--- title: Six challenges, one crowd: where Australian venture money is going, and where it is not seoTitle: Where Australian VC money goes: six challenges, one crowded subtitle: Main Sequence frames its investing around six big challenges. We put every company seven Australian funds back into one of them and compared the years before 2024 with the years since. Half of all new deals now sit in a single challenge. Food, space and mine sites barely register. Here is the map, challenge by challenge, and the questions we want founders and investors to answer. description: We sorted the 655 companies seven Australian venture funds back into Main Sequence's six challenges. Since 2024, 49% of new deals sit in the AI, security and quantum challenge, up from 29%. Food and farming is 3 of 159 deals, space is 5, and no fund in the set has backed mine-site technology since 2024. Healthcare money goes mostly to consumer apps and clinic software, and climate money to energy and grid, with no hydrogen and no carbon removal. Animated charts for each challenge, our view of where the room is, and questions for you. Comments are open. searchDescription: Where Australian VC money goes by Main Sequence's six challenges: AI took half of new deals; food, space and mine-site tech barely register. author: CISO AI published: 2026-11-02 tags: venture capital, startups, australia, main sequence, deep tech, artificial intelligence, climate tech, healthtech, agtech, space, mining, industrial technology image: /intel/analysis-vc-challenges-dish-og.jpg imageSize: 1280x720 --- Main Sequence, the deep-tech fund that grew out of CSIRO, describes its investing as six big challenges: bridge the gap to space, reach humanity-scale healthcare, decarbonise the planet, enable the next intelligence leap, feed 10 billion people, and supercharge industrial productivity. Each challenge page asks one question and lists the companies Main Sequence has backed against it. None of them says where the gaps are. So we went looking. Our [startups directory](/startups) holds every company that seven Australian funds list: AirTree, Antler Australia, Blackbird, Investible, Main Sequence, OIF Ventures and Square Peg. That is 655 companies. We put each one into the challenge it fits best, or into "none of the six", and compared the companies backed before 2024 with those backed from 2024 to 2026. The animations play as you scroll to them; press **Replay** to watch one again. At the end we ask founders, investors and Main Sequence itself whether we have read it right. The comments are open. ## The short version - **Half of all new deals now sit in one challenge.** The intelligence leap (AI, security, quantum) went from 29% of deals before 2024 to 49% since. - **Within it, AI doubled and security stood still.** AI went from 25% to 50% of deals; cyber security stayed at 7%. - **Food and farming is 3 of 159 deals since 2024**, about 2%, the same sliver as before. Outside Main Sequence's own portfolio it has never been more. - **Mine-site technology: none since 2024**, in one of the world's largest mining economies. - **Healthcare money goes to consumer apps and clinic software.** Research-based biotech and medtech, which Main Sequence asks for, is 2 of 15. - **Climate money goes to energy and grid.** No company in the set makes hydrogen or sells carbon removal, two areas Main Sequence names. - **Space is growing from a small base:** 5 deals since 2024, all software and services, no launch. ::: anime vc-challenges-donut Each company counted once, by the challenge it fits best. 449 companies were backed before 2024 and 159 from 2024 to 2026. The 47 with no investment year in the directory, mostly Main Sequence's own, are left out of this comparison. ::: ## How we counted Each company has a plain-English summary in our directory, written from its own website and checked by an editor. We sorted them with a set of keyword rules and then checked every company backed since 2024 by hand, moving the ones the rules got wrong. A legal AI company tagged "robotics", for example, went to the intelligence leap, not industry. Three things to keep in mind: - **One challenge per company.** A battery company could be climate or industry. We picked the closer fit, so the numbers are a map, not an audit. - **"Backed since 2024" means the latest year any of the seven funds lists for it.** A company first backed in 2019 and backed again in 2025 counts as 2025. - **Main Sequence's portfolio is mostly undated.** 42 of its 58 companies carry no year in the directory, so the before-and-after comparison is mostly about the other six funds. We call this out wherever it matters. The full method is at the end. ## Feed 10 billion people: the emptiest field Main Sequence's question: *how do we feed a booming population without destroying the planet?* ::: anime vc-food One plot per company backed since 2024. The three planted plots are the food and farming companies. ::: Since 2024 the seven funds have backed three food or farming companies: **Brumby** (autonomous drones that move cattle and check pasture), **Harvest B** (shelf-stable wheat proteins for food service) and **Plasmaleap** (reactors that make ammonia, a fertiliser input, with plasma). Before 2024 food was also about 2% of deals. Main Sequence is the exception. Its food challenge page lists nine companies, including v2food, Eden Brew, Nourish Ingredients and Number 8 Bio, most of them alternative protein. The other six funds have barely touched the sector. **Where we think the room is:** not another plant-based mince. On-farm productivity: water, soil, pasture, livestock health, biosecurity, and traceability from paddock to port. Australia exports most of what it grows and has very little venture money working on how it is grown. ## Supercharge industrial productivity: nothing on the mine site Main Sequence's question: *how do we recharge our industries for the future?* ::: anime vc-industry One tile per company backed since 2024, grouped by what it does. ::: Thirteen industrial companies since 2024. Five are robotics and physical AI: data infrastructure for robot fleets, robot learning, warehouse sorting, sensing for machines. Three are manufacturing and chips, two navigation and sensing (Advanced Navigation's Series C among them), two construction and supply chain, and one refines critical minerals (Gega Elements, germanium and gallium). Mine-site technology since 2024: none. Before 2024 there were a handful, such as Earth AI in exploration and Nomad Atomics in quantum sensing for mining, and Main Sequence holds Plotlogic and Emesent undated. The money has moved to general-purpose robotics. **Where we think the room is:** AI and automation for running heavy industrial sites: maintenance, scheduling, processing and safety. We looked at one slice of this in detail, [OT security for mining](/analysis/ot-security-mining-gap), and found not a single funded company. ## Reach humanity-scale healthcare: apps, not labs Main Sequence's question: *how do we make high impact, equitable, quality healthcare available to everyone?* Its brief asks for research-based medtech, healthtech and biotech. ::: anime vc-health The 15 healthcare companies backed since 2024, by kind. ::: The healthcare share held steady at about 9%, but look inside it. Six of the 15 are consumer and wellness products: preventive health memberships, scan clinics, women's health and social health apps. Five are software for clinics: AI receptionists, clinical notes, patient recall. Two serve aged and disability care. Two are research-based biotech: **Accretion Bio** (imaging single molecules inside living neurons to find brain-disease drugs) and **Currus Biologics** (cell therapy for solid tumours). **Where we think the room is:** the hard end. Diagnostics and devices that need clinical trials and TGA approval, regional and remote care that matches the "equitable" in Main Sequence's question, and the operations of aged care and the NDIS, where Andromeda and Minikai are nearly alone. These are slower businesses, which is exactly why they are less crowded. ## Decarbonise the planet: energy is busy, hydrogen and removal are empty Main Sequence's question: *what can we do right now to help avoid a climate catastrophe?* It names renewable energy, recycling, synthetic biology for materials, carbon sequestration, hydrogen generation and storage, low-carbon food and energy conservation. ::: anime vc-decarbonise The 17 climate companies backed since 2024, by kind. ::: Climate grew from 7% to 11% of deals. Seven of the 17 are energy and grid: network software, battery trading, EV charging, rooftop solar, battery components. Four work on industrial heat and processes: Good Heat sells heat as a service, DeCarice makes burners that switch between gas and hydrogen, Xefco dyes textiles without water, Fugu Carbon makes fuel on site. Three are minerals, materials and recycling: Electralith (lithium extraction), Zincovery and Oscorp. None makes or stores hydrogen. None sells carbon removal or sequestration. Both are on Main Sequence's list. **Where we think the room is:** the hard-to-abate end. Industrial heat is starting; green metals, carbon removal and the measurement that proves removal happened are not. Hydrogen may be empty for a reason: the economics of several large Australian hydrogen projects have not held up. We would like to hear from anyone who thinks otherwise. ## Bridge the gap to space: growing, from very little Main Sequence's question: *how do we make the most of space as our next frontier?* Its portfolio includes Gilmour Space, Skykraft, Myriota, Quasar and Arlula. ::: anime vc-space The five space companies backed since 2024 and what they do. ::: Five space companies since 2024, up from about 2% to 3% of deals. All five are software and services around satellites: **Zendir** (digital twins for mission teams), **VXB Aerospace** (software for designing satellite thrusters), **Starboard** (finding dark vessels with satellite data), **Outlier Space** (returning payloads from orbit, based in New Zealand) and **Esper Satellites**. None is a launch company. **Where we think the room is:** using space data on the ground. Earth observation for farming, mining and water ties space to the two emptiest challenges above. Securing satellites and their ground stations has no specialist in the directory; the closest is Space CoLAB, which secures communications for defence and critical infrastructure. ## Enable the next intelligence leap: the crowded one Main Sequence's question: *how do we help society harness the benefit of, and guard against the threats that, new technologies pose?* Notice it has two halves. ::: anime vc-intelligence Out of every 100 companies backed in each period, how many work on AI, cyber security and education. A company can do more than one, so the rows do not add up to 100. ::: This is where the money went. AI is now on half of all new deals, up from a quarter. The "harness the benefit" half of Main Sequence's question is well funded. The "guard against the threats" half is not. Cyber security stayed at 7% of deals while AI doubled. Education, which is how people adapt, stayed at 4%. Quantum is steady at four companies in each period: Diraq, DeteQT, Iceberg Quantum and Space CoLAB since 2024. **Where we think the room is:** assurance for AI itself. Testing, monitoring, governance and the evidence a board or regulator asks for when an AI system makes a decision. And re-skilling: the brief's own words are "re-educate, adapt, exploit and protect", and only the third is getting the money. ## The room left, ranked | # | Challenge | Share since 2024 | Trend | Where the room is | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Feed 10 billion people | 2% | Flat | On-farm productivity, biosecurity, traceability | | 2 | Supercharge industrial productivity | 8% | Flat | Mine sites and heavy industry operations, including OT security | | 3 | Humanity-scale healthcare | 9% | Flat | Clinical-grade diagnostics and devices, regional care, aged care and NDIS operations | | 4 | Decarbonise the planet | 11% | Rising | Industrial heat, green metals, carbon removal and its measurement | | 5 | Bridge the gap to space | 3% | Rising | Space data for farming, mining and water; satellite security | | 6 | Enable the next intelligence leap | 49% | Doubled | Crowded. Room in AI assurance and re-skilling | The pattern is simple. Money has followed software that can sell quickly to businesses that already buy software. The challenges that need hardware, clinical trials, long sales cycles or customers in paddocks and pits are where the space is. ## What would make us wrong - **Undated portfolios.** If Main Sequence's 42 undated companies include many recent food, space or industrial deals, those challenges are less empty than this shows. Main Sequence could settle it in one table. - **Our sorting.** One challenge per company is a judgement. A different split would move some percentages by a point or two, but not the size of the AI shift. - **Seven funds are not the market.** Folklore, Skip, Tidal, Rampersand, Brandon Capital in health and the agriculture-focused funds are not in our directory. If they fill these gaps, the picture is better than it looks here. - **Deal counts are not dollars.** One Series C can outweigh twenty seed rounds. We count companies because round sizes are mostly not disclosed. ## Over to you We wrote this to start a debate. Three groups we would most like to hear from: **Founders in the quiet challenges** - If you are building in food, mining, clinical health or hard-to-abate climate, is the problem a lack of investors, or a lack of investors who understand your sales cycle? - Which Australian funds have you found that actually back hardware and long sales cycles? **Investors** - Is AI taking half of all new deals a rational bet or a crowd? What would make you write a seed cheque for a farm-productivity or mine-site company tomorrow? - Security stayed at 7% while AI doubled. Who protects the AI you are funding? **Main Sequence** - Do your undated deals change this picture? Which of your six challenges do you think is most underfunded across the market? Tell us in the comments. We will update this piece with what we learn. This article is general commentary, not investment advice. ## Method - **Source:** the cisoai.au startups directory as at 2 November 2026: 655 companies listed by AirTree, Antler Australia, Blackbird, Investible, Main Sequence, OIF Ventures and Square Peg. - **Periods:** a company's year is the latest year any of the seven funds lists for it. 449 companies fall before 2024, 159 in 2024 to 2026, and 47 have no year (42 of them Main Sequence's) and are left out of the before-and-after comparison. - **Sorting:** keyword rules over each company's name, tagline, editor-checked summary and sectors, then a manual check of all 159 companies backed since 2024. Quantum computing and sensing companies count under the intelligence leap, as Main Sequence places DeteQT and Diraq there. - **The intelligence-leap chart** uses the directory's own topic tags, where a company can carry several, so its rows do not sum to 100. - **Challenge questions** are quoted from Main Sequence's challenge pages. ## Sources - [CISO AI startups directory](/startups) - [Main Sequence: bridge the gap to space](https://www.mseq.vc/msv-challenges/bridge-the-gap-to-space) - [Main Sequence: reach humanity-scale healthcare](https://www.mseq.vc/msv-challenges/reach-humanity-scale-healthcare) - [Main Sequence: decarbonise the planet](https://www.mseq.vc/msv-challenges/decarbonise-the-planet) - [Main Sequence: enable the next intelligence leap](https://www.mseq.vc/msv-challenges/enable-the-next-intelligence-leap) - [Main Sequence: feed 10 billion people](https://www.mseq.vc/msv-challenges/feed-10-billion-people) - [Main Sequence: supercharge industrial productivity](https://www.mseq.vc/msv-challenges/supercharge-industrial-productivity) **Related on CISO AI:** [Who secures the autonomous mine? The OT security gap Australian VCs have not funded](/analysis/ot-security-mining-gap), and the [startups we track](/startups).