Why we’ve raised $3.5m to build the next wave of bold Aussie-made ventures

We’re excited to announce that we have raised $3.5m to build and back multiple bold ventures with exceptional entrepreneurs. And we’re honoured to be bringing in experienced operators and investors to help us accelerate our model including founders from Leonardo ai, Gannet Capital, Booking. com, Scalare Partners, private-equity veteran Les Fallick, among others.

Why we raised

We firmly believe that getting to early traction is one of the most challenging stages in the startup journey, and the expectations on founders are only continuing to rise. This underscores our belief that big ambition takes more than just one person — it takes a team that can push early ideas further and faster than anyone could alone.

This is our mission at Nakatomi. To be the best place on earth for bold ideas to come to life, supporting both brilliant founders and innovative corporates.

It’s heartening to know our mission is shared, with partners who know its importance first-hand. With our round closing in just six weeks, we’ve secured the capital and capability that will help us scale the impact of our model.

How we got here

This mission wasn’t created over night. For over 8 years we operated as an ‘innovation studio’: creating immersive art, cutting-edge technologies, and transformative strategies for some of the worlds biggest companies, renowned artists, viral brands, and essential industries.

We offered companies a better way to handle innovation, and it worked. Under this model, we’ve partnered with global companies like Google, Purina, Beam Suntory, LVMH, Shiseido, and NIDA, creating new experiences and products that helped them achieve their business goals. And when there was spare capacity in our services business, we built a track record doing what we love — working with founders to bring their visions to life.

In the past two alone years, we’ve managed to co-create multiple startups, all which have gone on to raise external capital. Which includes:

• Ovum. Founded by Dr Ariella Heffernan-Marks, recently raised $1.7m to help women take charge of their health through an AI health companion that intelligently tracks and reports their well-being, enabling proactive and open conversation with medical professionals. Ovum’s ambition is to play a major role in fixing the trillion dollar gender health gap.

• Ruminati. Founded by farmers Bobby Miller and Will Onus, Ruminati is Australia’s simplest and most intuitive tool to measure, reduce, and report environmental impact across the supply chain — allowing the businesses servicing it to support climate-friendly producers.

• Culinary Wonderland. Co-founded by Shannon Bennett and George Calombaris, Culinary Wonderland creates a digital ecosystem for those who live to eat — connecting food fanatics with the world’s best chefs.

“I first came to Nakatomi with nothing more than an idea – to empower women with knowledge and data to advocate for their health and transform women’s health outcomes. Nakatomi believed in my vision to co-create the app that Ovum is today. I now have a team of my own and an app that is used by women across Australia. I simply couldn’t have done it without them."
– Dr Ariella Heffernan-Marks, Founder of Ovum

“Working with Nakatomi supercharged our progress and impact without a doubt. Our business is the first in this category so we had to conceptualise a product and service in the absence of comparables and in a changing landscape. Nakatomi took our ideas, anecdotes, beliefs and hypotheses and turned them into a great product."
– Bobby Miller, Founder of Ruminati

“Working with Nakatomi was nothing short of transformational. Whether we were reimagining an IoT product’s design from the ground up, developing cutting-edge software and hardware solutions, or navigating the complexities of a go-to-market strategy, they consistently brought clarity, creativity, and precision to the table."
– Mark Harris, Head of E-Business of Nestle Purina

Why we’re doing this

Our Founding Partner, Benjamin Bray believes in providing new ventures with an expert team from day one so they can go further, faster than they could on their own. “It’s the creative chaos of early-stage venture creation that drives us. Now with the backing from incredible new investors, there’s no limit to what we can build.”

“And especially now with the innovation landscape being shaken up by big changes like AI, founders and business leaders need better support to create game changing ventures and ensure they unlock the traction they deserve,” he added.

That’s why our model has to be different, and why we’ve architected a studio and a culture that favours invention over convention.

“We’ve always fought against ‘best practice’. It limits us from finding a better way and so our approach to venture building reflects this belief. As creative generalists with first-hand experience imagining, building, and launching companies at scale, we’re able to step in as early-stage partners that help to validate and launch imaginative ideas to the world.

Nakatomi’s Founding Partner, Andy Timms, echoes Ben’s passion. “Early-stage creation is what we love, and it’s a muscle we keep training. That focus shapes how we hunt for opportunity, and how we’re structuring our new model following the raise to scale our point of difference in venture.”

“Our edge comes from the diversity of problem spaces we explore. We work hard to uncover non-obvious connections and patterns that unlock differentiated products and ventures. When you combine that process with people who are world-class in their fields, whether they’re founders or corporate teams, that’s when you can create something truly novel.”

“Having also worked on numerous corporate innovation projects over the years, we’re excited to challenge the status quo. Our model helps corporates build a portfolio of innovations across multiple opportunities. By co-investing our own capital, we lower costs and share risk — creating a proposition that’s both creative and commercially compelling.”

What’s next?

It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a founder, and an equally exciting time for us to have the resources to build with brilliant partners. With the support of our investors, we’re scaling our Founder-led, Corporate Venture, and Originals models — doubling down where our range across product, engineering, brand, design, and GTM truly compounds.

About our investors

The conviction of our investors speaks to the scale of impact we’re aiming to create at Nakatomi. We’re proud to have Adrian Critchlow — co-founder of $180B Booking.com — alongside five remarkable co-founders of Leonardo.ai, private equity veteran Les Fallick, and founders from Scalare Partners. Together, this collective brings invaluable experience, insight, and guidance to help shape the ventures and founders of tomorrow.

“The Nakatomi team is made up of good, talented, committed people with a strong track record. I’m excited to back them. By partnering early, they help aspiring founders turn brilliant ideas into real, successful businesses,” says Chris Gillies, co-founder of Leonardo.ai.

“It’s rare to see a team move this fast without compromising on quality. Nakatomi’s ability to take an idea from research to strategy to launch, and get it spot on, is very impressive. I see this as the future of venture building,” says Adrian Critchlow, co-founder of Booking.com.

So, what are we building next?

We’ve already got a hot pipeline of ventures underway, spanning sectors and business models. We’re exploring opportunities in travel, fintech, workforce optimisation and more — crafting experiences that are fuelled by novel tech, but grounded in deep human experiences. We look forward to sharing these businesses with you shortly, with our next venture set to be announced early in 2026.