“The beaten zone is the elliptical pattern formed when the rounds within the cone of fire strike the ground or target. The size and shape of the beaten zone change as a function of the range to and slope of the target, but is normally oval or cigar shaped and density of rounds decreases toward the edges.”
Source: http://benning.army.mil/

There are more dangerous places you could be on the battlefield, but not many. We are about systems that add to lethality and increase survivability to help Australia and our allies defend our way of life – you do not do that with harsh language alone – we need modern systems to assist with that. We never want to see these things used in conflict, but the best way to ensure that, is to make sure our sailors, soldiers and aviators have the best tools available.

It means Australian. It means an Australian company, headquartered here with an organisation that would have no restrictions selling into the Australian Department of Defence or to an allied military force.

Our logo compromises a stylised Owen Gun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_gun), an outline of Australia and the Southern Cross – sovereign and lethal – it is who we are. The Owen Gun was developed prior to World War II by an Australian and used in from 1941 to 1972, a sovereign and revolutionary innovation of its time.

This space is hard. For a start it is hardware and that is a whole level of difficulty above software due to iteration cycles and logistics. We need to be doing this in a scalable manner. This sector has come to rely on hand to mouth defence grants and is rarely let off the chain to just go for it. That is what we want to do. We want to bring a more traditional software-based venture mindset to this arena. We do not shy away from the fact our founders create weapons, systems that support weapons or train warfighters to use them, we are proud of the fact they are contributing to the defence of Australia and our way of life. We are there to stand by them with advice, networks and capital.

We want to add to a sovereign defence investing flywheel where successful entrepreneurs start, execute, exit and then go on to do it all again and/or enter the ecosystem as an investor.

Lethal, we hope is pretty obvious, but it is not just weapons but also includes systems that help control and increase that weapons effectiveness or trains the end-user to use it in an optimal way, whilst keeping the operator safe and mitigating risks to friendly forces.

Survivability is the opposite to lethality; we want systems that protect our warfighters from the adversaries’ weapon systems. This could range from novel camouflage materials and armour to electronic warfare capabilities that support and protect friendly forces.

Dual-use is great, many of the things we fund can likely be dual-use in application and customer base, however we would prefer to see the focus and primary output of companies we fund in the allied defence sector.

Missiles, bullets and guns are inherently not dual-use, and we are about backing brave founders developing these technologies to increase the ADF’s capacity and capability.

Yes. We are currently raising Beaten Zone Venture Capital Fund 1, LP.

Applications are open and it will be an ESVCLP fund.

Investors Apply Here

For more information, please email us at contact@beatenzone.vc

Many people recognise Steve from Channel Ten’s hit show ‘Shark Tank Australia’.

Something less known is that Steve was a soldier and electronics technician in the Australian Defence Force for almost 9 years. Steve has been close involved in the innovation streams of the Australian Army for many years with his informal involvement in Army Innovation Days and continually helps out some diggers in individual units as they contend with the pace of tech change, how it impacts them and the mission they do on behalf of all Australians.

Steve has over 70 investments in the early-stage venture space through ‘Transition Level Investments’ and ‘TEN13’. Among these investments are many with military applicability, some with hardware as well.

We have built a strong team though; it isn’t just Steve.

See here for info on Steve.

TEN13 is the high alignment, early stage, syndicate investment platform that Steve funded, Steve has stepped back from day-to-day operations, but remains the corner stone investment lead as well as the Non-Executive Chairman.

Given we are looking for teams with, essentially, weapons or weapons related technology, they will most likely be predominately hardware. Software still has a space, if your company has a military application we would love to hear about it.

We are looking to invest between $1m and $3m AUD in early stage investment rounds. We are equity investors looking to incentivise founding teams to achieve phenomenal outcomes.

We invest at the early stage, that covers a lot of bases. We are more than happy for good teams with a good idea and obvious talent; however we would prefer a prototype or demonstrator – a TRL 9 product is ideal.

You do not need contracts or grants from Australian Department of Defence to pitch to us. In the same way that the Owen Gun was originally rejected by the Australian Defence establishment in 1938 before finally being seen as superior, we understand the traditional paths to acceptance and sales can be challenging – it is one of those challenges we are up for.

Pitch Here