The Victorian authorities’s flagship tech funding fund, Breakthrough Victoria, ended up within the crimson for a second yr in a row after simply 4 years in operation.
The fund, which lower prices whereas ramping up funding, and rising returns on money deposits, posted a $5.7 million loss, in keeping with its 2025 annual report, attributing it to unrealised modifications within the worth of investments, overseas change fee fluctuations and an workplace relocation below new CEO Rod Bristow.
It follows a $3 million loss in FY24.
The sovereign investor, which has confronted sustained criticism by a number of distinguished members of the Victorian startup group, invested $118 million throughout 22 offers, having assessed 436 potential investments in FY25.
Half of the investments had been in new startups and funds, alongside 5 follow-on investments and 6 co-investments with the College Innovation Platform.
Maybe probably the most notable funding of the previous monetary yr was the bailout of portco Seer Medical, which was revived after the metech startup’s directors discovered three buyers keen to again the enterprise with $40 million from Breakthrough Victoria BV), which retains a 25% stake, joined by neurodiagnostic gear producer Cadwell Industries, and Singapore’s TrialCap.
BV took a $30 million stake in 2022 and went on to offer further emergency funding to first failure in BV’s portfolio since its launch in 2021. Seer was handed to voluntary directors in early January.
The corporate’s money stability sat at $291.9 million together with $75.1m in un-utilised working grant funds from prior years ; • $138.9 million in capital funds for investments already authorized by the Board, together with uncalled capital of $54.9m; and • $70.4m in new authorities funding in 2025.
Maybe stung by criticism in earlier years about the price of the fund, Breakthrough Victoria was at pains to level out that expense progress continued to fall and sits beneath the Client Worth Index.
The administration expense ratio has gone from 19.4% throughout its first 15 months of multinational throughout the preliminary setup part (Mar 2021 to June 22), to three.9% in FY24 and now 3.4% in FY25. Complete bills remained comparatively steady, rising by simply $100,000 final monetary yr to $17.8 million.
Breakthrough Victoria’s administration expense ratio. Supply: BV annual report
Chair John Brumby wrote within the annual report that whereas conventional capital “is retreating from deep tech and different future-focused sectors”, the fund is stepping in with a mission-driven method and funding focus aligned with Victoria’s financial priorities.
“Breakthrough Victoria’s investments have attracted over $1.29 billion in private and non-private capital alongside our personal commitments, which equates to $3.21 in further capital for each greenback Breakthrough Victoria commits,” he stated.
“These outcomes display the catalytic position government-backed Enterprise Capital performs in remodeling an economic system by means of funding in innovation.”
CEO Rod Bristow, who took on the position in February stated Breakthrough Victoria had a web working revenue of $200,000 amid a yr of strategic transformation.
“Whereas non-cash losses from overseas change, asset revaluations and disposals replicate momentary market volatility, significantly within the second half of the monetary yr, they don’t impression the corporate’s core monetary well being and strategic positioning,” he wrote within the annual report.
“As of 30 June 2025, 45.5% of the portfolio was held in USD, underscoring Breakthrough Victoria’s world funding technique and publicity to high-growth alternatives.”
Bristow stated that $3.21 in further capital is attracted from each $1 the fund commits, with a mean of seven.7 co-investors per portfolio firm
“Breakthrough Victoria’s Inner Price of Return since inception is monitoring forward of private and non-private benchmarks – exceeding the ASX Small Ordinaries Index over the identical interval – and an impartial report discovered our investments are forecast to contribute as much as $5.3 billion to Victoria’s economic system by 2035,” he stated.
The monetary highlights embody funding values rising 23% to $321.5 million and web belongings rising to $605.2 million.
Startups receiving funding included artificial diamond creator Quantum Brilliance, livestock methane discount startup Quantity 8 Bio, additive manufacturing startup Conflux’s $11 million Collection B, Sydney proteins startup Harvest B’s $3.5m pre-Collection A and Umps Well being.
Breakthrough Victoria’s monetary outcomes. Picture BV annual report
