UNSW Commits $35 Million To Research Commercialisation

UNSW Sydney is investing $35 million to accelerate research commercialisation and launch new spinout companies, with the funding split across two new vehicles designed to support ventures from early-stage development through to market.

The investment comprises a $25 million Pre-Seed Fund for early-stage spinouts and a $10 million commitment to High Street Ventures, an independent venture capital fund that will back companies as they scale.

New South Wales Treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, is set to attend the launch event.

Pre-Seed Fund

The Pre-Seed Fund will support approximately 50 spinouts over five years. Each company may receive up to $500,000 to bridge the funding gap between early-stage commercialisation and attracting external capital.

High Street Ventures will focus on Series A funding rounds and beyond, targeting technologies that have moved past the initial stages. The fund will be managed by an external venture group and aims to secure more than $100 million in committed capital.

Government backing

Mookhey said entrepreneurial universities such as UNSW were essential to the state’s future growth.

“The culture of innovation at UNSW has produced truly pioneering companies and shows why New South Wales is a powerful place for ideas to take flight,” Mookhey said.

“The Minns Government supports research-driven entrepreneurship, because when discovery moves toward delivery, the impact multiplies.”

Bridging the commercialisation gap

Professor Stephen Rodda, UNSW’s Pro Vice-Chancellor of Industry and Innovation, said the new funds reaffirm the university’s commitment to research and would strengthen its commercialisation pipeline.

“There are multiple gaps that stall new technologies, and UNSW’s commitment is an important step towards expanding the risk capital available to our portfolio, entrepreneurial staff and students,” Prof. Rodda said.

“This is about more than investment – it’s about building an ecosystem with the talent and commercial expertise to give our discoveries their best chance to succeed and to keep Australia at the forefront of research translation and commercialisation.”

Track record in spinouts

UNSW is recognised as Australia’s leading entrepreneurial university based on the number of new startups and spinout companies established from its technology.

The university launched 25 new spinout companies in 2025 and topped the table in the annual Survey of Commercialisation Outcomes from Public Research Report for the fourth consecutive year. It was also recognised as one of the nation’s top domestic patent filers in the latest Australian Intellectual Property Report.

Early spinout example

The new investment funds will help launch and scale more spinouts such as SWAN Genomics, which is developing a DNA sequencing method to make genomic data more accessible.

Associate Professor Lawrence Lee, Co-Founder and CEO of SWAN Genomics, said the company’s technology surpasses the constraints of current short-read and long-read sequencing methods.

“Our innovative technology draws on the expertise of a diverse technical team, which uncovered a novel approach to DNA sequencing that offers cost efficiency while maintaining complete information integrity,” Lee said.

“Our single-molecule platform offers flexibility, scalability and affordability, redefining the future of genomics and unlocking its potential across healthcare and biotechnology.”

Existing commercialisation infrastructure

The new investments add to UNSW’s Proof-of-Concept Fund, launched in 2024, which invests $3 million annually in early-stage validation, market testing, prototype development and efficacy testing to prepare projects for licensing or spin-out.

They also support UNSW’s wider innovation ecosystem, which includes Barker Street Ventures, the Industry and Innovation portfolio, New Ventures, UNSW Founders, professional development programs and co-location spaces.

Last Updated on February 17, 2026 by Nick Ross