Main Sequence, a venture capital firm backed by Australia's national science agency CSIRO, has just made a significant leadership move. Dr. Elaine Stead has been promoted from Principal to Partner, bolstering the firm's leadership team as it gears up to launch its fourth fund. This promotion comes at an exciting time for Main Sequence, with two of its portfolio companies recently achieving unicorn status and its pre-seed science program receiving a fourfold increase in government support.
Born out of CSIRO
Main Sequence was founded in 2017, growing out of CSIRO with the explicit goal of turning Australian scientific research into commercial companies. Rather than waiting for ready-made startups to pitch, the firm built what it calls a “venture science” model: identifying major scientific or industrial challenges first, then assembling the science, people and capital needed to build a company around them.
Over eight years, that approach has produced a portfolio of more than 75 companies, with close to half created in-house through the firm’s own company-building programs rather than sourced externally. The portfolio spans a wide range of deep tech sectors, from quantum computing firm Q-CTRL and satellite connectivity company Myriota, to food technology company v2food and robotics and autonomy specialist Emesent.
Two unicorns and counting
Two portfolio companies, Gilmour Space Technologies and Advanced Navigation, have reached unicorn status, a milestone reflecting Main Sequence’s early bets on Australian space and navigation technology paying off.
Advanced Navigation, founded in 2012 by Xavier Orr and Chris Shaw, builds AI-based navigation technology used in applications ranging from underwater acoustics to robotics, and counts Boeing, Airbus, Tesla and NASA among its clients. Main Sequence led the company’s $20 million Series A funding round alongside US investors Brick & Mortar Ventures and In-Q-Tel, backing a company that had largely self-funded its first five years of development.
Gilmour Space Technologies, a Queensland-based hybrid propulsion company, has followed a similar trajectory, raising early capital to develop low-cost small satellite launch technology before scaling into a much larger commercial operation.
A portfolio built on hard science
Elaine Stead’s promotion reflects the scientific depth Main Sequence has built specifically around healthcare, one of the firm’s core investment areas alongside space, decarbonisation and advanced manufacturing. Since joining as Principal in 2024, Stead has led investment across a cluster of biotech companies: Kinoxis Therapeutics, working on treatments for substance use and neuropsychiatric disorders; Currus Biologics, developing CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumours; Macrobiome Therapeutics, focused on inflammatory bowel disease; Xylo, working on next-generation neurotherapeutics; and Xoma Labs, developing non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring.
Stead’s own background spans a PhD in Biochemistry with a focus on stem cell biology, founding her own company, and more than a decade in venture capital, a combination Main Sequence says shapes how she evaluates the healthcare pipeline. “Great returns come from staying ahead of where the science is going, which means always having the right expertise in the room,” said Bill Bartee, Managing Partner at Main Sequence. “We’ve backed that principle for years, and Elaine is exactly that in action for healthcare.”
Stead framed her own priorities around Australia’s track record in health research. “Australia has one of the best track records in the world for health and medical innovation,” she said. “What really drives me is watching that patience pay off, in the science and in the company builders willing to bet everything on it. I’m looking forward to bringing that same conviction to Fund 4, and to making sure the people backing that science are as varied as the science itself.”
Backing science earlier
Alongside its main investment funds, Main Sequence runs Atmosphere, a pre-seed program specifically built to back Australian scientists at the earliest stage of commercialising their research, often before a company has fully formed. CSIRO recently quadrupled its commitment to the program, lifting its backing to $20 million, a signal of confidence in the pipeline Atmosphere is producing.
Main Sequence currently manages more than $1 billion across three funds and is now in market for a fourth, targeting a first close by the end of the year. For Australian deep tech founders, particularly those working in healthcare, space and advanced manufacturing, the firm’s growing leadership bench and fresh capital raise signal continued appetite for backing science-heavy startups at a stage when most venture capital looks elsewhere. For more information, visit mseq.vc.