Aussie Colours, established by UQ's main commercialisation company UniQuest to develop and market a new generation of drought-hardy Australian native plants, will launch into the US market next year.
It has received a $465,000 boost from local investor group Brisbane Angels and the Queensland Government-owned teQstart, a company established to invest in very early stage, knowledge-intensive companies in Queensland.
Since its inception in June 2007, Aussie Colours has sold more than 60,000 plants from its initial product range. The Outback Princess® (Ptilotus nobilus), developed by scientists at the UQ Centre for Native Floriculture (Gatton), has become popular with nurseries around Australia and will be sold for cut flowers to the Japanese market this season.
The Brisbane Angels / teQstart investment follows a series of milestone achievements for Aussie Colours: a COMET grant of $64,000; sales in Queensland, NSW and Victoria; trials in the USA; and the commercial release of two new Australian native varieties, including the world's first yellow rice flower named "Gold Dust".
Aussie Colours CEO, Brian Ruddle, said the attractive and hardy plants had been embraced domestically and have sparked wide international interest.
"Australian nurseries have been selling out of the plants and we're negotiating with overseas companies for distribution rights in North America and Europe," Mr Ruddle said.
"This investment means we can confidently pursue those contracts and meet the demand for our products in both the domestic and global markets. To have Brisbane's leading investor network and teQstart back us in this venture is particularly significant and encouraging, especially in the current economic climate."
The deal between Aussie Colours, Brisbane Angels and teQstart was negotiated with UniQuest's support. UniQuest Managing Director, David Henderson, said the investment reflected a keen interest in the diversity of UQ's research in the Life Sciences space.
"UQ is at the cutting edge when it comes to addressing the world's most pressing sustainability challenges. We established Aussie Colours to attract and secure the kind of investment needed to accelerate the development of these unique plants," Mr Henderson said.
"Aussie Colours exemplifies what investing in Australian university research can achieve. Financial backing from local investors provides valuable leverage for building reputations overseas and opening up even more opportunities for R & D, market expansion, and research revenue."
Representing Brisbane Angels, co-founder and president John Mactaggart said that while the Aussie Colours investment was a variation on its usual interests in ICT, manufacturing and cleantech ventures, the potential of the start-up company was evident and attractive from an early stage.
"Aussie Colours is our first Life Science or Ag Science investment. We were impressed by the pitches made to us last year and we soon recognised the opportunities it presented," John Mactaggart said.
"With Aussie Colours we can promote co-investment syndication to attract other domestic angel groups, which is a model gaining in popularity overseas and one that aligns with the Queensland government's vision for developing the biotech industry here. This model is also something Brisbane Angels and the Australian Association of Angel Investors have been exploring as part of a bigger framework for building confidence in local ventures."
Aussie Colours is also supported by wholesale nursery partners Pohlmans Nursery (Qld), Colourwise Nursery (NSW) and Humphris Nursery (Vic), which grow and distribute the Outback Princess® products.
Australian gardening enthusiasts can purchase their stocks of Outback Princess® plants from major retail stores, hardware, nursery groups and garden centres.
Media inquiries: Aussie Colours – Brian Ruddle (0407 169 979); UniQuest – Leanne Wyvill (3365 4037, 0409 767 199)
About Aussie Colours Pty Ltd
Aussie Colours is a plant breeding and marketing company, maximising the commercial potential of Australian native flora. Established by UniQuest Pty Limited, the main commercialisation company of The University of Queensland (UQ), Aussie Colours has a strategic research partnership with the UQ Centre for Native Floriculture. Its drought-resistant Outback Princess range (Poise, Passion, Purity) has been complemented by a variegated flannel flower (Corona) and yellow rice flower (Gold Dust) with more varieties expected to be released in late 2008.
About UQ Centre for Native Floriculture
The Centre for Native Floriculture (CNF) is jointly sponsored by UQ and the Queensland Government�s Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry. Its mandate is to help create internationally competitive and environmentally sustainable native floriculture industries that provide significant employment opportunities in Queensland.
The CNF commenced operations in late 2003 as an offset against the then recent Regional Forest Agreement, under which access to native State Forests for commercial purposes, including bush-harvesting of cut flower and foliage lines, was to cease. Based at the UQ Gatton campus, the CNF uses R & D expertise in plant improvement and allied areas to develop novel products from native flora that can be cultivated by floriculture industries in Queensland and thereby provide alternative employment opportunities. The CNF is home to the infrastructure needed to carry out new product development and offers advice to intending and new commercial entrants into the native floriculture sector.
About UniQuest
UniQuest is widely recognised as one of Australia's largest and most successful university commercialisation groups. Established in 1984, UniQuest fosters links between its university commercialisation partners and the financial and entrepreneurial resources of industry, business and government. UniQuest commercialises the innovative research, expertise and technologies developed at The University of Queensland, University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney, James Cook University and the Mater Medical Research Institute. Its extensive intellectual property and asset portfolio includes more than 1,500 patents and 50 companies resulting from research institution-based discoveries and expertise.
About Brisbane Angels
Formed in late 2006, the Brisbane Angels Pty Ltd is a large group of private investors who actively invest in early stage technology companies, usually in South East Queensland, Australia. The company was created as a natural expansion of Archers Angels, a group of six business angel investors and public sector commercialisation managers. It has registered 50 members and made ten investments (including co-investments). Brisbane Angels aims to become the premier business angels group in Australia, building strong alliances with other business angels group throughout Australia and around the world.
About teQstart
The teQstart Pty Ltd investment funds have invested over $6 million across 27 companies in the past six years. The company is wholly owned by the Queensland Government and managed by an independent board of directors, comprising experienced business and investment professionals. The investment portfolio comprises companies across technology industry sectors including biotechnology, pharma- and neutraceuticals, marine, processed foods, alternative and sustainable fuels and technologies including water and the environment, advanced manufacturing, information and communications technologies, and the creative industries including education. The investment in Aussie Colours represents the last investment from the existing teQstart investment funds.
