Invest Rural

Upcoming events · November 2026

Three events. Three communities.

Bringing ambitious rural business leaders and the investors who back them into the same room, across three communities this November.

Tamworth

New South Wales

Goonoo Goonoo Station
Workshop and evening

10 Nov 2026

Workshop + Ecosystem Evening

Full Scaling Rural Ventures Workshop, plus the Investor & Ecosystem Evening and a live pitch session, in partnership with the University of New England. Can't make the day session? You're welcome to join us just for the evening.

Goondiwindi

Queensland

Workshop: O'Shea's Royal Hotel
Evening: Border Brewing Co

12 Nov 2026

Workshop + Ecosystem Evening

Full Scaling Rural Ventures Workshop, plus the Investor & Ecosystem Evening with the funder panel, in partnership with Engage & Create Consulting. Can't make the day session? You're welcome to join us just for the evening.

Toowoomba

Queensland

Wellcamp Airport
Panel and coffee

13 Nov 2026

Coffee + Investor
Panel

A Friday-morning funder panel with coffee and open networking, in partnership with The Connection Table.

Investor & Ecosystem Evening · under the stars

Scaling Rural Ventures Workshop

A one-day workshop for business leaders who are ready to grow and want clarity on how to get there. Participants work through the tools and thinking that turn ambition into a fundable strategy.

Sessions include

Demystifying Investment: an investor panel connecting leaders directly with funders
Make Your Case: develop and sharpen how you talk about your business
Funding pathways and what capital is actually available
Scaling strategy, R&D incentives and building the right team for growth

Participants leave with

Clarity on funding pathways and the capital available to them
Practical tools to scale from the regions
A sharper story and the confidence to tell it
New networks that open doors

Investor & Ecosystem Evenings

Rural businesses thrive when the ecosystem comes together. The investor panel is the reason to be in the room: the region's business community, ecosystem leaders, chambers and government sit directly across from the people who deploy capital.

Angel investors, venture capital, debt, private credit, impact investors and crowdfunding platforms each explain how they invest, what they look for and what most leaders get wrong. The Tamworth evening opens with a live pitch session hosted by UNE SMART Region Incubator, then the investor panel takes the stage.

Can't make the day session? You're welcome to join us just for the evening. There will be more than enough food to feed everyone, hearty canapés in Tamworth and pizzas in Goondiwindi, served so you can be up and about networking all night.

Investor Panel & Coffee in Toowoomba

In partnership with The Connection Table, a Friday-morning investor panel with coffee and networking.

Just the right people in the same place at the right time. A funder panel gives each investor the chance to introduce themselves: who they are, what they back and what they're looking for. Then open networking over brunch.

Invest Rural · November 2026

Speakers and funders.

Here are some of the speakers and investors locked in for Tamworth, Goondiwindi and Toowoomba, with more to be announced soon.

Funders

Kirstin Hunter

Birchal

CEO of Australia's leading equity crowdfunding platform. Former Techstars MD and co-founder of Future Super.

Speaking onCrowd-sourced funding

Goondiwindi

Tom Dawkins

LendForGood

Co-founder and Chief Impact Officer of a platform connecting social enterprises with impact investors. Co-founded StartSomeGood.

Speaking onSocial impact investment

Steph Kirchhofer

AgriSpace

Connects agtech ventures with investors and leads South West Angels. Formerly a Vice President at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Speaking onAngel investment, private equity and private credit

Britta Marsh

77 Partners

Venture capital investor backing early stage frontier technology. Executive Officer of AusAgritech, with a focus on farming and rural industries.

Speaking onVenture capital

Sam Desai

Birchal

Growth Lead at Birchal, Australia's leading equity crowdfunding platform. Previously worked in growth at Quora and Twitter (X).

Speaking onCrowd-sourced funding

Tamworth

Tim Hynes

Radium Capital

State Manager at Radium Capital with more than 20 years in finance across Australia and New Zealand, helping R&D businesses grow.

Speaking onUnlocking R&D value

Saskia Urlass

Tundra Capital

Investor focused on early stage agrifood technology. Holds a PhD in Food Technology from the University of Queensland and previously worked in product development at Kraft Heinz.

Speaking onVenture capital

Melanie Portelli

Westpac

Portfolio Owner, Business Lending at Westpac. Helps business owners understand their funding pathways, with experience across lending, customer experience and business growth.

Speaking onStartup and Scaleup loans

Tamworth

Kylee Walker

Westpac

Regional General Manager at Westpac.

Speaking onStartup and Scaleup loans

Toowoomba

Simon Thurbin

Westpac

Regional General Manager Southern Queensland, Regional and Agribusiness at Westpac.

Speaking onStartup and Scaleup loans

Goondiwindi

Nicola Wightman

QIC Ventures

Venture Relations Manager at QIC Ventures, which backs Queensland startups and scaleups from seed to Series C+. Connects founders, investors, universities and government.

Speaking onVenture capital

Goondiwindi and Toowoomba

Nick Guest

QIC Private Equity

Partner in the QIC Private Equity team since 2009. Sits on its Investment Committee and Management Committee and leads portfolio monitoring and client reporting.

Speaking onVenture capital and private equity

Goondiwindi

Sam Ferrier

The Rural Bridge

Founded The Rural Bridge in 2021 to give country families access to early stage investment opportunities.

Fireside chatRural investment

Tamworth

Speakers

Baidy Barton

Tailwind Growth

Director with 15 years growing B2B revenue as an investor, commercialisation director and Chief Revenue Officer.

HostingGet your house in order: a practical guide to investment readiness

Tamworth and Goondiwindi workshops

Andrew Antonopoulos

Synnch

Founder of Synnch, R&D Tax Incentive technology that helps companies access government funding. A tax lawyer and founder of several businesses with experience across legal, commercial and capital raising.

Speaking onUnlocking R&D value

Tim Neale

DataFarming

2026 Australian Agritech Hall of Fame inductee whose platform serves over 55,000 farms in 50 countries.

On the panelScaling strategically from rural Australia

Goondiwindi

Cameron Turner

UNE SMART Region Incubator

Director of the UNE SMART Region Incubator. Has founded four startups that have raised over $10 million in investment and government funding.

On the panelScaling strategically from rural Australia

Tamworth

Danielle Morton

Zondii

Founded Zondii to help farmers be paid the true value of their wool, drawing on a background in project management.

On the panelScaling strategically from rural Australia

Tamworth and Goondiwindi

Jock McRae

Retrolytics

Founder of Retrolytics, building predictive maintenance for irrigation assets. A decade as an Army heavy diesel tech, then diagnostics at John Deere.

On the panelScaling strategically from rural Australia

Tamworth and Goondiwindi

Secure your spot →

Program

On the day.

Tamworth

Scaling Rural Ventures Workshop, 10 Nov

8.30–9.00amDoors open & networking
9.00–9.30amWelcome & setting the scene: explaining the capital stack
9.30–9.45amA fireside chat with Sam Ferrier on rural investment
9.45–10.15amScaling strategically from rural Australia: a panel of local businesses who have raised
10.15–11.15amMake Your Case, pitching 101: facilitated by Claire Bull, co-founder of Invest Rural
11.15–11.45amMorning tea & networking
11.45am–1.15pmDemystifying Investment Panel
1.15–2.45pmLunch & networking
2.45–3.45pmUnlocking R&D value: tax incentives & funding strategies
3.45–4.45pmGet your house in order: a practical guide to investment readiness, hosted by Tailwind Growth
5.00pm+Wrap up & networking

Ecosystem Evening, 10 Nov

6.00–6.30pmDoors open & networking
6.30pmWelcome
6.35–7.10pmLive pitches from founders in the UNE SMART Region Incubator programs
7.25–8.15pmInvestor panel
8.15–10.00pmNetworking

Goondiwindi

Scaling Rural Ventures Workshop, 12 Nov

8.30–9.00amDoors open & networking
9.00–9.30amWelcome & housekeeping
9.30–9.45amSetting the scene: explaining the capital stack
9.45–10.15amScaling strategically from rural Australia: a panel of local businesses who have raised
10.15–11.15amGet your house in order: a practical guide to investment readiness, hosted by Tailwind Growth
11.15–11.45amMorning tea & networking
11.45am–1.15pmDemystifying Investment Panel
1.15–2.45pmLunch & networking
2.45–3.45pmUnlocking R&D value: tax incentives & funding strategies
3.45–5.00pmMake Your Case, pitching 101: facilitated by Kirstin Hunter, CEO of Birchal
5.00pm+Wrap up & networking

Ecosystem Evening, 12 Nov

6.00–6.30pmDoors open & networking
6.30pmWelcome
6.35–7.15pmFunder panel & Q&A
7.15–10.00pmNetworking

Toowoomba

Investor Panel & Coffee, 13 Nov

9.45amCoffee & welcome from Rowena Beveridge of TSBE
10.00amFunder panel
10.45amOpen networking

Full program to be confirmed closer to the events.

Buy tickets now →

Book your ticket

Claim your seat in the room.

Workshop tickets are for business leaders and include the evening event. Can't make the day session? You're welcome to join us just for the evening with an Ecosystem Evening ticket, open to everyone. Toowoomba is open to all.

Business Leader

$165*

Full-day Scaling Rural Ventures Workshop plus a place at that night's Ecosystem Evening.

Tamworth · Goondiwindi

Ecosystem Evening

$60*

Evening only and open to everyone. More than enough food to go round (hearty canapés in Tamworth, pizzas in Goondiwindi) while you network with business leaders, investors and the local ecosystem.

Tamworth · Goondiwindi

Investor Panel & Coffee

$45*

Friday-morning funder panel with coffee and open networking. Open to all.

Toowoomba

*Prices exclusive of GST. Choose your event and ticket type below to secure your place. Payment is taken at checkout and your spot is confirmed straight away.

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A curated day that turns ambition into a fundable strategy.

Our why

November 2026.

They met the CEO of Birchal in the room. Then they raised.

Three events. Three communities.

Scaling Rural Ventures Workshop

Investor & Ecosystem Evenings

Investor Panel & Coffee in Toowoomba

Speakers and funders.

Kirstin Hunter

Tom Dawkins

Steph Kirchhofer

Britta Marsh

Sam Desai

Tim Hynes

Saskia Urlass

Melanie Portelli

Kylee Walker

Simon Thurbin

Nicola Wightman

Nick Guest

Sam Ferrier

Baidy Barton

Andrew Antonopoulos

Tim Neale

Cameron Turner

Danielle Morton

Jock McRae