Sprint Ventures
Sprint Ventures is a Brisbane-based early-stage venture capital firm backing Australian founders across AI, health and aged care, property, energy, and impact. Sprint is a generalist, not a water fund, and its water exposure runs through two Australian infrastructure-tech bets, VAPAR and Leakster. As of 2026, Sprint has backed two water companies across three deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Sprint Ventures is one of Brisbane's home-grown early-stage funds, built by Queensland operators rather than career venture capitalists. Co-founder and executive chairman Llew Jury spent two decades building and selling digital agencies (Reload, then earlier Alfresco); co-founder Ben Armstrong runs commercial property at LJ Hooker; and Bentleys partner and active angel Heath Shonhan sits among the founding directors. Sprint backs Australian founders across AI, health and aged care, property, energy, and impact, writing the early cheques from pre-seed through Series A and beyond.
Water was never the headline here. Sprint Ventures is a generalist with around eighteen portfolio companies across two funds, only two of them in water, and water tends to arrive the way much of its thesis does, as Australian infrastructure that needs smarter software. Both of Sprint's water bets are pipe-and-network plays: VAPAR, which uses machine learning to read in-pipe CCTV and grade what is wrong with a sewer before a crew ever digs, and Leakster, whose acoustic sensors listen across a network for leaks in real time.
What is striking is the company a small Brisbane generalist keeps on those deals. Across its water investments Sprint has co-invested with the global water major Veolia, the design-software giant Autodesk, and the water-only specialist PureTerra Ventures, a strategic syndicate most funds its size never land. Whether water grows from a two-company footnote into a real line of the next fund is the open question, but the infrastructure angle is a live one.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Sprint Ventures invest in?
- Sprint Ventures backs early-stage Australian startups across automation and AI, health and aged care, property, energy, and impact. Sprint writes cheques from pre-seed through Series A and beyond, and water reaches its portfolio through infrastructure-tech companies like VAPAR and Leakster rather than as a standalone focus.
- Is Sprint Ventures a water fund?
- Sprint Ventures is a generalist early-stage fund, not a dedicated water investor. Sprint's water exposure runs through two Australian companies, VAPAR (pipe-inspection AI) and Leakster (leak-detection sensors). (don't) Waste Water rates Sprint's water commitment Occasional as of June 2026.
- Who runs Sprint Ventures?
- Sprint Ventures was co-founded in 2019 and is chaired by Llew Jury, a Brisbane serial entrepreneur who built and sold the digital agencies Reload and Alfresco. Co-founder Ben Armstrong leads commercial property at LJ Hooker, and Bentleys partner Heath Shonhan rounds out the founding directors.
- Where is Sprint Ventures based?
- Sprint Ventures is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and was founded in 2019. Sprint invests primarily in Australian founders and has built a portfolio of around eighteen companies across two funds, spanning AI, health and aged care, property, energy, and impact.
- Is this Sprint Ventures the same as the US or Indian Sprint funds?
- No. Several unrelated firms use the Sprint or Sprint Ventures name, including entities in the United States and India. This profile covers the Brisbane, Australia early-stage venture firm at sprint.vc, co-founded by Llew Jury and Ben Armstrong.