect II launch; the post also credits MRCF and UniQuest Extension Fund as backers.
Q-Sera's rapid-clotting blood tube technology has gone to market in Japan via Terumo's VenoJect II launch; the Melbourne startup's backers include MRCF, Uniseed and the UniQuest Extension Fund.
Queensland drug developer Lucia Bio added $2 million to its seed round from UniQuest Extension Fund and Uniseed-managed funds, bringing its overall raise to $3 million ahead of a planned Series A.
Sanofi is buying Vicebio for up to US$1.6 billion in the biggest-ever exit of Australian university IP, with UQ keeping equity; the article also recalls the Inflazome and Spinifex sales and Vicebio's Medicxi seed.
UniQuest and Molecule to Medicine have formed Curlew Bio to develop anti-inflammatory drugs, backed by $1 million from UniQuest's Extension Fund; the article also recalls Novartis's 2015 purchase of Spinifex Pharmaceuticals.
Vaxxas wins US$2 million as a concept-stage winner of BARDA's prize to advance its skin-patch vaccine platform with UQ's BASE facility; the article also recalls early backing by OneVentures, Brandon Capital and HealthCare Ventures.
Also Brandon BioCatalyst portfolio·Brandon Capital portfolio·Brandon BioCatalyst portfolio·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·Business News Australia
Roundup covering seven Australian companies' recent raises — Splend, Rich Data Co, Slice, InvestorHub, Eyeonic, Graceview and Monty Compost Co — from fleet electrification finance to AI compliance and compost-monitoring seed rounds.
Weekly roundup: InvestorHub banks a $4m Series A extension led by EVP, while Brisbane compost-tech maker Monty Compost Co picks up $1 million from Skalata, Antler and other backers.
Also SmartCompany
CUREator, Brandon BioCatalyst's government-backed grant program, has awarded $7.21 million across eight Australian biotech firms in its newest round, split between clinical-stage and preclinical recipients.
Also Brandon BioCatalyst portfolio·Startup Daily·ausceleratesa.org
UQ researchers built SolarisAI, an AI tool that pinpoints faulty panels from solar farm data; ARENA and UniQuest funding backed its development, with deployment talks under way with Edify Energy and Genex.
Podcast profile in which EMVision chief Scott Kirkland discusses the company's portable bedside brain scanner for stroke, its origins in Queensland research, grant backing, and plans for 2024 trials and a second device.
Vaxxas reports positive Phase I results for its needle-free skin-patch delivery of a measles-rubella vaccine, with Gates Foundation grant funding and a planned PATH-sponsored Phase I/II trial in The Gambia.
Vaxxas reports encouraging interim Phase I results for its needle-free microarray-patch COVID-19 vaccine, with strong antibody responses and no serious adverse events, ahead of planned regulatory applications in Australia and the US.
Vaxxas hires former Pfizer medical executive Dr Rochelle Chaiken as its chief medical officer; the announcement also recounts the biotech's founding financing and later rounds.
Vaxxas has appointed 23-year Pfizer veteran Dr Rochelle Chaiken as chief medical officer; the announcement also recaps the vaccine-patch company's early backing by OneVentures, Brandon Capital and others.
A University of Queensland spinout has secured investment from Uniseed and an Indigenous-owned group to commercialise injectable medical gels made from spinifex grass fibres, building on earlier research funded by an Australian Research Council grant.
Vaxxas has begun an Australian Phase I trial of its needle-free influenza vaccine patch. The article also recalls the company's founding equity financing led by OneVentures with Brandon Capital Partners and other co-investors.
Vaxxas partners with CEPI, which will fund preclinical testing of its needle-free vaccine patch for mRNA vaccines, work that could remove cold-storage needs and widen global access to such vaccines.
Also Brandon BioCatalyst portfolio·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
A weekly roundup reporting ten Australian startup funding rounds totalling roughly eighty million dollars, spanning insurance tech, biotech, process mining, connectivity and food, with several female-founded companies among the recipients.
Vaxxas completed a US$23 million (A$34 million) financing led by OneVentures and UniQuest to advance its needle-free vaccine clinical programs, including a COVID-19 candidate, with board members, management and individual investors also participating.
Also OneVentures portfolio·Brandon Capital portfolio·@AuManufacturing·SmartCompany·Techboard·@AuManufacturing
QUE Oncology reports its non-hormonal drug Q-122 eased hot flushes in breast cancer patients on endocrine therapy, with Phase II results in The Lancet; the Emory–UniQuest venture is backed by Brandon BioCatalyst and Uniseed.
Brandon Capital's blog covers QUE Oncology's Phase II Q-122 results in The Lancet, showing reduced hot flushes and night sweats in breast cancer patients on endocrine therapy.
Vaxxas has begun an Australian Phase I trial of its needle-free COVID-19 vaccine patch, built on a University of Texas at Austin candidate; the article also recalls the company's early financings led by OneVentures.
Vaxxas has begun an Australian Phase I trial of its needle-free COVID-19 vaccine patch; the article also recalls the company's founding financing led by OneVentures with Brandon Capital and other co-investors.
Vaxxas has begun a phase one trial in Australia of its needle-free COVID-19 vaccine patch. The Brisbane company, backed by OneVentures, Brandon Capital and others, has hired Scott Fry from Ellume as COO.
Brisbane biotech Vaxxas has begun human testing of its microneedle patch for COVID-19 vaccination and plans a phase two study; the venture-backed company has raised over $66 million.
Pfizer has completed its takeover of ASX-listed telehealth diagnostics company ResApp Health for $179 million, with the article recalling the company's 2015 listing, earlier raises and a Gates Foundation grant.
Pfizer has completed its purchase of Brisbane digital health company ResApp Health for $179 million, doubling its per-share offer after an April bid for the ASX-listed cough-diagnosis startup.
Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Techboard·Startup News (WA)·sharecafe.com.au
Brisbane biotech Infensa Bioscience raised $23 million to develop a heart-attack and stroke treatment derived from funnel-web spider venom, after spinning out of the University of Queensland.
Pfizer has bid $100m for ResApp, a Brisbane healthtech firm whose app diagnoses respiratory conditions from coughs; its board backs the deal, and the piece recalls a 2021 $5.5m raise under Fidelity International's lead.
Also Startup Daily
Australian diabetes biotech Verva sold all its IP to two biotechs and entered liquidation with PKF Australia appointed; background recalls early Adipogen backing from Uniseed, QIC BioVentures and GBS Ventures.
GBS Ventures reports Novartis has agreed to acquire chronic-pain drug developer Spinifex Pharmaceuticals for US$200 million upfront plus milestones, recalling the company's 2005, 2008 and 2014 venture rounds and its Australian investors.
Also GBS Ventures·novartis.com·clinicalleader.com·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·anthillonline.com·@AuManufacturing·materresearch.org.au·Business News Australia
Chronic-pain drug developer Spinifex Pharmaceuticals has agreed to be bought by Novartis for US$200 million upfront plus undisclosed milestones, centred on its lead candidate EMA401.
Pain-drug developer Spinifex Pharmaceuticals hires Dr Ronald Marcus as chief medical officer; CEO Tom McCarthy cites a recent $45 million raise backing further phase 2 trials of EMA401.
Profile of Australian biotech Spinifex Pharmaceuticals and its neuropathic pain drug EMA401, covering phase II trials, the science behind its AT2 approach, and its venture backers as it weighs a future series C.
University of Queensland spin-out Q-Sera has banked $900,000 from MRCF and Uniseed to develop snake venom-based blood collection tubes; the piece also recalls Vaxxas's $15 million round.
Spinifex Pharmaceuticals won a $1.67 million federal Commercial Ready grant to advance its neuropathic pain drug, after a $3.25 million syndicate raise the previous July; it was spun out of the University of Queensland.