Updated:
Start-up Australia
Start-up Australia was established in 2013 by Kim Jackson with backing from Scott Farquhar, who co-founded Atlassian with Mike Cannon-Brookes and became...
Start-up Australia
Start-up Australia was established in 2013 by Kim Jackson with backing from Scott Farquhar, who co-founded Atlassian with Mike Cannon-Brookes and became one of Australia's wealthiest individuals following the company's 2015 Nasdaq listing. The vehicle operates as the Farquhar family's direct early-stage investment arm, distinct from the broader Skip Capital infrastructure and growth-equity platform that Jackson also leads. The founding premise was straightforward: recycle a fraction of the Atlassian wealth into the next generation of Australian founders. The firm makes direct seed and Series A investments, concentrating on enterprise software, artificial intelligence, fintech, and climate technology. Confirmed portfolio companies include Edrolo, an education-technology platform serving secondary schools, and Morse Micro, a Sydney-based semiconductor startup developing low-power Wi-Fi chips for IoT applications. Geographic focus remains overwhelmingly domestic, with a secondary lens on New Zealand opportunities. The firm does not raise external capital and does not participate in fund-of-funds commitments, operating purely as a proprietary balance-sheet investor. Jackson runs a lean operation from Sydney with no disclosed team size or additional offices. The portfolio is managed alongside Skip Capital, the larger infrastructure and technology investment firm she founded with Farquhar. In July 2024, Skip Capital closed a dedicated venture fund at approximately AUD $500 million (per the Australian Financial Review, July 2024), signaling an evolution in Farquhar's commitment to domestic technology investing beyond the original Start-up Australia mandate. The two vehicles share investment personnel and some portfolio overlap but maintain distinct legal structures. What separates Start-up Australia from generic family offices is its deliberate role as a domestic venture catalyst. Rather than chasing global deals, Farquhar and Jackson concentrated capital at the pre-institutional stage in a market where local Series A funding historically runs thin. That posture — using a single-family pool to bridge the gap between angel syndicates and global venture firms — gives the firm an unusual structural position in the Australian ecosystem, functioning more like a seed-stage institution than a passive allocation vehicle.
General information
Firm type
Single Family Office
Year founded
2013
AUM
$50M - $150M (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
Oceania
Country
Australia
City
Sydney
Corporate office
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Principals
Kim Jackson
Founder and Managing Director
Scott Farquhar
Principal
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Start-up Australia?
Kim Jackson makes investment decisions as Founder and Managing Director. Jackson previously founded and sold a creative agency before moving into technology investing, and she also oversees Skip Capital, the broader Farquhar-family investment platform. Scott Farquhar is the sole source of capital but does not manage day-to-day portfolio decisions.
How is Start-up Australia related to Skip Capital?
Start-up Australia preceded Skip Capital and remains a distinct legal entity, but the two share leadership under Kim Jackson and overlap in some portfolio companies. Skip Capital manages a broader mandate including infrastructure, growth equity, and a dedicated venture fund, while Start-up Australia focuses exclusively on seed and Series A technology investments funded by Scott Farquhar's personal balance sheet.
What investment stages does Start-up Australia target?
The firm targets seed and Series A rounds, typically as the first institutional capital into a company. Start-up Australia writes cheques at the pre-institutional stage where Australian founders historically struggle to close rounds between angel syndicates and larger venture funds. The approach reflects the firm's explicit mission to strengthen domestic early-stage funding.
Does Start-up Australia invest outside Australia?
The firm is overwhelmingly domestic in focus, with a secondary interest in New Zealand. Unlike Scott Farquhar's personal or philanthropic investments, Start-up Australia deliberately concentrates on Australian-headquartered companies, consistent with its founding thesis of recycling Atlassian wealth into the local ecosystem.
Where does the underlying wealth come from?
Scott Farquhar co-founded Atlassian with Mike Cannon-Brookes in 2002. The Sydney-based enterprise software company listed on the Nasdaq in 2015 at a valuation exceeding $4 billion and subsequently traded at a peak market capitalization above $50 billion. Farquhar's Forbes-estimated net worth crossed $15 billion, with Start-up Australia representing one of several deployment vehicles for that wealth.
Which sectors does Start-up Australia explicitly avoid?
The firm does not publish an explicit exclusion list, but its portfolio reveals a clear pattern: no resources, mining, or traditional Australian industrial companies appear among known investments. The concentration remains on enterprise software, artificial intelligence, fintech, climate technology, and agritech, consistent with the technology-export thesis that Atlassian itself modeled.
Does Start-up Australia participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Start-up Australia makes only direct investments and does not commit capital to external venture funds, distinguishing it from the family offices that allocate to Australian VC managers. The vehicle operates as a proprietary balance-sheet investor, with no external limited partners and no fund-of-funds activity.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on family offices?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: