Why Kapunda?
A Name Rooted
in Australian History

In 1844, the colony of South Australia was on the verge of bankruptcy before the discovery of copper at Kapunda birthed Australia's first commercial metal mine, saving a young economy and sparking a century of industrial innovation. It was a moment where grit and ingenuity met geology to create prosperity.

We chose the name Kapunda Ventures because we believe Australia is at a similar turning point. Our mission is to back the next generation of hard-tech pioneers across energy, industrials, and agriculture — the founders building the physical foundations of a sustainable and productive future.

Just as the original Kapunda mine transformed the colony through resourcefulness and technical breakthroughs, we partner with modern innovators to scale the technologies that will define Australia's economy for the next century.

The Beginning

Jeremy Atkin co-founded Bandera Capital, a deal-by-deal syndicate investing in Australian hard-tech startups at the pre-seed and seed stage. The first investments were made in May 2020 — Sea Forest and 5B — both of which have since gone on to achieve significant commercial milestones.

The thesis was simple: Australia has world-class hard-tech talent across energy, industrials and agriculture. But capital at the earliest stage was — and remains — almost non-existent. The opportunity was structural, not cyclical.

Five Years. Seventeen Companies.

Over five years, the Bandera Capital syndicate backed seventeen companies across energy, industrials and agriculture: from silicon-graphite battery materials in Wollongong to hull-cleaning robots in Sydney Harbour to rare earth refining in Boston.

The portfolio was built without a fixed pool of capital, relying instead on a network of sophisticated co-investors assembled deal by deal. While effective in building a track record, the syndicate model is not scalable. A new purpose-designed structure was required to go to the next level.

Kapunda Ventures Fund I

KV Fund I is the natural evolution of Jeremy’s investing track record — a dedicated seed fund with a fixed pool of capital, a clear investment mandate, and a structure designed to enable the speed and conviction that early-stage hard-tech investing demands.

The fund targets A$20M (hard cap A$30M), deploying into 20–25 companies over four years at pre-seed and seed stage. The name change from Bandera Capital to Kapunda Ventures reflects the transition from a syndicate to a fund and embodies our purpose: backing Australian ingenuity in the sectors that matter most.

Interested in
Fund I?

Targeting first close Q3 2026. Minimum commitment A$200k.

Get in Touch