The CSIRO-linked venture firm has obtained additional capital from the Australian government less than a year after launching its second fund with an initial $194m.
Main Sequence Ventures, the Australia-based deeptech venture capital firm established by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, secured an additional A$150m ($105m) for its second fund today, according to StartupDaily.
The money came from the Australian government, which invested as part of its 10-year $1.6bn Research Commercialisation Action Plan that will primarily aim to help research progress through the valley of death. Founders can apply for funding at each stage of a project but will need to demonstrate industry engagement.
The government is also committing $208m to support 1,800 industry-focused PhDs and 800 fellowships.
Scott Morrison, incumbent prime minister of Australia who faces a federal election by May 2022 amid a plummeting personal approval rating and challenging numbers for his party, said that the funding “is not an election promise – these are funded programmes already in the budget, incorporated into the mid-year budget update.”
Main Sequence Ventures launched its second fund with an initial $194m in April 2021, with limited partners including aerospace and defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin, superannuation fund HostPlus, Temasek, Horizons Ventures, family offices and individual investors represented by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Mutual Trust.
The firm proceeded to add an undisclosed amount of money from investment manager Australian Ethical five months later.
Main Sequence Ventures has so far invested in 39 companies. To learn more about the firm and its vision for Australian research commercialisation, you can download our interview with partner Mike Zimmerman.
– Image of the Main Sequence Ventures team courtesy of the firm
