About
TORUS
About us
Torus is a ecosystem designed to amplify founders’ potential through community, access, support, and world-class networks. Led by Kane Templeton and Jason Atkins.
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Torus Fund (Fund 1 Raising now; first close complete)—A $10M early-stage fund in Australia investing in intelligent systems, health tech, and frontier technology startups, de-risked through structured founder programs, first-look access to university spinouts, and direct co-investment with top-tier VCs. Following the success of our initial Fund Zero^.
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Torus Community—We've cultivated a vibrant founder community that connects founders, angels, and operators through initiatives like Torus Circle, Torus Club and Tech Beach Club. 1,000+ startup contacts are actively engaged annually^ through events, content, and mentorship. Strategic partnerships with QIC, UniQuest, UEF, and Start Growth expand our reach into university spinouts and industry networks.
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Torus Programs & Support—50+ startups accepted into Torus Club annually, executing our proprietary capital-raising roadmap. Partnerships with UQ and UEF provide access to diverse programs, accelerators, and labs. Whilst Fusion Growth Labs (in partnership with UEF/UniQuest) offers 12-week, industry-led intensives, connecting founders to real customers and global markets.
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Torus Syndicate—A select number of co-investment opportunities offered to our network of investors. Providing investors with the ability to double down or invest on a deal-by-deal basis alongside Torus Fund. Alongside Torus Fund Zero we launched 6 successful syndicate deals, raising an additional $600K alongside our original investment
^Fund Zero: Previously known as Palm Beach Ventures (PBV).
Track Record
While Torus Fund 1 is our first official fund, our approach has been battle-tested in a pilot "Fund Zero" conducted over the past few years. This precursor portfolio provides early validation of our model and team: From 2020 to 2023, our team raised and deployed a smaller pilot fund (formerly called Palm Beach Ventures, now dubbed Fund Zero) which invested in 18 startups^ across similar focus areas. As of June 2024, that portfolio has achieved a 1.32x TVPI^ (Total Value to Paid-In) on invested capital – a strong result for such an early portfolio, putting us on par with top-tier seed fund benchmarks. In fact, Fund Zero's performance is comparable to the metrics reported by leading Australian accelerators and seed funds over the same period, demonstrating that our investment selections and support are yielding real value creation.
Just as importantly, Fund Zero helped cultivate the Torus ecosystem. Many founders we backed became champions for our model, referring fellow entrepreneurs to Torus and contributing to our community. The pilot taught us invaluable lessons in portfolio management, diligence, and how to leverage our programs for maximum impact. We refined our playbook and built a pipeline of opportunities that Fund 1 can immediately tap into. In short, Fund Zero demonstrated the thesis that a founder-focused, ecosystem-driven approach can both pick winners and help create them. Torus Fund 1 launches with this head start: a vetted network, a track record of value-add, and confidence in our ability to replicate and amplify that success at a larger scale.
Join Now
To invest in Fund 1, invest alongside Fund 1 on a deal-by deal basis, access webinars and opportunities to support our growing community and portfolio companies.
Team
Founder/Operator GP Team
Torus Fund 1 & Torus Ecosystem is led by a team of seasoned founder-operators turned investors, giving us deep empathy and insight into building startups.
Jason "Jase" Atkins (Co-Founder Torus & IC Torus Fund 1): Jason is the co-founder of Cake Equity, an award-winning SaaS platform that streamlines equity management for startups globally. Under his leadership as CEO, Cake scaled to serve over 20,000 startups around the world, and gained backing from notable investors (including Jason Calacanis and QIC). Through Cake, Jase became a well-known figure in the startup community – mentoring thousands of founders (across programs like Startmate) and becoming the go-to advisor on cap tables and fundraising. In early 2025, Jason transitioned from his operational role at Cake to focus full-time on Torus Fund 1, bringing along the trusted relationships and credibility he built. His global network of founders and investors is a major asset for Torus, providing unparalleled access to deal flow and expertise. Jason's passion is helping other founders avoid the mistakes he's seen and capitalize on the opportunities he wished he had, making him a true founder's ally at the helm of Torus.
Kane Templeton (Co-Founder Torus & IC Torus Fund 1): Kane excels at scaling go-to-market strategies and building startup ecosystems. Kane led Torus Fund Zero (our pilot fund). He was the first hire, investor and Go-to-Market Lead at Cake Equity, where he helped scale the company from $0 to $3M ARR, working closely with Jason to grow the business. Prior to that, Kane helped build Deloitte’s Blockchain & Crypto Community (dbc3), growing it from 0 to 1,800 practitioners globally, demonstrating his ability to grow new tech ventures and communities. Kane's expertise lies in scaling startups and ecosystems – he has been on the ground floor of building products, acquiring users, and driving revenue. At Torus, he applies this know-how to accelerate our portfolio companies' growth and to source deals through the very community channels he helped establish. Kane is also the architect of many Torus programs and has a sharp eye for founder-market fit in our focus sectors. His track record with Fund Zero's success gives Torus Fund 1 a running start and steady hands in managing investments.
Advisors & Venture Partners for Torus Fund 1: In addition to the leadership team, Torus is supported by a bench of high-caliber advisors who contribute to investment decisions, mentor founders, and extend our network. David Kenny, our strategic Advisor, has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs in scaling their companies and brings an investor's perspective as well (he was an early LP in Blackbird Ventures' first fund and an investor in Black Nova VC). He's also an author on startup execution, and acts as a sage guide to our team and founders. Matt Clayworth offers deep market and financial insight from his leadership roles in high-growth companies and in corporate finance; he assists our startups in crafting sustainable growth strategies and connects us to later-stage capital markets. Zach Burridge, our venture counsel, is a seasoned lawyer with decades of experience at top global firms structuring venture deals – he ensures our fund and portfolio companies get deals done right and stay compliant. Together, these advisors amplify Torus's capabilities, opening doors and providing domain expertise across tech, finance, and law.
Why we started Torus Fund Zero
Torus Fund Zero^ was founded by Jason Atkins and Kane Templeton, with help from Ben Howe (founder of Cohort and LuminaX) and Kim Hansen (co-founder of Cake Equity and tech wizard). The initial fund was established to create a brand new investment group that supported founders and was great to work with. The fund was designed to: Access the best deals, invest with industry leaders, provide leadership to the Gold Coast and QLD Angel communities, focus on investing in B2B SaaS and maybe some other shiny stuff like e-commerce, plant-based meat, renewables, with a closed group of trusted people whilst having fun. Our intention was to keep it small but active for Phase 1 to learn and eventually lead to a larger-scale Phase 2 (now Torus Fund 1).
^Fund Zero: Previously known as Palm Beach Ventures (PBV).