Science meets VC

Jobkeeper Update. Welcome to a special edition of Science meets VC podcast

Todays episode is less about science and more about economics and stimulus packages for the startups and investors

David Kenney, Partner at Hall Chadwick is going to give us an update about the Australian Government Stimulus package including the job keeper program

David is an old friend of has been an active supporter of Australia’s startup ecosystem

New legislation was passed last night, our discussions include updated eligibility criteria as of April 26th

This is not financial advice

David and I are not your accountants or lawyers

Please seek your own financial advice

PS Apologies for the sound quality, various WFH issues mean we cant get access to our normal studios

Recorded Wednesday 25th of March 2020.

Last month most people had never heard of an epidemiologist now everyone thinks they are one.

We have a real Epidemiologist on the show, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, aka The Health Nerd talks COVID19.

What the key measures are when discussing epidemiology, what we have to watch, which countries have performed well, what the current situation is in Australia.

The inside story of the creation of the Australian plant-based meat company V2 Food. From incorporation to millions of revenue shipping to 450 stores in less than 12 months.

Phil Morle Partner at Main Sequence Ventures and Nick Hazell CEO of V2Food.

We cover:

New Product Announcements

How the company was formed

How they got to market so quickly

Their rapid expansion plans this year (already doing multi-millions in revenue)

Venture Science & what it means for Main Sequence Ventures

CSIROs role in Venture Creation as a science powerhouse

Full disclosure: Our fund Main Sequence Ventures helped create V2 Food and is a significant shareholder in the company.

3 short interviews with a few of my favourite teams from the CSIRO ON Accelerator, Hydrogene, Quantum Brilliance and Redback Systems.

CSIRO ON Accelerator is an accelerator program that takes University researchers and helps turn their technology into a product and launch a startup to get it out into the world.

Super interesting discussion from an expert in the Nuclear field.

Dr. Mark Ho is a Nuclear Engineer at ANSTO (Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) and President of the Australian Nuclear Association.

We talk

- How to reduce our reliance on coal-fired power plants, powering the country in a decade when they start to shut down.

- What steps we need to take to get Nuclear Power in Australia.

- Nuclear reactors, how many are there globally, what % of the worlds power do they generate

- Australia's Nuclear capability

- ANSTOs Nuclear medical business

- Safe storage of waste fuel

- How long does it take it to build a Nuclear Reactor

- Who is leading the world (Hint think red)

Our good friend Dominic Dirupo from Alphastation explains the process of making an Initial Public Offering or listing your tech, biotech or medtech company on the ASX.

We talk about all the steps that need to happen, the mistakes that entrepreneurs make, we discuss the costs, what companies are suited and not suited, traps for young players and steps you can take if you want to get ready.

What can we grow? - Synthetic Biology is one of the most fascinating and promising technologies of the future. It offers the ability to grow all sorts of new materials, foods, pharmaceuticals and various chemicals at scale cheaper and faster than traditional methods.

I interview some of the worlds leading researchers in Synbio at the Australian and New Zealand Synthetic Biology Conference in Brisbane, including

- Professor Kirill Alexandrov Professor of Synthetic Biology at Queensland University of Technology https://staff.qut.edu.au/staff/kirill.alexandrov

- Associate Professor Dr Claudia Vickers, Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform Leader https://people.csiro.au/V/C/Claudia-Vickers

- Matt Gardner CEO of the California Technology Council who is helping QLD build a new Synthetic Biology industry https://www.californiatechnology.org/mattgardnerbio

- Dr Madeline Mitchell CSIRO Plant Molecular Physiologist who is building new versions common plants including ironing free and coloured Cotton https://people.csiro.au/M/M/Madeline-Mitchell

Dr Juxi Leitner CEO Founder of LYRO Robotics. Juxi and his team won the Amazon Robotics Challenge.

We talk Robotics, Computer Vision and how he managed to beat the world's best robotics teams to win the Amazon Challenge.

Dr Heba Khamis from Contactile - Giving sense of touch to Robots, we discuss robotics, learn how the hand and fingers work and why its so hard to for a robot to have the same sense of touch and feeling as a human.

We talk about how Heba and her team have engineered a solution to provide this sense of touch in a scalable flexible sensor.

Dr Farzane (Fary) Ahmadi founder of Laronix is on a mission to help sufferers of laryngeal cancer who have had a full Laryngectomy. Fary is building an artificial electronic voice box that works by taking sound from the throat and amplifying it with the mouth.

Laryngectomy is the removal of the larynx and separation of the airway from the mouth, nose, and esophagus. In a total laryngectomy, the entire larynx is removed.

This is crippling for sufferers as it means you can't talk anymore and sufferers experience all sorts of social problems as a result.