Startup · $11m raised
Sydney, NSW
Every published round University of New South Wales 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 University of New South Wales has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diraq | Quantum computing company building spin qubit chips on silicon | 19 Feb 2024, Series A | 1 | 0 |
| LLEAF | 16 Sep 2022, Bridge / extension | 1 | 0 | |
| Seitec | Canberra-based maker of software-defined seismic sensing systems for military operators | 17 Aug 2026, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Silicon Quantum Computing | startup founded by Michelle Simmons | May 2017, Seed | 2 | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Uniseed | Uniseed | GBS Ventures, clinicalleader.com |
Companies University of New South Wales has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal University of New South Wales did.
| Company | Bought by | Kind | Announced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No portfolio company of University of New South Wales is recorded as having been acquired. | ||||
Companies University of New South Wales acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round University of New South Wales raised.
| Investor | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator | Grant · Grant | - |
| Australian Renewable Energy Agency | Grant · Grant | $6,300,000 |
| Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) | Grant | $4,800,000 |
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Christopher Marquis | Associate Professor | Startup Daily |
| David Hu | Researcher (former) | @AuManufacturing |
| Dr Michael Bain | Senior Lecturer | Australian FinTech |
| Fiona Stapleton | Scientia Professor | Brandon BioCatalyst portfolio, Brandon Capital portfolio |
| Kristopher Kilian | Professor | Startup Daily |
| Patrick Burr | Associate Professor | SmartCompany, RenewEconomy |
| Professor Andrew Dzurak | Professor in Quantum Engineering (former) | Startup Daily |
| Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos | Emeritus Professor | @AuManufacturing, RenewEconomy |
| Professor Martin Green | Professor | RenewEconomy (6 Aug 2025), RenewEconomy (23 Jul 2025) |
| Professor Michelle Simmons | Professor (former) | @AuManufacturing (30 Sep 2022), @AuManufacturing (8 Nov 2021) |
| Professor Ned Ekins-Daukes | Professor | RenewEconomy |
| Professor Timothy Schmidt | Professor | RenewEconomy |
| Vince Allen | Researcher (former) | @AuManufacturing |
Stories naming University of New South Wales. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
ARENA will spend up to $105.6 million on 20 solar research projects, including grants for Sunspence, Proa Energy and a University of Sydney tandem-cell team working with panel maker Unison Solar.
Also Mirage News
Weekly roundup: Constantinople raises $62.5m; Blackbird wraps fund six above $1b; Guardhouse buys Mobohubb; SCX.ai debuts on the ASX; plus seed rounds, exits and executive changes across the ecosystem.
A $4 million round for Canberra defence sensing firm Seitec is led by ACTivate Capital with UNSW and Beaten Zone co-investing; the ACT Government-backed fund earlier closed $23 million of a possible $50 million.
Sunman Group wins $171 million in federal and NSW funding for a Hunter Valley solar panel factory; earlier grants to Tindo Solar, Stellar PV, Solquartz and SunDrive are also recalled.
ARENA is putting as much as $3.96m into Lab 360 Solar, a UNSW spin-out whose drones photograph solar panels in daylight to catch cell-level faults; a fresh $60m solar R&D round is open.
Adelaide solar module maker Tindo Solar will work with UNSW researchers on two projects to move TOPCon cell technology from lab to manufacturing, with research backed by the TRaCE program.
Sydney biotech Smart MCs and UNSW won Australian Research Council funding of $900,000 for microcarrier development; the company earlier joined Big Idea Ventures' accelerator, raised pre-seed, and received a 2023 government grant.
A profile of fusion startup HB11 Energy, its collaborations, and founder Warren McKenzie's argument that Australia lacks a fusion strategy, pushing the company toward the US.
Quantum computing company Diraq, a UNSW spin-out led by Andrew Dzurak, has signed to base itself at a Chicago quantum park alongside PsiQuantum, adding recent US Energy Department and DARPA awards.
Also Forbes Australia
Feature on Australian capital moving into fusion energy: super fund Hostplus backs Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Foxglove Capital's Matt Bungey backs Type One, and startup HB11 Energy pursues laser proton-boron fusion locally.
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
Profile of scientist-entrepreneur Andrew Wilks covering the GSK sale of his cancer molecule, his SYNthesis BioVentures fund's family-office backers, and portfolio plays including Aculeus Therapeutics.
Quantum computing startup Diraq announced record qubit control fidelity and chip-making partnerships with GlobalFoundries and IMEC; the piece also recounts its Quantonation-led Series A, early Allectus backing, and PsiQuantum's government funding.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily
Psylo, a Sydney maker of psychedelic therapies, has landed a US$8 million seed round led by Tenmile while moving to the US; earlier raises in 2022 and 2021 are recalled.
Stoic Venture Capital has promoted Harikesh Pushpapathan into its partnership, with co-founder Guy Hedley crediting two years of work helping university researchers commercialise their science.
Australia's renewable energy agency handed out $59.1 million in grants across two rounds, backing 21 university, CRC and startup projects in green hydrogen and cleaner iron and steel production.
Also RenewEconomy
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has expanded its hydrogen and green metals research funding to $59.1 million across 21 projects, with recipients including Hysata, Curtin University and Fortescue subsidiary MIH2.
A student-run venture fund launches alongside research showing university founders have attracted backing topping $1.2 billion, though women-led teams receive a small share; Blackbird is the most active backer.
Nullify has landed a $5.2m seed round for its AI-powered code vulnerability scanner, backed by Two Sigma and Root Ventures, with a Bugcrowd director also investing. The founders formerly taught cybersecurity at UNSW.
Also SmartCompany·Early VC·Early VC
The federal MRFF has granted $50 million to the Artificial Heart Frontiers Program, a Monash-led consortium including BiVACOR, to advance a total artificial heart; the team earlier received $1 million in 2021.
Also @AuManufacturing
Diraq, a Sydney-based quantum computing startup, has raised a US$15 million Series A-2 extension led by Quantonation, with UNSW and John Higgins Family Investments participating, adding to US$20 million raised at its 2022 spin-out.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia
Diraq has added $23 million to its Series A in a Quantonation-led round, with Higgins Family Investments and UNSW also taking part, on top of the $30.6 million raised earlier.
Also @AuManufacturing·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Early VC·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·Startup Daily
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
Roundup: ClearVue gets a $935,000 research tax credit; UNSW and Northrop Grumman Australia team up on quantum communications; Sentinel Boats shows an autonomous vessel; UOW leads national research rankings; LETA welcomes CCS progress.
Vecco Group has opened a Townsville plant producing electrolyte for vanadium flow batteries, opened by the Queensland Premier who noted prior government backing, with staged capacity expansion planned.
Yadlamalka Energy's South Australian solar and vanadium battery project has finished civil works and started commissioning, with grid supply expected from August; the piece also explains flow battery chemistry and ARENA's funding role.
Sydney coding-platform JDoodle raised 3.2 million Australian dollars in a round led by Main Sequence after bootstrapping to 800,000 users, aiming for eight million within two years.
Also SmartCompany
Robyn Denholm has joined SafetyCulture's board as a director, adding to her Tesla chairmanship and Technology Council role, replacing long-serving director and Blackbird co-founder Rick Baker.
Norwegian energy assurance firm DNV has acquired Sydney solar forecasting company Solcast, founded in 2016 by James Luffman and Nick Engerer, to expand its global data analytics offering.
NSW Environmental Trust grants $3 million to solar innovator SunDrive within a $6.5 million allocation shared with Hysata, Southern Green Gas and Quickstep; SunDrive's recent series A drew CEFC alongside Blackbird and Grok Ventures.
Also @AuManufacturing
Chief Scientist Cathy Foley's paper examines Australia's quantum technology achievements and draws lessons for scaling other sectors, noting Silicon Quantum Computing's large Series A raise and other local quantum companies.
A weekly roundup covering five funding rounds: HealthMatch's Series C, Monday Distillery's crowdfunding, Sonder's Series B, Lleaf's bridge round, and Spice AI's seed raise.
Danish investors ALFA Ventures and 2 Degrees led a $3.5 million bridge round into Sydney agtech Lleaf, joined by UNSW and Cicada Innovations, ahead of a planned Series A.
Australian biotech OccuRx secured $16 million co-led by Brandon BioCatalyst and Uniseed, including a CUREator grant, to advance its oral anti-fibrosis therapy into kidney disease trials; two executives also joined.
Azura Ophthalmics won a CUREator grant to fund a two-stage study of its AZR-MD-001 candidate for contact lens discomfort, extending pilot research conducted with UNSW; the incubator program is run by Brandon BioCatalyst.
Five New South Wales solar panel and battery recycling and reuse projects share $7.4 million in state government Circular Solar grants, funding new recycling facilities in Sydney and Albury plus reuse research.
Blackbird's founder profile interviews Inventia Life Sciences' CEO about his career, co-founders and the RASTRUM 3D bioprinting platform, recalling the firm's early investment in the Sydney biotech company.
UniSuper commits $75 million to Uniseed, the research commercialisation fund owned by four universities and CSIRO, its first venture investment; past portfolio sales to Schneider Electric, RTP Co and Novartis are recalled.