Mandalay Venture Partners has been selected as one of eight new venture capital (VC) funds to receive a share of $2.4 million from the Victorian Government to establish operations in the state.

The initiative, part of LaunchVic’s VC Support Program, aims to raise over $300 million in capital for Victorian startups, providing a much-needed boost to the startup ecosystem. Each selected VC enterprise will receive a $300,000 grant to establish a new fund in Victoria.

Victorian Minister for Economic Growth, Tim Pallas, announced the funding at the Victoria Startup Gala last night. He noted that the number of startups in Victoria had more than tripled since 2017 to 3,500, but access to early-stage venture capital remained a barrier.

“These new VC funds will catalyse more investment in startups when they need it most, allowing them to scale up quicker and create more high-skilled jobs in critical sectors like medtech and climate technology,” said Minister Pallas.

Mandalay Venture Partners specialises in early-stage investments in agrifood technology. With a hands-on approach, the venture fund backs visionary entrepreneurs to transform groundbreaking ideas into thriving businesses that can reshape the global food system.

Mandalay has already identified its first Victorian investee company which will be announced in coming weeks.

Mandalay will establish a new office in Melbourne, headed by Partner and Head of Operations, Timothy Hui. Hui emphasised that with Victoria’s AgTech sector boosted by additional funding and support from Agriculture Victoria in partnership with LaunchVic, the time was right for the firm to establish a permanent presence in the state.

“LaunchVic and AgVic’s ’s efforts to stimulate and build an AgTech ecosystem in the state are really bearing fruit,” said Hui. “The support of LaunchVic has resulted in an increase in deal flow opportunities from Victoria with innovations on-farm through to food delivery.”

“Given the nature of our work with early-stage companies, we need to be on the ground, immersed in the startup ecosystem, so we can support the growth of the emerging ecosystem,” Hui added.

LaunchVic CEO, Dr Kate Cornick, expressed enthusiasm about Mandalay's expansion into Victoria, bringing crucial AgTech expertise to the local VC landscape.

“Since 2020, the number of idea-to-early-stage AgTech startups in Victoria has more than doubled, yet securing capital remains a major challenge,” said Dr. Cornick. “Many generalist angel investors lack the sector-specific expertise needed, and startups often face high manufacturing costs to validate their minimal viable products.”

In addition to the Victorian grant, Mandalay was among the initial five venture capital firms selected by the Queensland Government to receive a portion of a newly established $130 million fund aimed at investing in the state’s startups.

About Mandalay Venture Partners:

Mandalay Venture Partners supports pioneers of change in solving critical challenges across the ‘farm-to-fork’ value chain. Our ‘North Star’ is to sustainably feed the world’s growing population by strategically investing in early-stage agrifood tech companies with high scalability potential, impact, and capital returns. Through our “sleeves-up capital” approach, we are accelerating the global transformation to a more sustainable and food-secure agrifood sector.

Founded to meaningfully contribute to addressing global challenges, Mandalay captures the investment opportunities of the 21st century. We focus on enhancing food security resilience and ensuring that agriculture plays a vital role in the race to net zero. Our founders are deeply passionate about these causes.

Mandalay has invested in six mission-aligned agrifood tech startups, with a goal to nurture 20 to 30 more over the next four years.

Find out more at Mandalay Venture Partners

Image - Mandalay Venture Partners Timothy Hui, Mark Gustowski and Philippe Ceulen (L-R)