When the Victorian government announced plans to disband LaunchVic, and distribute some of its roles to other agencies, like Breakthrough Victoria, there’s a temptation to treat it as an administrative change: a reshuffle of functions, a rebadging of programs, a matter for insiders. That temptation is comforting – and profoundly wrong. I don’t want to… Read more »
The Victorian government’s plan to abolish LaunchVic has shaken beneficiaries of its Alice Anderson Fund, who fear upcoming women-led startups could lose out on important funding, significant business opportunities, and a powerful support network. In response to a major cost-cutting review of the public sector, the Allan government confirmed earlier this month that startup support… Read more »
With LaunchVic now dissolved into Breakthrough Victoria, it feels like the right moment to revisit the themes I explored in Melbourne’s innovation crisis is about culture – and what comes next and take a more personal look at what went wrong, what could have been built instead and perhaps what can come next. When LaunchVic… Read more »
The Victorian government is investing $75 million across five specialist venture capital firms. The funding, via Breakthrough Victoria, will go to VCs backing climate-tech, life sciences, and female founders, as well as a cornerstone investment in an unnamed US specialist healthcare fund manager as they launch their first Australian fund. All five have committed to… Read more »
The Victorian government will invest $150,000 each to create 50 new startups and pay their salary for the year as part of an entrepreneurship program run by Breakthrough Victoria. Treasurer and economic growth minister Tim Pallas announced a $7.5 million million investment in the Breakthrough Victoria University Innovation Platform Fellowship Program, which will establish up… Read more »
Just before the end of FY2024, my wife and I went for test drives in electric vehicles to replace the 10-year-old SUV we’d used to ferry two kids to schools, sports and holidays, often with friends and/or dog in the back. We planned to downsize and go electric. Three Volvos on over 20 years, we… Read more »
The first drive in a Victorian government trial to see someone who’s taken medicinal cannabis to see if they can drive safely got underway this week. The closed-circuit testing at the METEC Driver Training facility in Bayswater is the start of a $4.9 million, 18-month trial, conducted by Swinburne University of Technology, to analyse how… Read more »
The Victorian government’s controversial $2 billion venture capital fund, Breakthrough Victoria, posted a $3 million loss in its third year of operation. The funding body, which saw several directors depart in 2024, with CEO Grant Dooley also heading to the exit after just three years, copped a $360 million haircut in the Victorian budget earlier… Read more »
Breakthrough Victoria, the $2 billion state government-backed venture fund, has invested $2.5 million into a Melbourne startup recycling food waste as animal feed and fertiliser. Viridian Renewable Technology, founded in 2016, lays claim to being Australia’s first large scale insect protein manufacturing plant. It has a commercial plant in Derrimut, in Melbourne’s western suburbs and will use… Read more »
The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages within. But that was not to be, for the government – which has the largest debt of all the states and territories… Read more »
Applications for the seventh round of the Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund (VMRAF) are now open. It offers both grants of up to $100,000 to support early-stage research projects with a practical application, as well as later-stage grants of up to $500,000 to help researchers bring their products and practices into clinical or health care… Read more »
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