Family offices are rapidly gaining ground across the Asia-Pacific region—particularly in Australia—where they’re now playing a key role in driving sustainable investments.
According to KPMG, Asia-Pacific hosts about 10% of global family offices, with Singapore leading the region. Australia, meanwhile, has seen a surge in newly formed family offices—60% of its 2,000 offices have been launched in the last decade alone.
The growth is fueled by booming personal wealth, especially from entrepreneurs capitalizing on global markets and baby boomers exiting their businesses. These offices now represent over a third of all active investors in Australia, a huge leap from just 7% five years ago.
The Sustainability Pivot
Once known for keeping a low profile, many family offices are now embracing sustainability—and making it a core part of their investment strategies. According to UBS’ 2024 Family Office Report, themes like climate tech, water scarcity, and food innovation are gaining traction.
Australia’s most influential family offices—led by figures like Mike Cannon-Brookes, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, and former Canva executive Lisa Miller—are putting their capital behind these causes.
Mike Cannon-Brookes – Grok Ventures
Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes is channelling his wealth into climate action through his private investment fund, Grok Ventures. Grok’s portfolio includes AGL Energy, sustainable consumer brand Who Gives A Crap, and a range of climate-focused startups, including soil tech firm Rhizocore.
One of Grok’s headline projects is SunCable—a $30 billion initiative aiming to build the world’s largest solar farm in Australia’s Northern Territory and export power to Singapore via a 4,200 km undersea cable. Grok has invested $65 million to keep the project alive.
Grok is also backing carbon credit trading platform Xpansiv, helping companies reduce emissions and meet green goals.
Twiggy Forrest – Tattarang
Andrew Forrest, founder of Fortescue Metals, is reshaping his legacy with Tattarang, his family office that now invests heavily in clean energy through Squadron Energy. This includes solar, wind, and hydrogen projects like the massive New England Solar Project.
Tattarang is also co-investing in SunCable, and supports biotech ventures via TenMile, which backs companies like CurveBeam AI, Emyria, and Lumos Diagnostics. The firm also owns stakes in heritage Aussie brands like Vegemite and Akubra.
Lisa Miller – Wedgetail
Lisa Miller, former Canva executive and spouse of co-founder Cameron Adams, runs Wedgetail, a family office focused on biodiversity and ecological restoration.
Wedgetail has funded Zorzal, a cacao company that protects endangered bird habitats through eco-friendly farming, and granted support to Bangalow Koalas, which aims to plant 500,000 trees by 2025.
The office has also backed Xylo Systems, an AI platform for tracking and reporting on biodiversity impact.
