Quantum Brilliance opens Melbourne synthetic diamond foundry

Australian-German company Quantum Brilliance has opened a new facility at Melbourne’s Notting Hill, where it will make lab-grown diamonds for quantum computing devices.  According to a statement on Wednesday from state economic growth minister Danny Pearson, who opened the foundry, the new facility at Co-Labs will see world-leading technology developed to enable portable quantum devices…

Monash Ventures Pre-Seed Fund invests $2.25 million in three biotech spinouts

Monash University has officially launched its pre-seed fund, with an announcement of co-investments totalling $2.25 million made in spinout companies Myostellar, FytonBio, and Remagine Labs. The funding for the three companies is through the $15 million Monash Ventures Pre-Seed Fund, a participant in the Breakthrough Victoria’s $100 million University Innovation Platform (BVUIP.)  Breakthrough Victoria describes…

Metal powder startup EntroMat gets $1 million investment from Swinburne University, Breakthrough Victoria

Breakthrough Victoria and Swinburne University of Technology are each investing $500,000 in EntroMat, a company specialising in High Entropy Materials (HEMs.) HEMs are made by combining five or more main elements and possess “unique chemical and microstructural complexity” and can have useful properties such as high strength and hardness, corrosion and wear resistance, and thermal…

Breakthrough Victoria appoints new CEO

State government-backed venture fund Breakthrough Victoria has announced Rod Bristow (pictured) as its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing inaugural CEO Grant Dooley. In a statement on Monday, BV said Bristow came with over 30 years’ experience in the “stockbroking, asset management, wealth  management, agribusiness and not-for-profit sectors”, and was most recently CEO of Sydney and…

Kite Magnetics expects to create “more than 140 highly skilled jobs” at upcoming factory

Electric motor startup Kite Magnetics will open a new factory in Melbourne’s southeast, the state government has said. According to a statement from the Victorian government on Friday, the upcoming factory is expected to create “more than 140 highly skilled jobs and up to 550 indirect jobs” and increase production of Kite Magnetics’ Aeroperm to…

Breakthrough Victoria invests $800,000 in Melbourne’s Diag-Nose.io to advance respiratory health

Breakthrough Victoria has invested $800,000 in Diag-Nose.io Medical (DNM), a Melbourne-based innovator in respiratory healthcare, to enhance clinical management and drug discovery for chronic respiratory diseases globally. Originally launched from Stanford’s ENT Innovation Program and now headquartered in Notting Hill, Melbourne, Diag-Nose.io is revolutionising the treatment of chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) like asthma and COPD,…

Breakthrough Fellowship Program aims to help researchers become founders

State government-backed venture fund Breakthrough Victoria has announced a new $7.5 million Breakthrough Fellowship Program, aimed at supporting researcher entrepreneur talent. According to a statement from the organisation on Friday, the program aims to cultivate “the next generation of startup founders from Victorian universities and medical research institutes” and is predicted to “establish up to…