Startup · $500k raised
Every published round GrainCorp took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.
Companies GrainCorp has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlasmaLeap Technologies | Modular plants for local production of fertilisers and fuels | 2026, Series A | 2 | 0 |
| Future Feed | 21 Aug 2020 | 1 | 0 | |
| Hone | 2021, Series A | 1 | 1 | |
| Zetifi | 9 Dec 2022, Series A | 1 | 1 | |
| ZoomAgri | Computer vision software for grain inspection and grading | 19 Jul 2023, Series A | 1 | 1 |
Fund closes reported for GrainCorp, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies GrainCorp has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal GrainCorp did.
| Company | Bought by | Kind | Announced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No portfolio company of GrainCorp is recorded as having been acquired. | ||||
Companies GrainCorp acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round GrainCorp raised.
| Investor | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Government | Grant | $500,000 |
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Graham Bradley | Chair | Forbes Australia |
| Greg Aylward | Business Development Project Lead | GrainCorp Ventures |
| Jesse Scott | Chief Innovation and Growth Officer | GrainCorp Ventures |
| Jordan Jeffery | Head of Investments | Startup Daily |
| Klaus Pamminger | COO | GrainCorp Ventures |
| Mat Samin | Head of Quality | GrainCorp Ventures |
| Patrick Wilson | National Grain Husbandry Manager | GrainCorp Ventures |
| Robert Spurway | CEO | ARENA, AgFunderNews, GrainCorp Ventures (Wed 19 Jul 2023), @AuManufacturing, Startup Daily, GrainCorp Ventures (Tue 6 Dec 2022), GrainCorp Ventures (Tue 29 Mar 2022) |
| Sara Labaf | Research & Development Manager | GrainCorp Ventures |
| Zack Atlas | Strategy and Ventures Manager | GrainCorp Ventures (Fri 13 Mar 2026), GrainCorp Ventures (Fri 13 Mar 2026) |
Stories naming GrainCorp. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
GrainCorp's venture arm has joined a Series A backing PlasmaLeap Technologies, an Australian maker of modular on-farm fertiliser systems, which will use the funds for its first hubs in NSW and Tasmania.
Artesian's write-up of its first Yield summit in Melbourne, where agrifood leaders discussed AI, biologicals, robotics, agri-energy and biosecurity, and how RDCs, investors and corporates can together speed Australian agricultural innovation.
Sydney startup Levur has banked $1.2 million in a pre-seed round, with Main Sequence and GrainCorp Ventures leading, to brew palm oil alternatives; its KPMG prize win and 2024 accelerator stint are recalled.
GrainCorp Ventures announces backing for Levur, a Sydney startup engineering yeast to brew palm-oil substitutes — its third venture investment this year, after Calice and BioScout.
GrainCorp Ventures' investment arm announces a backing of BioScout, whose in-field devices detect airborne fungal crop diseases in real time, helping Australian growers cut spray cycles and manage disease threats faster.
Q&A with FutureFeed's chief executive on Asparagopsis seaweed as a livestock methane-cutting feed additive: its licensing business, backers, licensees' progress, regulation, research and scaling hurdles.
ZoomAgri raised a $6 million Series A led by GrainCorp with GrainInnovate and SP Ventures, to expand its AI grain inspection technology geographically and into new commodities.
GrainCorp co-leads a nine million dollar Series A in ZoomAgri with GrainInnovate, with SP Ventures also participating, funding AI grain quality testing.
Also GrainCorp Ventures
GrainCorp received a $2.93 million federal grant through the MERiL program's third round to run large-scale dairy and beef trials of low-emission feed supplements, working with FutureFeed, CSIRO, University of Queensland and Agriculture Victoria Services.
A weekly roundup reporting ten Australian startup funding rounds totalling roughly eighty million dollars, spanning insurance tech, biotech, process mining, connectivity and food, with several female-founded companies among the recipients.
Zetifi, a regional NSW farm connectivity startup, raised a $12m Series A led by Telstra and GrainCorp's ventures fund, with existing backers returning; it earlier won accelerator places, government grants and a Grow-NY prize.
GrainCorp Ventures and Telstra co-led a $12 million Series A into Zetifi, a Wagga Wagga company extending Wi-Fi connectivity for regional farmers, with plans to expand teams and enter the US market.
Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Techboard·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing
Profile of SYMBYX, an Australian medtech firm using light therapy lasers to ease Parkinson's symptoms, naming its high-profile investors including ResMed's Peter Farrell and noting clinical trials underway.
Asparagopsis seaweed feed supplement reaches commercial phase in Australia as CH4 Global records first feedlot sales. FutureFeed licenses CSIRO-discovered technology, with Sea Forest and SeaStock also taking orders from beef producers.
GrainCorp has launched GrainCorp Ventures, a corporate venture fund set up with Artesian Venture Partners, intending to back early-stage agtech, animal nutrition and food innovation startups, building on prior investments including Hone and FutureFeed.
GrainCorp's blog profiles Hone, a Newcastle AgTech startup building a portable light-based sample testing device, recalling GrainCorp's 2021 investment and ongoing lab support for product development.
Also AgFunderNews
GrainCorp announces a government-funded 4.4 million dollar plant-protein research partnership with CSIRO and v2food, aiming to build local processing of canola, soy, fava bean and chickpea proteins, with the project due to finish in 2023.
GrainCorp has received a half-million-dollar government grant to test a seaweed feed additive that cuts livestock methane, working alongside Agriculture Victoria and the FutureFeed partnership.
Also @AuManufacturing
Silverstrand Capital led a secondary purchase of a stake in soil carbon testing firm Hone, following its GrainCorp-led Series A. The piece profiles Hone Carbon's spectrometry technology, customers and scale-up plans.
Also GrainCorp Ventures
Six research projects share four million dollars in federal MERiL grants to test seaweed, legume and synthetic feed additives that could cut methane from cattle and sheep.
Australia's Accelerating Commercialisation grants include A$1 million for seaweed startup Sea Forest, with Agscent, Phyllome and Monsoon Aquatics also funded; the article recalls CSIRO and partners pooling A$13 million to launch FutureFeed.
Also RenewEconomy·Beef Central / Grain Central·Beef Central / Grain Central
A South Australian venture farming asparagopsis seaweed near Port Broughton seeks investors, while the article recalls CSIRO's FutureFeed venture, formed with five core investors including GrainCorp, Woolworths, Harvest Road and Sparklabs Cultiv8.
Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews
FutureFeed, a seaweed cattle supplement spun out by CSIRO with backing from GrainCorp, Woolworths and others, has won a US$1 million Food Planet Prize from the Curt Bergfors Foundation for slashing livestock methane emissions.
Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews
CSIRO's seaweed-based cattle feed venture FutureFeed has won the Food Planet Prize and its million-dollar purse, which it plans to spend on first-nations supply-chain participation and rangeland delivery research.
Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Beef Central / Grain Central·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews
Seaweed-based cattle methane-cutting venture FutureFeed, spun out of CSIRO, won a US$1 million Food Planet Prize, partly funding Aboriginal participation in Asparagopsis supply chains; it earlier raised AU$13 million from agriculture backers.
Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews
CSIRO and partners launch FutureFeed, raising A$13 million to commercialize a seaweed livestock feed additive that cuts cattle methane emissions by up to 80%.
Also Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews
TERRA's accelerator announces its fourth intake of 13 agri-foodtech companies from seven countries, chosen from over 300 applicants, to work with six corporate partners on food safety and sustainability themes.