Venture building the next wave
of frontier technology startups
with world class researchers
Creating the next wave of deep tech startups with world class researchers
What is Out The Back?
To us, it represents a reward for aiming higher, digging deeper, and exploring where others haven’t.
Meet Keong
and John
John Rock has over 25 years experience in starting, building, operating and selling businesses. John specialises in optimising operations, boosting profitability, and driving growth with a keen focus on strategic coordination and adherence to best practices.
Keong Chan has over 20 years of experience in early-stage investing throughout the public and private markets. He is connected globally to resources to verify and accelerate projects with both know-how and capital.
Research and Commercialisation Advisory Board (RCAB)
The RCAB offers expertise in fields like quantum tech, additive manufacturing, neuromorphic computing, energy storage, synthetic biology, propulsion systems, photonics, and nuclear technology.
We're expanding the RCAB and invite interested individuals to reach out.
Professor Simon Ringer, from the University of Sydney, is a renowned materials scientist and engineer. As Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Infrastructure), he has led high-impact research projects, secured substantial funding, and established strategic industry partnerships. His expertise in advanced microscopy and materials characterisation makes him invaluable to early-stage startups.
Professor Christian Nijhuis, from the University of Twente, specialises in Hybrid Materials for Opto-Electronics. With a PhD in supramolecular chemistry and postdoctoral experience at Harvard, his research on energy-efficient molecular switches aims to revolutionise AI hardware. In 2023, he received a Vici grant to further his groundbreaking work.
Dr Paul Bertsch is an eminent environmental scientist and soil chemist. He has directed major research institutes and served as Queensland Chief Scientist. With over 140 publications and $50 million in research funding, his pioneering work in molecular environmental science has earned him numerous accolades and fellowships.
Dr David Tew, former Deputy Director of Technology at ARPA-E, has extensive experience in energy and environmental technologies. He led key ARPA-E programs focusing on advanced energy technologies and machine learning in engineering design. His previous work at United Technologies Corporation spanned combined heat and power systems and transportation energy efficiency.
Dr Patrick Parkinson is a Senior Lecturer in Photonic Materials at the University of Manchester. With a background from Oxford and postdoctoral positions at ANU and Oxford, he focuses on nanoscale optoelectronic materials. In 2020, he received a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to develop high-throughput correlative microscopic techniques for nano-optoelectronic devices.
Dr Tim Boyle, former Director of Innovation at ANSTO and founder of the nandin Innovation Centre, is an experienced leader in research commercialisation. With over 20 years in bridging research and business, he transitioned to CEO of ARCS in 2023. Boyle holds a PhD in Chemistry and has been recognised with awards like the George Collins Award for Innovation.
What We Do
We have developed an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by researchers and universities when it comes to research commercialisation. We bring a wealth of knowledge to our startups and provide them access to a global network of researchers, investors and industry partners.
We stand side by side with researchers all around the world who dedicate their lives to furthering human civilisation – where others see doubt, we see tremendous opportunity.
Researchers & Universities
Out The Back Ventures (OTB) has developed a global network of leading researchers and PI’s who are working in deep/frontier research areas such as AI related data storage, new 2d materials, additive manufacturing, data storage, neuromorphic computing, nuclear technology and robotics. This researcher network provides unique insights into evolving research trends that assist with the assessment of novel research and to provide potential avenues for international research collaboration to accelerate commercialisation.
We regularly attend and are invited to researcher only conferences such as Gordon Research Conferences.
OTB has developed relationships with hundreds of researchers and in 2023 engaged (including campus visits) with over 30 universities and national labs in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, Switzerland, Sweden and Netherlands.This investment of time into these research communities in specific fields of deep/frontier tech research is an important aspect of how OTB identifies investment opportunities.
Investors
OTB has key relationships with over 100 qualified investors (which is quickly growing) around the world including family offices, high net wealth individuals, successful entrepreneurs and pre-seed/seed/series A VCs most notably in the US (including deep/frontier tech specific VCs).These qualified relationships provide our startups with access to early-stage capital that is often unavailable from traditional VC firms. In addition to capital this investor network also provide access potential management personnel and additional industry partners.
In addition to investor relationships, OTB has all the relevant commercial relationships such as lawyers, accountants, CFOs etc. to incorporate entities and operational activities in most jurisdictions of interest including Australia, New Zealand, USA, Singapore, UK and EU.
Industry Partners
One of the most crucial factors in the commercialisation of early-stage research projects is the early collaboration with industry partners to guide the research team during the prototype/pilot/scale up phase. To this end, OTB has developed close networks with over 50 (and rapidly growing) Corporate Venture Capitalists (CVCs).
OTB’s ability to bring these industry and CVC relationships to our startups brings not only the possibility of strategic financial investment but also the opportunity to access R&D collaboration that can accelerate commercialisation given the propensity for large corporates to invest in R&D with long term time horizons.
