NRFC General Fund
Funds Australian companies in seven priority sectors with debt, equity, and guarantee instruments.
The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) General Fund is the principal investment vehicle of Australia's government-owned development finance institution, established under the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Act 2023. It deploys debt, equity, and guarantees — explicitly not grants — across seven legislated priority areas defined in the NRFC (Priority Areas) Declaration 2026 (F2026L00417): renewables and low-emission technologies, enabling capabilities, defence capabilities, transport, value-add in resources, value-add in agriculture/forestry/fisheries, and medical science. The General Fund represents approximately AUD 8.85 billion of the total AUD 15 billion NRFC mandate after sub-fund allocations.
Observed deal sizes in the 2026 portfolio range from AUD 10.1 million (Syenta, semiconductor manufacturing) to AUD 200 million (Macquarie Technology Group, sovereign cloud). Recipients include early-stage startups through mature industrial businesses. The benchmark return expectation is the 5-year Australian Government bond rate plus 2–3%, applied at the portfolio level over a medium-to-long term horizon. Investment decisions are made by NRFC's independent board against 12 policy outcome criteria including crowding-in private finance, decarbonisation, supply chain resilience, commercializing Australian innovation, and supporting under-represented groups. Excluded activities include coal and natural gas extraction, gas pipelines, and native forest logging. Applicants must be solely or mainly Australian-based.
Companies apply via an online proposal form at nrf.gov.au. The NRFC conducts a six-step due-diligence process assessing scalable business model, IP and competitive moats, total addressable market, product-market fit, management team quality, governance, and — for equity — valuation and path to exit, or — for debt — credit quality. Applicants in emerging technology sectors or areas of strategic national interest can access higher risk tolerance from the fund.
Debt, equity, and guarantees across seven priority industrial sectors for Australian companies, drawn from an approximately AUD 8.85B general investment mandate.
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