Victoria Archives

‘This is devastating; this is crazy’: the Victorian government is killing off its successful startup agency, LaunchVic, to save money

David Adams & Simon Thomsen - December 5, 2025 5 MIN READ

The Victorian government will wind down startup support agency LaunchVic and rework technology investment fund Breakthrough Victoria as part of broader public sector reforms set to save the state $4 billion. The decision has rattled the state’s startup sector, and spells an uncertain future for state-backed accelerators, grants, and investment funds tailored to local talent.… Read more »

Business

Breakthrough Victoria posted a $5.7 million loss last financial year

Simon Thomsen - November 11, 2025 3 MIN READ

The Victorian government’s flagship tech investment fund, Breakthrough Victoria, ended up in the red for a second year in a row after just four years in operation. The fund, which cut costs while ramping up investment, and increasing returns on cash deposits, posted a $5.7 million loss, according to its 2025 annual report, attributing it… Read more »

Funding

Breakthrough Victoria hands out $150,000 fellowships to 3 academics to turn their ideas into startups

Simon Thomsen - October 16, 2025 2 MIN READ

Breakthrough Victoria has selected the first three recipients of its new Fellowship program, which hopes to turn academic research into startup reality. The $7.5 million, multi-year program offers each recipient $150,000 to kick off their entrepreneurial efforts, and Breakthrough Victoria is hoping it will result in around 50 startups commercialising research and IP. The trio… Read more »

Funding

LaunchVic seeds 7 VC funds in $3.75m boost to Victoria’s startup ecosystem

Startup Daily - July 25, 2025 1 MIN READ

LaunchVic has injected $3.75m into Victoria’s startup scene, seeding seven VC funds, funding four university pre-accelerators and supporting 60+ founder events. The state expects the funds to raise $275m+ for early-stage startups, as it doubles down on innovation amid a tough global capital market.

Advice

If you think the way the NSW government is treating Sydney startups badly, wait until you get to Melbourne

Garry Williams - July 15, 2025 2 MIN READ

While Sydney as a tech ecosystem bemoans the looming ‘relocation’ of their Sydney Startup Hub, we here in Melbourne, even as a ‘4th Most Liveable City in the world’ aren’t even currently a good place to build a tech company, period. We don’t have a ‘home’ for startups. We don’t have a thriving scene. We… Read more »

People

Travlr named best startup and Kismet, scaleup of the year in Victorian governor’s annual awards

Startup Daily - June 10, 2025 2 MIN READ

Victoria’s leading startup founders, investors, and ecosystem builders were honour at the annual Governor of Victoria Startup Awards at Government House last week. Her Excellency Professor Margaret Gardner AC recognised outstanding contributions to the state’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem Government startup agency LaunchVic helps coordinate the awards, now in their 4th year, with 4-5 startups… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Victoria slings $10 million at a NVIDIA AI supercomputer tackling medical research

Simon Thomsen - June 3, 2025 2 MIN READ

The Victorian government has given the Australian Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Innovation’s (ACAMI) $10 million towards La Trobe University’s deployment of NVIDIA DGX H200 supercomputer. It sits in NEXTDC’s Melbourne Data Centre in Tullamarine and is the first to be commissioned at a university in Australia, giving scientists the ability to push the… Read more »

Politics

Victoria’s trial on driving under the influence of medicinal cannabis is underway

Simon Thomsen - November 5, 2024 2 MIN READ

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 »

Politics

Breakthrough Victoria posts $3 million loss

Simon Thomsen - November 4, 2024 3 MIN READ

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 »

Business

How to crack a unicorn: LaunchVic opens 30×30 applications

Simon Thomsen - September 23, 2024 2 MIN READ

LaunchVic is once again looking for Victorian startups with the potential to reach unicorn status – worth more than $1 billion – as part of the 30X30 program in 2025. 30×30 has expanded into a fourth cohort to include another 10 startups in the executive leadership program, which helps develop and mentor scaleup founders and… Read more »

Funding

Birchal is getting into angel investing, backed by LaunchVic

Simon Thomsen - August 9, 2024 2 MIN READ

Crowdfunding platform Birchal has launched an angel network platform, with backing from LaunchVic. Birchal First is designed to connect angel investors with early-stage Victorian startups in the hardware technology space, investing from pre-seed to Series A. The roll out has been underpinned by a $300,000 grant from LaunchVic and is the 10th angel network the… Read more »

Accelerator

Victoria doctors get a taste of startup life with LaunchVic-backed medtech accelerator

Startup Daily - July 14, 2024 2 MIN READ

The Australian Society for Medical Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASME) is among seven organisations backed by LaunchVic as part of a $2.4 million program to create pre-accelerator programs to help aspiring founders understand startup life. ASME has partnered with MTPConnect to deliver the Australian Clinical Entrepreneur Program (AUSCEP) in Victoria. It offers clinicians the resources, mentorship… Read more »

Accelerator

Inside Ochre – here’s what you need to know about a new pre-accelerator program for First Nations entrepreneurs

Startup Daily - July 11, 2024 3 MIN READ

To say that Dr Kyle Turner is an unusual person is an understatement. A jack of all trades – and master of many – the epidemiologist academic turned startup founder turned startup investor has lived many lives in his 39 years. Born in the rural town of Dubbo, NSW, Turner, a Wiradjuri man, followed in… Read more »

People

Agtech DAS and Hex founder Jeanette Cheah honoured in the Victorian governor’s startup awards

Simon Thomsen - June 27, 2024 2 MIN READ

The Governor of Victoria’s annual startup awards have recognised the state’s best founders an others, with satellite mapping firm Digital Agriculture Services (DAS) named Startup of the Year. Founded in 2017 in partnership with national science agency CSIRO, DAS set out to give farmers “one click” insights on productivity and disaster risk assessments, backed by… Read more »

Funding

Victorian agtech startups score an extra $1 million

Startup Daily - June 8, 2024 < 1 MIN READ

The Victorian government is doubling the size of its early-stage agtech fund to $2 million. The extra $1 million for the Hugh Victor McKay Fund, run by LaunchVic, follows the initial $1 million commitment revealed last year. The fund offers up to $200,000 to early-stage Victorian agtech startups, so the new funding doubles the potential… Read more »