Tenacious Ventures

Sarah Nolet is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Tenacious Ventures, an Australia-based agri-food venture and advisory firm. She leads the firm's investment and advisory activities across early-stage startups and established organizations, focusing on commercialization challenges in the sector. Nolet holds an engineering background and an MBA from MIT Sloan, and hosts Agtech So What, a podcast covering agri-food innovation.

Brings a background in mechatronic engineering, research commercialization, and strategy and transformation consulting, focusing on connecting innovation, impact, and industry change across the agri-food value chain.

Investor with over 25 years of experience in private venture and growth companies, having completed equity investments across technology, life science, food, manufacturing, and industrial services and been involved in several venture funds and exits. Holds a B.Bus and M.Comm.Law and is an FCPA.

Vela Georgiev is Chief Operating Officer at Tenacious Ventures, Australia's first agtech venture firm, where she manages fund operations and portfolio strategy. She brings over two decades of operational experience across hardware commercialization, manufacturing scale-up, and supply chain management, along with expertise in venture capital fund establishment. Georgiev holds advanced degrees in engineering and computer science, serves as co-founder of The Ops Collective for VC operations professionals, and sits on the board of Western BACE.

A strategy and impact leader who has advised startups, corporates, non-profits, and governments on growth and innovation strategies, with global experience spanning Australia, Europe, the US, and India.