When it comes to commercialising your innovation, are you a sprinter or a marathon runner?
Both pathways are valid ways to reach the finish line, as we discussed with the founders of two aviation start-ups at the 2025 Something Tech. emerging technology showcase in Brisbane.
The sprinter vs the marathon runner
Bob Criner is co-founder and CEO of Stralis Aircraft, a Brisbane-based start-up founded in 2021 to produce hydrogen-electric–powered planes at scale.
Mark Xavier is CEO and Managing Director of Australian-based V-TOL Aerospace, specialising in drone design, manufacturing, pilot training and advanced unmanned aerial systems.
Stralis is the sprinter, attracting significant amounts of funding in a short time. Bob said the secret was a diverse capital stack, with Research and Development (R&D) funding an important part of the mix.
After only a year of bootstrapping Bob said he got a big break by being accepted into Y Combinator, the famous San Francisco-based start-up accelerator, which helped launch a three-pronged approach to sourcing funding.
“We raised a round of capital on demo day: roughly half the capital raised is through VC [Venture Capital], a lot of it based out of San Francisco. After we raised that capital we applied for a number of grants and we’ve been successful in winning five: some Federal, some Queensland, which has been instrumental in developing our aircraft program and some of the key technology that goes into our systems.”
He said the third piece of the funding puzzle was claiming the R&D Tax Incentive.
“We found that by doing R&D lending, we’ve been able to turbo charge the amount of capital we could get from the R&D Tax Incentive, so we’ve been using Radium to accelerate our R&D spend,” he said.
He said the R&D funding was a great sprinter’s tool: “Radium have been helping us get more money so we can go faster.”
Mark said V-TOL had taken the marathon-runner’s approach, developing products and services over the last 21 years through bootstrapping and taking advantage of expansion opportunities as they arose.
“In 2009 we saw an opportunity to start training drone pilots, so we started to sell training courses and that helped bootstrap us further to around 2012 when we started to pick up contracts with various different agencies,” he said.
“In about 2015 we realised that the R&D Tax Incentive was available to us, so we started to claim against the money that we were spending, knowing that we had to keep all the IP ourselves and create projects that would work. That took us through to 2017 when the World Bank approached us and wanted us to run a two-year program.”
Further projects with Hitachi in 2019 and then as a Registered Training Organisation delivering Certificate IIIs in Aviation into schools brought the company to this year, when V-TOL shared in a Federal Government Emerging Aviation Technology Partnerships (EATP) grant of around $2 million.
Mark said Radium Advances became a strategic part of the company’s capital mix when the election of a new government in Queensland saw a number of new opportunities emerge, and V-TOL had to act fast to capitalise on them.
He said the change of government brought a greater interest in unmanned systems, and taking a Radium Advance allowed the business to access the funds needed to seize another opportunity.
Mark explained an additional benefit of accessing the R&D refund in advance was the compounding effect: “That’s enabled us to put in a much bigger claim at the end of the financial year.”
No one right way to fund your business
Radium Queensland State Manager Oriane Juncker categorised the entrepreneurs she worked with into three groups: bootstrappers, bridge seekers and strategic optimisers.
“The bootstrappers are the guys like Mark who want to keep control of their company and keep their equity, who will put their money into developing their own product and will use Radium to top up then try to increase their R&D budget,” she said.
“Then there are the bridge seekers, who know that the refund will come through in the next few weeks or months, or who know that investors will come on board, but they need cash now, so they will reach out to us to bring that cash injection they need to continue developing their product.”
“Then we have the strategic optimisers, like Bob, who understand that working with us will help them increase their R&D capital by 33%: that’s the compounding effect.”
As a founder herself, Oriane said it was important to remember that different businesses – and different founders – had to choose the funding pathway that felt right to them.
“There’s not only one way that leads to Rome. It doesn’t have to be all about VC and it’s important to know what you want and that there’s more than one way to get there,” she said.
Building R&D lending into your capital mix
Radium Senior Account Manager Mykie Mastroianni said it was important founders understood all the options available to them: “We’re a really viable option and we want to work with our clients and be part of their journey. We’re not the only solution, but we should be part of your funding journey and be a line on a spreadsheet that you should factor in. We’re bringing forward your own funds you should have access to.”
Mark agreed that using the R&DTI and accessing R&D finance was a great option for both the fast-moving VC-seekers and the slow and steady bootstrappers.
“If you’re using the R&DTI, people who are going to invest in you will have a much greater incentive to do so on the basis that you’re maximising the return on their investment,” he said.
“I would say that working with Radium is a great option to get your funds earlier and be able to spend that money, plus get more back at the end of the financial year.”
About the companies
Stralis Aircraft was founded in 2021 to be the world’s leading emission-free aircraft company producing high-performance, low-operating cost, hydrogen-electric aircraft at scale. Its patent-pending fuel cell technology is six times lighter than the current state of the art technology, can fly 10 times further than battery-electric alternatives and is 50% cheaper to operate than fossil fuel-powered aircraft.
V-TOL Aerospace was founded in 2004 and is 100% Australian owned. The company’s aim is to establish an Australian high-tech strategic robotics sector that directly supports the nation’s core economic industries such as mining and energy; agriculture and fisheries; forestry and environment; construction and infrastructure; education; tourism and government services.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.