CSIRO’s VC arm, Main Sequence Ventures, has rounded up several high profile institutional investors for a $450 million first close of its third fund, as the six-year-old deep tech investment fund notches up $1 billion in funds under management. Founded in 2017, Main Sequence has now backed 53 companies including carbon capture agtech Regrow AG,… Read more »
Australia’s transition to renewables is gathering speed, but there’s a looming problem with storage. We will need much more long-duration storage to get us through the night, once coal and fossil gas exit the system. We also need to find new and better ways to create heat for industrial processes. Renewables can supply much of… Read more »
The shift to renewable energy to meet net zero targets will mean Australia has to dramatically scale up its battery storage capacity, a new report from national science agency,CSIRO says. The Renewable Energy Storage Roadmap outlines a 10 to 14-fold increase is required in electricity storage capacity between 2025-2050 for the national electricity market (NEM) to… Read more »
Quasar Satellite Technologies, a space communications startup building ground station services to replace parabolic dishes has raised $6 million in pre-Series A. The round by CSIRO’s VC fund, Main Sequence Ventures, and included PAN Group, and Marc and Lindy De Stoop of Climatech Group. The company has also scored a $5.3 million Defence Innovation Hub… Read more »
CSIRO-backed fintech DAS (Digital Agriculture Services) has raised $3 million in interim funding in a round led by the VC arm of Canadian communications giant TELUS. TELUS Ventures was supported by existing investors, which include CSIRO, Startmate and several high net worths – and ahead of a broader US series later this year. The business… Read more »
National science agency, CSIRO, has chosen 10 deep-tech startups, including three of its own ideas, for its revived ON Accelerate program. The program, which first began in 2015, was shut down in late 2019, having created 66 new companies, more than 500 jobs, and raising more than $110m in investment capital. This will be the… Read more »
The CSIRO has revived its ON startup accelerator program, three years after shutting it down, as the government and universities ramp up their push to commercialise research. ON originally launched in 2015 as part of CSIRO’s Innovation Catalyst strategy, supported by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s National Innovation and Science Agenda. But in late 2019,… Read more »
Around 3.7 million Australians have been unintentionally caught in an ocean rip. For the unprepared it can be a harrowing experience – but for experienced surfers, rips are a handy way to ride through the whitewash and out to the break. We’re not surfers, but we work at Australia’s national science agency in “strategic foresight”,… Read more »
As demand for alternative protein sources grows, Australians are increasingly looking for options that are healthy, sustainable and ethically made. At CSIRO, we have produced a “protein roadmap” to guide investments in a diverse range of new products and ingredients. We believe plant-based patties, lab-made meat and insects are just some of the foods set… Read more »
National science agency CSIRO has produced a technology roadmap for growth in protein production in Australia, believing the opportunity is worth $13 billion. Australian agricultural exports were worth around $50 billion in FY2021, and with that figure predicted to rise by 20% in FY22 to more than $60bn, options beyond beef are seen as the… Read more »
Redbelly Blockchain, an Australian blockchain developed by the University of Sydney and CSIRO, has spun out as a commercial enterprise, Redbelly Network, in a joint venture with blockchain venture studio Block8. Redbelly, unveiled in 2018 as the world’s fastest blockchain, says it is now also significantly safer and more corruption-proof than other blockchains in commercial… Read more »
Each dollar invested in research and development (R&D) would earn an average of A$3.50 in economy-wide benefits for Australia, according to evidence compiled in a new report from CSIRO. Many Australians know research and development drives economic growth and improves our well-being and prosperity. However, few could describe the size of the relationship between Australia’s… Read more »
Robotics experts from the CSIRO have second finished in a global competition dubbed the ‘Robot Olympics’, beating a team from NASA and MIT to take the silver. The team, from the CSIRO’s Data61, spin-out robotics company Emesent, and the US-based Georgia Institute of Technology spent three years preparing for the competition, preparing six autonomous robots,… Read more »
A CSIRO-backed startup is planning to create animal-free ‘dairy’ milk that will hit supermarket shelves next year. The idea, Eden Brew, has also been backed by northern NSW dairy co-operative Norco, and the CSIRO’s venture fund Main Sequence, a key investor in fake meat venture V2food. Eden Brew hopes to make its “dairy” products using… Read more »
A ‘warm’ COVID-19 vaccine being developed by scientists from India and Australia, suitable for remote regions lacking access to the cold storage needed to transport current vaccines, appears to be effective against new strains of the virus currently pushing Australian states back into lockdown. The CSIRO has been evaluating the heat-tolerant COVID-19 vaccine formulations developed… Read more »
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