Australian tech firm expands thanks to Spirit Super
Spirt Super members own a part of this company through a venture capital investment which was initially made through ANU Connect Ventures, a fund jointly owned by Spirit Super and the Australian National University. The fund invests in early-stage commercial opportunities and innovative ideas. The ideas and opportunities come from research undertaken at the Australian National University as well as from other ACT‑based research institutions and businesses in the Canberra region. The fund has invested $47 million into 15 Australian companies since 2005.
Another successful ANU Connect venture business, Instaclustr, was purchased by NetApp in April this year. Instaclustr is a software company that deploys and manages open-source data and workflow as a service.
Spirit Super members can be proud that their hard earned super is being invested in such innovative opportunities.
Spirit Super CEO Jason Murray says “The money we’ve invested through ANU Connect Ventures has helped grow Australian industry, resulting in high tech jobs and economic growth. But most importantly it’s benefiting Spirit Super members. We’ll continue to look for opportunities to invest in home grown companies that create local jobs, as part of our portfolio.”
This growth investment accelerates Liquid Instruments’ product innovation, talent acquisition and expansion in commercial, educational markets and takes their total funding to more than $50 million.
“This injection of capital will supercharge our ability to revolutionise the test and measurement industry,” said Daniel Shaddock, CEO, and co-founder of Liquid Instruments. “Our innovative software-first approach provides clear advantages over traditional hardware-based solutions, and this funding strongly positions us to lead this critical industry transformation.”
About Liquid Instruments
Liquid Instruments is a leader in precision software-defined instrumentation and is revolutionising the way that students, scientists, and engineers learn, discover, and create. Their hardware and software solutions leverage the computational power of FPGAs to create highly versatile instrumentation for acquiring and analysing data, generating complex waveforms, and implementing closed loop control systems. For more information, visit https://liquidinstruments.com
About ANU Connect Ventures
(taken from the approved April 2022 Media release)
ANU Connect Ventures is a 50/50 joint venture between the ANU and Spirit Super. Incorporated in 2005 the $47M fund was established to invest in unique ideas, discoveries and inventions coming out of the ANU and ACT. The fund was supported by a $10M commitment from the ACT Government.
Investments were aimed at early-stage ventures within the Canberra region, with exceptional commercial potential, and economic and societal benefit to the ACT. 16 years later, the returns on these investments are flowing into the ACT, with two of Canberra’s high-growth tech companies long term beneficiaries of the Fund. This could not have been possible without the on-going support of Spirit Super (formerly MTAA Super), the Australian National University, and the ACT Government. The fund is closed to new investments but continues to support Portfolio companies as they grow.