LaunchVic is dead. The Victorian startup agency, operational since 2017, shut down July 1 as part of $4 billion in state budget cuts.
The agency's equity investments move to Breakthrough Victoria, a $2 billion government fund focused on later-stage commercialisation. Grant programs transfer to Invest Victoria, which handles trade and investment. The combined entity is now Innovation Victoria.
Over 8 years, LaunchVic completed over 190 investments and facilitated billions in startup funding. The agency ran targeted funds including the Alice Anderson Fund and Hugh Victor McKay Fund, taking 85% equity positions in early-stage women-led startups. Its first grant round in 2017 deployed $6.5 million across 18 projects.
Former LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick now runs The Tech Council of Australia. Breakthrough Victoria CEO Rod Bristow takes the top job at Innovation Victoria. Former banking exec and Payapps cofounder Geoff Tarrant chairs the new board, with Monique Conheady (Flexicar, Wavemaker Impact) as deputy chair.
Victoria claims top spot in ANZ venture funding for 2025 with $2.2 billion announced, up 2.9x from 2024. LaunchVic's ecosystem work contributed to that growth, but the agency became a casualty of broader public sector cuts recommended by the Silver Review.
The financially embattled Victorian Labor government is behind the Coalition and One Nation in polling ahead of November's state election. Selling the merger as efficiency makes political sense. Whether consolidating startup support into existing agencies actually helps founders remains to be seen.
Worth noting: LaunchVic's closure eliminates a dedicated early-stage funding pathway. Breakthrough Victoria focuses on later-stage commercialisation. That gap matters for pre-seed and seed startups that relied on LaunchVic grants and equity co-investment.
The government spun this as creating "a single front door" for innovation. Translation: fewer doors, fewer programs, same budget pressure.