We help founders
before we invest.
We back founders building AI that becomes the operating layer of physical systems. If it passes the Smil Test, we want to hear from you.
Pre-Seed & Seed·Essential AI·Australian-based startups
Essential AI. Nothing else.
Every investment starts with one question: does it pass the Smil Test? Could you remove the AI layer and the system keeps running? If yes, it's not for us.
Domain depth
Founders who were working on these problems before generative AI. Researchers, engineers, physicists with decades of domain expertise.
Physical-system integration
AI woven into energy, materials, transport, food, or biology so deeply that removing it means the system stops.
Technological runway
Real-world operational data that compounds with every deployment. The moat is continuous signal, not code or model weights.
Australia-connected
Australian-founded, Australian-resident, or building on Australian testbeds. We invest in the structural advantage.
Where we invest
Sovereign Infrastructure
Intelligence is capped by the energy that runs it. We invest in the technology that unlocks energy, materials, and compute as linked systems.
Physical AI
The robot economy is arriving. Growing, mining, manufacturing, and moving physical goods is being divorced from human labour entirely.
Bio AI
AI is designing biological function that could not exist without it: proteins, drug molecules, and crop traits conventional methods cannot produce.
Ready to talk? Send us your deck.
We respond to every submission within 5 business days. If it's a fit, we'll set up a call. If not, we'll tell you why and point you to investors who might be better aligned.