The 12 participants for the Founders Factory accelerator programs in WA have been announced.
Founders Factory is a London-based venture studio and accelerator. Since launching in Perth last year, 18 start-ups have gone through their two accelerator programs: one being their Nature Tech Accelerator established in partnership with the WA government, who have provided $7.2m in funding over 3 years. The other program is the Mining Tech Accelerator in partnership with mining multinational Rio Tinto.
The programs accept 6 start-ups each cohort and provide funding to participants along with guidance and programming on running a start-up, along withconnections to industry. One of start-ups selected for their Nature Tech Accelerator is WA-based start-up North Australian Sea Culture (NASC) by founder Alison Duguid.
“NASC is a seaweed cultivation and product development company looking to unlock North Australia by creating sustainable seaweed farms and service regional supply chains and ecosystems.” Alison said.
“Current product streams are pigments, hydrocolloid and soil applications. But the intent is that our processing IP is transferable and also bespoke to each region, so those product streams will likely change."
Unlike in traditional farming which often takes a monoculture approach, growing crops from a single species, Alison intends to be “growing multiple different species, which will help enhance the ecosystem in each of these different regions.”
“The intent is ultimately to create not only jobs and economic stability in those regions, but also sustainable projects which ultimately help improve the environment.” she said.
Applications are currently open for their next cohort, which kick off at the end of February 2026.
Below are the 12 start-ups in the Nature Tech and Mining Tech Accelerator programs.
Nature Tech Accelerator
Solving food waste with INSECT Waste Management Technology.
Originating from: UK
Fremantle Seaweed are growing asparagopsis off the coast of WA to produce and supply dried asparagopsis as a feed supplement for feedlot and dairy farmers.
Originating from: Western Australia
North Australian SeaCulture
Developing a bespoke raw seaweed processing technique in regional North Australia with three valuable product streams: pigment, agar and soil fertiliser. Where seaweed grows, communities thrive.
Originating from: Western Australia
Pyri produces low cost, passive ground sensors to detect early signs of wildfire via their patent-pending sensor network that is activated from heat.
Originating from: UK
Quenda
Quenda mimics Australian marsupials by developing autonomous solar powered rovers.
Originating from: Western Australia
Synature develops a bioacoustic sound monitoring system with an integrated smart microphone that makes nature and animal welfare measurable at scale.
Originating from: Switzerland
Mining Tech Accelerator
Protecting and restoring natural ecosystems, one plant cell at a time.
Originating from: USA
Mining and energy technology built for extreme depths.
Originating from: Germany
Extracting critical metals from red mud.
Originating from: USA
Reforestation robots.
Originating from: USA
Precision biodiversity data from airborne environmental DNA (eDNA).
Originating from: Switzerland
AI biodiversity monitoring.
Originating from: Norway
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