The past month has been a strong reminder of the depth of capability, and the pace of activity, across Victoria’s innovation and investment ecosystem. From deep tech and climate finance to agrifood, biotech and health, Breakthrough Victoria was out in force, supporting founders, backing emerging industries and strengthening the connections that turn research and ambition into commercial impact.
The period began on 12 February at the Jumar Bioincubator Masterclass: Considering an ASX Listing, where biotech founders came together to explore the opportunities and challenges of listing on the ASX. BV’s Olga Hogan joined the session, sharing insights drawn from BV’s experience supporting companies as they scale towards public markets.
Momentum continued across 17–18 February, with Melbourne hosting two major events shaping the future of Australia’s economy.
At AgriFutures evokeAG 2026, Asia Pacific’s premier agrifood innovation event, founders, producers, researchers, corporates, investors and policymakers gathered with a shared focus: translating innovation into real-world outcomes across the food and fibre value chain.
BV’s Aden Capaul was on the ground throughout the event, including presenting a reverse pitch directly to founders - outlining who we are, what we’re looking for, and how we support companies beyond the first cheque. BV Chair The Hon. John Brumby contributed to a panel discussion on managing agriculture’s most important - and least reliable - business partner: climate. The conversation underscored the importance of resilience, long term competitiveness and policy settings that support producers through structural change.
Running in parallel was the Climate Investor Forum 2026, APAC’s leading climate finance and investment event. More than 500 investors, corporates, policymakers and innovators came together in Melbourne to focus on one central question: how to connect capital at scale to bankable climate solutions. BV CEO Rod Bristow moderated a panel on climate fund manager strategies and blended finance, alongside leaders from across institutional and private capital.
BV colleagues Brett Mitsch, Andrew Wilkie, Eva Rodriguez and Nazieh Fazli were also in attendance, alongside representatives from BV-backed funds Virescent Ventures and Scale Investors Pty Ltd.
The forum reinforced a clear message: investors don’t deploy into targets - they deploy into cashflows. Turning climate ambition into investable opportunity requires disciplined structuring, revenue certainty and partnership between government and private capital.
On 18 February, attention turned to healthcare at Unlocking Women’s Health: Breaking Silos and Growing Investment, co-hosted by RMIT University and the University of Melbourne. The event spotlighted one of healthcare’s most undercapitalised - and fastest growing - frontiers, bringing together researchers, clinicians, founders and investors to explore how capital and collaboration can accelerate impact. BV’s Olga Hogan joined the discussions, reinforcing BV’s interest in supporting innovation across emerging health technologies.
On 20 February, BV joined partners and founders at the official launch of YieldX Pty Ltd, marking the company’s transition from space validated agritech to on farm commercial operations. The milestone follows seed investment through the La Trobe University Eagle Fund, and represents another example of research translation delivering realworld outcomes. Lauren Morrey, Daniel Hoy and Olga Hogan attended, with more on the Launch in our update here .
On 25 February, BV COO Lauren Morrey joined the SmartCompany Growth Summit as a panellist on The state of the startup ecosystem: what’s next for Australia? - offering a cleareyed view of how Australia stacks up globally, and what founders and investors should be paying attention to next. And BV's Olga Hogan joined a panel on making AI work for your business.
On 26 February at the Stone & Chalk Ecosystem Mixer: Deep Tech Innovation, bringing together Australia’s deep tech community to connect innovators who are translating scientific research into new products, companies and industries.
The period concluded with our team attending various International Women’s Day events, including BV's Eva Rodriguez at the celebration by The Alice Anderson Fund on 26 February, and BV General Counsel and CoSec Rosemary Peavey at the IPAA Victoria International Women's Day Gala 2026 on March 5.
Across all of these events, a common thread emerged: collaboration. Between research and industry. Between founders and funders. Between policy and production. Building globally competitive industries doesn’t happen in isolation, it requires presence, patience and participation.
Breakthrough Victoria is proud to be part of that effort, backing ambitious founders, anchoring critical capability in Victoria, and helping turn innovation into long term economic impact for the state.