The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) is investing $28.45 million in leading test and measurement company Liquid Instruments.
Liquid Instruments manufactures proprietary software-enabled hardware that enables laboratories to replace common precision measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers, and signal generators with a single device.
Liquid Instruments was founded in 2014 out of research conducted at the Australian National University (ANU). Its flagship Moku range of products integrate multiple analogue laboratory instruments into a single configurable digital device, allowing users to switch between instruments.
NRFC CIO Dr. Mary Manning said, “Liquid Instruments is commercialising Nobel Prize‑winning measurement technology and we are proud to be investing in a company that is bringing to market intellectual property that was developed at the Australian National University.”
“NRFC funding will keep Liquid Instruments in Australia, and our cornerstone investment will crowd-in significant private capital from overseas while creating highly skilled jobs in Australia.”
“Our investment in Liquid Instruments will build Australia’s sovereign advanced manufacturing capability while also enabling Australian companies in the semiconductor, communications manufacturing, defence, aerospace manufacturing, and research space to develop and validate their own high-tech products and services.”
Liquid Instruments’ technology is already being used across a diverse range of fields, including quantum computing, semiconductors, aerospace and education, and its customers include global technology companies such as Nvidia, Lockheed Martin, Blue Origin, PsiQuantum, BYD, and Intel.
Founded by a team of scientists, Liquid Instruments is led by Professor Daniel Shaddock and Dr. Danielle Wuchenich. Professor Shaddock is an Australian physicist who was involved in the gravitational wave research recognised by the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. He was also a Director’s Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Dr. Wuchenich is an ANU PhD graduate who worked alongside Professor Daniel Shaddock at JPL and is Liquid Instruments’ Chief Operating Officer.
Liquid Instruments Founder and CEO, “The National Reconstruction Fund’s investment enables Liquid Instruments to consolidate its manufacturing in Australia while continuing to scale globally.”
“Advanced manufacturing is a critical sovereign capability. It takes decades to build and can be lost almost overnight. With modest but consistent support, it can thrive and it has never been clearer that Australia must retain the capability to design, build, and deliver world-class technology from within its own borders.”
“Liquid Instruments designs, develops, and manufactures its technology entirely in Australia while generating more than 90 percent of its revenue from international markets, and I am proud that Liquid Instruments is able to work with and support our world-class Australian manufacturing partners as we scale together.”
NRFC funding will be used to scale up Liquid Instruments’ Melbourne-based manufacturing facilities, accelerate its product expansion and global sales. The company currently employs 55 people in Australia and NRFC investment is expected to create 20 new highly skilled product engineering roles in Australia.
The NRFC’s investment is part of a $70 million Series C funding round that is being co-led by Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS). Other investors include Breakthrough Victoria, Acorn Capital, Significant Capital Ventures and Tribeca.
Joaquin Torrecilla, Vice President of Software Transformation at Keysight Technologies said, “The industry is shifting toward software-first and AI-enabled architectures and Liquid Instruments extends this by using software and AI to directly shape hardware behavior, creating more adaptable instrumentation. Together with Keysight’s extensive portfolio, this enables more scalable and integrated test solutions.”
The global test and measurement market is estimated at more than $25 billion, reflecting its critical role in enabling innovation across industries such as semiconductors, aerospace, and communications. As systems become more complex, demand is shifting toward more flexible and software-defined approaches.
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About the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC)
The NRFC is Australia’s sovereign investor in manufacturing capability. It has $15 billion to invest through direct loans, equity investments and loan guarantees across seven priority areas: renewables and low emissions technologies; enabling capabilities; defence capability; transport; value-add in resources; value-add in agriculture, forestry and fisheries; and medical science.
The NRFC’s role is to invest in Australian businesses and projects that design, refine and make to transform capability, grow jobs and a skilled workforce, and diversify our economy. The NRFC is a corporate Commonwealth entity, established by the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Act 2023 (NRFC Act) in September 2023.
For more information, visit nrf.gov.au
NRFC media contact: media@nrf.gov.au
About Liquid Instruments
Liquid Instruments is redefining test and measurement with software-defined instrumentation that combines high-performance hardware with intelligent software. Its platform enables engineers to design, test, and deploy systems with greater speed, flexibility, and precision by consolidating multiple instruments into a single, reconfigurable device. Liquid Instruments supports thousands of users worldwide across aerospace and defense, semiconductor, and quantum research. Learn more at liquidinstruments.com(Opens in a new tab/window)
Liquid Instruments media contact:
Jessica Patterson
jessica@liquidinstruments.com