Temasek, Morgan Stanley Join $300 Million Australian Fund

(Bloomberg) -- Main Sequence, the venture capital firm founded by Australia’s national science agency, raised A$450 million ($305 million) from global investors for a third fund to drive investment in deep technology deemed crucial to the country’s national interests.

The firm raised the funds from Daiwa Securities Group, The Grantham Foundation, LGT Crestone and NGS Super, alongside existing backers including Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Temasek Holdings Pte, according to a statement Wednesday. Australia’s federal government added A$75 million via the so-called Economic Accelerator program, and A$15 million came in from an unspecified investor at the last minute, company representatives said.

Main Sequence was formed to help commercialize novel research in areas critical to Australia’s national interests. It has helped to build some of its portfolio companies from scratch.

“We see the biggest opportunities, and the biggest need on the planet, in decarbonization of all forms across food and agriculture, industrial technologies and other areas,” Mike Zimmerman, partner at Main Sequence, said in an interview. The firm will also focus on cybersecurity, quantum computing and advanced semiconductor technology. “The world needs some very concrete solutions to these big problems.”

Since launching its first fund in 2017, Main Sequence has backed 53 companies, with assets under management of more than A$1 billion.

Some of them have gone global. They include Regrow, which helps agriculture and food companies such as Cargill Inc. and General Mills Inc. decarbonize their supply chain; and Advanced Navigation, which was started to commercialize research of co-founders Xavier Orr and Chris Shaw into navigation technology used in robotics, aerospace and vehicles. 

Some of its other bets include Q-CTRL, a quantum computing startup, and Samsara Eco, which developed an enzyme-based technology to break down complex plastics into their original chemical elements for recycling.

(Updates the amount raised in first paragraph)

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.