Backing the Wild: Five Ventures Building a Promising Future for Nature
HATCH 2026 participants.
How might we turn some of Australia’s most pressing environmental and conservation challenges into scalable opportunities for change?
The Hatch: Taronga Accelerator Program inspires, supports and launches innovative ventures addressing urgent challenges facing wildlife, biodiversity and the environment.
Now in its sixth year, Hatch brought together ten founders across five emerging ventures in 2026. Over 14 weeks, participants took part in expert-led masterclasses, immersive workshops at Taronga Zoo Sydney, tailored mentoring and investor-readiness support, with Impact Boom proudly delivering the program alongside Taronga Conservation Society Australia.
Each initiative approaches environmental innovation from a different changemaking perspective, yet all five demonstrate the power of pairing a compelling vision and purpose with a practical, commercially viable solution. On the 24th of June, the founders took to the stage at Taronga Zoo Sydney to pitch their ventures before a live audience and judging panel. This year, GreenPay was awarded the $50,000 Hatch Major Grant, Plante received the $5,000 People’s Choice Award and Bruny Island SeaFarms received the $5,000 LG Life’s Good Award.
We extend our sincere thanks to the Taronga Conservation Society Australia team, LG, and the generous mentors, presenters, judges and partners whose experience, encouragement and belief in the founders make Hatch possible.
WATCH THE 2026 HATCH PITCHES AND HEAR FROM THE PEOPLE HELPING ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION FLOURISH.
[Tom Allen] - Can you tell us more about the Hatch: Taronga Accelerator Program and how it continues to invest in environmental innovation?
Program Coordinator – [Garrick Transell] – Hatch was created to accelerate Taronga’s mission to secure a shared future for wildlife and people.
Some of the solutions our planet needs will come from researchers and established conservation organisations. Others will come from entrepreneurs who see a problem differently and are prepared to test an entirely new approach.
Hatch gives those founders structure, skills, relationships and the confidence they need to move from a promising idea towards a viable venture with the potential to catalyse real-world impact.
The 14-week program combines weekly masterclasses with two immersive workshops at Taronga Zoo Sydney, dedicated mentoring, seed funding and opportunities to connect with experts, investors and fellow environmental innovators. We work with the founders to develop their business models, strengthen their storytelling, understand their customers,and prepare to communicate both their commercial potential and environmental impact.
This year’s cohort demonstrated just how varied environmental innovation can be. The founders are transforming everything from payment infrastructure and sporting waste to plant pots, aquaculture and surfboards! While the solutions are diverse, all the founders share a deep commitment to using entrepreneurship and innovation to protect nature.
What have some of the key outcomes of Hatch been?
One of the most important outcomes was the growth we saw in each founder throughout the 14 weeks. The participants entered the program with strong technical knowledge and a clear passion for their ideas. We helped them sharpen their value propositions, validate assumptions, identify customers and communicate their ventures in a way that engages partners, funders and the broader public.
The cohort also developed strong relationships with one another. Building an environmental venture can be isolating, particularly when founders are working on complex challenges without an established roadmap. Surrounding yourself with a trusted community is a crucial part of sustaining both you and your venture.
The program concluded with five compelling pitches at Taronga Zoo Sydney. GreenPay was awarded the $50,000 Major Grant for its ambitious model of turning payment processing into an ongoing source of conservation funding.
Plante received the People’s Choice Award for its accessible alternative to plastic nursery pots, while Bruny Island SeaFarms received the LG Life’s Good Award for its community-led approach to regenerative aquaculture.
The standard across all five ventures was exceptional. Each team demonstrated a clear understanding of the environmental problem they are addressing and a practical pathway towards expanding their impact.
Greenpay (Hatch Winner)
GreenPay is a full-stack payments processor transforming everyday transactions into a powerful and ongoing source of funding for conservation action.
The Australian-owned payments company provides businesses with end-to-end systems for managing online, automated, and in-store payments. Rather than allowing transaction fees to flow solely to large financial institutions and offshore technology companies, GreenPay directs 50 per cent of its profits towards protecting and restoring Australian nature.
Businesses can access competitive payment technology while embedding environmental action directly into their everyday operations. Each transaction helps support conservation initiatives, from rewilding rainforests to monitoring turtles and protecting vulnerable native species.
GreenPay demonstrates how commercial infrastructure can be redesigned so businesses and their customers contribute to conservation without requiring a separate donation, campaign or behaviour change.
Founders: Glenn Bartlett & Maddi Ingham
Bruny Island Seafarm – winner of the LG Life’s Good Award
Bruny Island SeaFarms is building a community-led model of regenerative aquaculture that produces restores marine ecosystems.
The initiative is establishing pilot sea farms in Tasmania’s D’Entrecasteaux Channel, cultivating seaweed, oysters, mussels and scallops together through an integrated, multi-species farming system.
Unlike extractive forms of aquaculture, regenerative sea farming can help filter surrounding waters, absorb excess nutrients, capture carbon and provide habitat for marine life. Growing multiple species together also allows the outputs of one species to become valuable inputs for another.
Beginning on Bruny Island, the team’s long-term vision is to establish a commercially viable model that can be replicated by coastal communities across Tasmania and Australia. In doing so, the venture aims to strengthen marine stewardship while creating new jobs both on the water and throughout regional supply chains.
Founders: Benjamin Convery, Jonathan Ross & Toby Cannon
Plante – Winner of the People’s Choice Award
Plante is replacing single-use plastic nursery pots with an affordable, plantable alternative made from coconut fibre.
Millions of plastic pots are used throughout Australia’s horticulture industry, yet only a small proportion are recycled. Plante transforms coco coir, an agricultural by-product of the coconut industry, into biodegradable pots that can be planted directly into the ground.
Over six months after planting, the pots naturally break down through exposure to moisture, sunlight and micro-organisms, adding organic material to the soil rather than leaving plastic waste behind. Their breathable, water-retentive structure also supports root development and helps reduce the transplant shock that can occur when plants are removed from conventional pots.
By developing an alternative that is practical and competitively priced, Plante is working to make plastic-free horticulture accessible to nurseries and hobbyists alike.
Founders: Nguyen Nguyen, Minh Nguyen & Wilson Huynh
LUDIS
LUDIS is giving end-of-life sporting equipment a new purpose by transforming used tennis balls into materials for sustainable footwear.
An estimated ten million tennis balls are sent to landfill in Australia each year. LUDIS collects used balls through sporting clubs and retail collection points before separating and processing the materials into rubber crumb that can be incorporated into shoe soles.
Founder Lili Xu has already developed and piloted an initial sole with Australian footwear company Merry People and is working towards seeing the material incorporated into products available to consumers. LUDIS is initially focusing on casual footwear, where the material can provide a practical and durable alternative to virgin rubber.
While tennis is its first mission, the venture’s longer-term ambition is to create new applications for footballs, basketballs and other sporting equipment that currently has few viable pathways beyond landfill.
Founder: Lili Xu
Kraken Systems
Kraken Systems is using shark sensory science to redesign surfboards and reduce encounters between sharks and surfers.
A Macquarie University project led by marine biologist and avid surfer Dr. Laura Ryan, Kraken Systems is embedding LED lights into the underside of surfboards. By disrupting the board’s silhouette, the carefully designed lighting patterns remove the visual cues that may trigger investigative or predatory behaviour from sharks.
Controlled field trials found that white sharks stopped attacking seal-shaped decoys fitted with the lighting system. Kraken Systems is now working to translate this research into a commercially available product that improves surfer safety without harming sharks, turtles, dolphins or other marine animals.
Laura is working within the Hatch program to commercialise the product and has been making incredible progress.
Founder: Dr. Laura Ryan
As Program Coordinator, what is one of the main learnings you would apply to future programs?
This year’s cohort displayed ambition, resourcefulness and a deep commitment to protecting the natural world.
Throughout the program, participants tested assumptions, strengthened their business models, responded to challenging feedback and learnt to communicate their ventures with greater clarity and confidence. A continuing lesson is that accelerator programs need to develop the founder as well as the venture.
Business models, customer validation, marketing, governance and investment readiness are all critical. However, founders also need trusted relationships, honest feedback, confidence and the personal capacity to navigate uncertainty.
This year reinforced the value of bringing founders together in person. The immersive workshops at Taronga allowed the participants to step away from their daily operations, think more strategically and build relationships that became an important source of encouragement throughout the program.
What advice would you give other organisations seeking to support environmental innovators?
Start by understanding what your organisation is uniquely positioned to contribute. Taronga brings deep conservation expertise, trusted networks, powerful learning environments and an ability to connect people emotionally with wildlife and nature. Impact Boom contributes extensive experience supporting purpose-driven founders to refine, communicate and grow their ventures. Our mentors, partners and supporters then bring additional specialist knowledge, capital and connections.
The strength of the program comes from combining those capabilities around the needs of the founders rather than attempting to provide everything internally. Founders participating in Hatch benefit enormously from knowing they’re not trying to solve complex environmental problems alone.
What’s next for Taronga and Hatch?
Our immediate focus is supporting the 2026 founders as they build on the momentum created through the program.
GreenPay will use its Major Grant to expand a payment platform capable of generating ongoing funding for conservation. Plante and Bruny Island SeaFarms will use their awards to accelerate their next stages of development, while LUDIS and Kraken Systems continue progressing their materials and technology towards commercial adoption.
More broadly, Hatch will continue building a national community of founders, mentors, partners and supporters committed to environmental innovation.
Since launching in 2020, Hatch has supported 29 initiatives, connected founders with more than 100 industry experts and mentors, and provided $488,000 in funding. Seventy-two per cent of Hatch alumni initiatives remain in operation, demonstrating the lasting value of combining practical business support with specialist conservation knowledge and a strong founder community.
The next Hatch Accelerator Program will begin in March 2027, followed by immersive workshops at Taronga Zoo Sydney and the annual Pitch Night in June.
Applications for the 2027 program will open later this year.
Founders, mentors, investors and supporters can join the Hatch mailing list or follow the program on LinkedIn to hear about future opportunities.
How might we address some of the globe’s most pressing environmental and conservation challenges? Discover outcomes and pitches from the 5 impact enterprises of the HATCH: Taronga Accelerator Program and learn how Taronga Conservation Society Australia is supporting Australian changemakers.