Australian venture capital fund Salus Ventures has launched its Strategic Advisor Program, making three significant appointments to its team, including former Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and Deputy Chief of Army Paul Symon, former Ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, and former Head of Operation Sovereign Borders Lee Goddard.
Salus Ventures supports aspiring Australian founders solving critically important national challenges in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning, cybersecurity, automation, defence and national security, social cohesion along with other emerging technologies.
These three strategic advisors will help Salus Ventures unlock opportunities for promising portfolio companies and conduct due diligence in ways others cannot, and in doing so, help bolster the nation’s national security and resilience.
“We’re delighted to have three highly influential and respected individuals join our advisory, each providing a unique pathway to further our mission to support deep technology in Australia,” said Salus Ventures Co-founder Dan Bennett.
“These critical appointments add to our connective tissue in Canberra and Washington DC, to our ability to provide unique portfolio company support, facilitate AUKUS specialised opportunities and enable Salus to marry public and private sector efforts to achieve better outcomes for founders and Australia as a whole,” he said.
Focused on pre-seed and seed investment, Salus Ventures reviewed more than 1000 companies in 2024. To date the fund has made 10 investments in promising Australian startups and plans to deploy more than AUD250 million over the next five years.
“We’re focused on building key technology competency with speed to capability,” adds Co-founder Marten Peck. “There has never been a more important or impactful time for founders and private sector investors to contribute to and uplift capability in Australia and for our allies, which is why we are looking forward to the unique contributions that each of these strategic advisors can make.”
Salus Ventures team has decades of domain experience, having raised and invested more than AUD600 million into global deep technology investments, primarily in the US, Europe, and Australia. Backed by its network of strategic advisors, the fund’s unique understanding of procurement and capability requirements, along with strong relationships into government, will continue to unlock opportunities for Australia’s most promising founders.
