​This is an invite‑only event for investors interested in frontier opportunities in AI and Climate Tech. Register your interest today. Approval Required.

​Co-hosts: UNSW Barker Street Ventures, The Pillars

​Event Details

​Artificial Intelligence has already transformed digital industries. But the next wave of outsized value creation will not come from software eating more software. It will come from AI entering the sectors the internet barely touched. Shipping, energy, heavy industry, logistics, and the physical systems that underpin modern life are now becoming digitally addressable for the first time.

​In this TechTalk, Dr Shane Keating, CEO and Founder of CounterCurrent, will explore how generative AI is beginning to reshape the physical world, unlocking climate and commercial outcomes that were previously impossible.

​The session will be moderated by a leading venture capital investor (to be announced). They will be bringing an investor’s lens to the opportunities emerging at the intersection of AI, climate, and hard to abate industries.

​Drawing on his work building a UNSW spinout delivering ocean scale intelligence to the maritime industry, in this conversation Shane will unpack:

• ​How satellites, AI, and low-cost IoT sensors are helping us explore the ocean in new ways

• ​How generative models are replacing traditional systems for forecasting, simulation, and real time optimisation

• ​Why hard to abate industries represent the largest untapped opportunity for AI driven decarbonisation

• ​How AI can materially reduce fuel use, emissions, and operational risk across global fleets

• ​What this means for the future of climate tech, industrial AI, and Australia’s role in the global transition

​This conversation offers a high-level view of the technologies, economics, and industrial dynamics shaping the next decade of climate aligned AI. This is also an opportunity to hear from one of Australia’s most compelling deep tech founders building at the intersection of oceans, AI, and decarbonisation.

​Agenda:

​5:00PM Doors open
5:20PM Fireside Chat w/ Shane Keating (moderated Jeremy Atkin @ Bandera Capital)
Networking after the Fireside Chat

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​About

​Dr. Shane Keating

​Dr. Shane Keating is the CEO and Founder of CounterCurrent, a Sydney-based AI startup and UNSW spinout delivering localized ocean forecasts and intelligent routing for the global maritime sector. CounterCurrent’s generative AI ocean forecasting system produces customised, high‑resolution forecasts 10,000× faster and cheaper than National Weather Centers, enabling shipping operators to optimise routes, reduce fuel consumption, and cut emissions.

​Founded in 2025, CounterCurrent was the first Australian startup selected for the AWS Compute for Climate global fellowship and was profiled as a “breakout star” by the Australian Financial Review.

​Shane is also an Associate Professor of Physical Oceanography in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW Sydney. His research applies advanced mathematical and data‑science methods to understand the ocean from land, sea, and space. A committed science communicator, his writing on science and mathematics has reached more than one million readers.

​CounterCurrent

​CounterCurrent is a UNSW spinout developing next‑generation ocean intelligence systems for the maritime industry. Its generative AI forecasting platform delivers hyper‑local, rapidly updated ocean predictions and optimised routing recommendations, helping fleets reduce fuel, emissions, and operational risk.
More at: countercurrent.ai

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​Jeremy Atkin

​Jeremy is the co-founder and managing partner of Bandera Capital - an early-stage VC fund focused on energy, industrials and agriculture. Over the past five years, he has invested in emerging market leaders such as Sea Forest, Infravision, Sicona, MicroTau and many more and is a trusted advisor to many of Australia's leading deeptech founders.

​Bandera Capital

​Bandera Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on energy, industrials, and agriculture. The firm invests in founders building differentiated technologies that reshape critical physical systems and enable a more productive, resilient, and sustainable economy.

​Working closely with technical teams from inception, Bandera Capital combines patient capital with deep founder support to help early companies scale from Australia to global markets.

​More at: https://bandera.capital/

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Barker Street Ventures (Website)
Barker Street Ventures is an investment platform giving sophisticated investors to access DeepTech spinouts and UNSW research. Most people never get the chance to invest early in Australia's best research. We're here to change that.

​​If you have any further questions, please reach out to [email protected]