Main Sequence passes $1 billion in funds under management

The CSIRO-founded investment vehicle Main Sequence announced the first close of Fund 3, raising $450 million and passing a milestone of $1 billion in total funds under management.

Participation came from what were described as “large institutional funds, wealth groups and top tier climate investors” including Hostplus, LGT Crestone, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Temasek, as well as the first half of a committed $150 million CSIRO investment announced as stage three of the federal government’s Australia’s Economic Accelerator program. 

Main Sequence was founded in 2017. The $450 million third fund follows an original fund of $240 million original fund (which closed in 2018) and a second, valued at $330 million and which closed in 2021.

Main Sequence has backed 53 companies so far including Advanced Navigation, MGA Thermal, v2food, Gilmour Space and Q-CTRL.

Besides investing in such companies, Main Sequence also uses a “venture science” approach to building new businesses. It describes this as linking scientific knowledge with industry expertise and capital funding “to build entire industries and ecosystems” themed around a particular globally-relevant challenge.

“Our last fund saw the launch of five Venture Science startups— Endua, Eden Brew, Quasar Sat, Cauldron, and Samsara Eco,” said Gabrielle Munzer, a Partner at the firm.  

“We are keeping up this momentum with Fund 3, pioneering new frontiers in biotechnology and plan to continue co-founding new companies at the bleeding edge of exciting advances in food and fibres with Fund 3.”

Picture: supplied

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