Jelix Ventures

Andrea Gardiner, the founder and managing partner, leads all investment decisions. She built Jelix after her tenure at OneVentures, where she invested across multiple funds backed in part by the Australian government's Innovation Investment Fund program. Gardiner is the firm's sole named managing partner, concentrating investment judgment in a single decision-maker rather than a committee.

Jelix focuses on pre-seed and seed rounds, typically writing first checks between A$250,000 and A$1.5 million. The firm aims to be the earliest institutional capital into a company, often alongside angel investors or smaller syndicates in Australia and New Zealand.

The firm has deployed across enterprise software, artificial intelligence and machine learning, fintech, climate technology, and digital health. Portfolio companies include Neara, an infrastructure modeling platform for utilities, and Fertile, a fertility benefits and care-navigation startup.

Gardiner sources primarily through the Australian and New Zealand founder ecosystem, accelerator networks, and co-investor referrals. The firm's small partnership size and early-stage focus require deep relationships with technical founders who are often pre-institutional in their fundraising.

Jelix makes direct equity investments into operating companies. There is no public indication the firm commits capital as a limited partner to other venture funds or participates in fund-of-funds structures.

Jelix operates as a lean, founder-led manager rather than a multi-partner platform. Where larger Australian firms spread capital across dozens of deals annually, Jelix makes concentrated, high-conviction bets with a single managing partner driving all investment decisions.

The firm invests primarily in Australia and New Zealand, though individual portfolio companies may have global ambitions from inception. Jelix has not publicly indicated expansion into Southeast Asia or other regional markets.