Sustained support through every stage.

Two phases. One proven model. Innovation outcomes at scale.

The Drought Venture Studio supported 84 Australian agtech innovators through two distinct phases: the Drought Resilience Lab and Ventures-in-Residence.

Read the Program Outcomes

The Program

Phase 1

THE DROUGHT RESILIENCE LAB

12 weeks · 4 cohorts · 84 innovators

80 commercialisation plans completed

$500,000 in professional services delivered

4 Innovator Showcases — over 350 total attendees

98% program completion rate across all cohorts

Each cohort ran for 12 weeks, with innovators committing ~8 hours weekly. Venture Builders covered customer discovery, market segmentation, value proposition, business models, IP, and funding. Participants developed a commercialisation plan throughout.

Specialist support included market research, competitor analysis, financial modelling, and IP guidance. Customer interviews were facilitated with farmers, industry bodies, and partners. Each cohort concluded with an Innovator Showcase with industry and investors in attendance.

Phase 2

VENTURES-IN-RESIDENCE

Year long support · 8 ventures

$1.34M in total commercialisation services deployed

Up to $250,000 direct financial support for each venture

3 IP assignments transferred from universities to founding ventures

6 of 8 Ventures-in-Residence attracted external investment

Eight high-potential ventures were selected for the Ventures-in-Residence program, each receiving two days per week of dedicated Venture Builder support over 12 months. Support focused on addressing key barriers including IP, governance, trial access, and capital readiness.

Financial support helped overcome constraints such as limited founder capacity, long trial cycles, and governance gaps, while a Venture Advisory Committee provided monthly accountability and strategic guidance.

The program supported 84 innovators:

Entrepreneurial researchers with technologies ready to graduate from the lab to real-world ag applications.

AgTech founders with early-stage prototypes ready to validate and bring to market.

Industry disruptors with game-changing solutions ready to transform agriculture from the inside out.

From the innovators

After 20 years as an academic, Beanstalk gave me the confidence to finally commercialise my product and allowed me to secure IP rights to my venture - and that is absolutely invaluable — Dr. Auriol Purdie, SureStock (Cohort 3)

"The level of support was honestly unbelievable. I was expecting this to be similar to the previous accelerators I've done, but it was a whole different level."

— Sam Rogers, GrazeMate (Cohort 4)