On Friday 27 February 2026, we gathered 80 of our most ambitious builders for the 2nd instalment for the Hunter iF 2026 Innovator Lunch Series. Our goal was simple: deconstruct the mechanics of moving from a $75k MVP Grant to the kind of capital that positions your business for global scale.
🔥 Fireside Chat 🛠️
Zara Crichton and Justin Bain (3ME Technology) delved into the execution mindset. Justin is proof that focusing on the extreme edge of quality forces the world to take notice.
Insights:
❄️ Forging Safety: 3ME wins by building for the most unforgiving environments on Earth.
🏭 The Industrial Edge: Our regional strength is Industrial Tech. We aren't building apps; we are building mission-critical sovereign capability.
🚀 Tim Owen AM JP highlighted the National Reconstruction Fun (NRF) has $2B of the $15B fund ready to invest in manufacturing of products intended for use in, or in connection with, Australian defence capabilities.
🌏 Global Collaboration: Huge news shared by Justin regarding 3ME Technology signing a Letter of Intent with South 8 Technologies. They are co-developing an extreme cold-weather variant of the EdgeVOLT® battery system, utilising liquefied gas electrolyte that performs below -100°C. This is the Hunter solving gaps for global giants like Lockheed Martin and Porche.
💰 Investment Panel
Alex Retzlaff, Carolyn Breeze GAICD & Viv Jayachandran. Expertly led by Siobhan Curran (University of Newcastle) , deep diving into the investment landscape.
Insights:
😎 Investor Lens: Carolyn Breeze (Scalare Partners) challenged founders with two vital questions: "Why you? and Why now?"
⚡️ Capital Velocity: If an investor cannot write a cheque this month, move on to one who can. Speed is a founder's best friend.
🤝 Proximity Advantage: Alex Retzlaff (Unify Ventures) highlighted our industrial backyard as an unfair advantage for regional founders.
1️⃣ Global Benchmarks: Viv Jayachandran (Jaegersoft) challenged us to set world-class standards from Day 1. Elite talent only follows elite standards.
🔥 The After-Party: How to blow $50k overnight?
🚀 A community stays strong by sharing its scars. A fascinating side-conversation emerged regarding the fastest ways to waste an MVP grant. Some lessons were shared on the floor:👇Hiring a sales team 👨💼
👇Paying for complex tax 🤑 structures before earning the first dollar of revenue.
👇Engineering a "Ferrari" 🏎️ when the customer only needed a bicycle to solve their problem.
Supported by Franke Hyland & NTP Talent
It Takes a Tribe to Build the Future
One more thing...
The Hunter is undergoing its biggest industrial shift in a generation. We have the lifestyle, the grit, and now, the data to back it up and Hunter iF is committed to ensuring this region becomes a global beacon for innovation.
Lock it in: Our mission to ignite innovation continues every month. Block out 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM on the last Friday of every month for the HiF Innovators Lunch Series.
Don't just watch the future happen.
