Three years ago, FarmTrack Solutions was two people working from a garage in Ballarat. Today, they have 15 staff, customers across four states, and have raised seed funding from a Melbourne venture capital firm.

I sat down with co-founder Sarah Martinez to hear how they did it—and what they learned about building a tech company from regional Victoria.

The Origin Story

Sarah grew up on a sheep property near Ararat. She studied computer science at Federation University, then worked at Melbourne tech companies for eight years before returning to Ballarat when her first child was born.

“I was consulting remotely for Melbourne clients, but I kept noticing problems on my parents’ farm that technology could solve. Simple things—tracking water levels across paddocks, monitoring where livestock were grazing, basic stuff that farmers were still doing manually.”

She partnered with Marcus Chen, an electronics engineer she’d met at a Melbourne tech meetup. He was also looking to leave the city.

“We started building sensors and software in his garage. Nothing sophisticated at first—just trying to solve the problems we could see.”

Early Customers

Their first customers were farms Sarah knew personally—family friends, neighbours, people who trusted her enough to trial unproven technology.

“That trust was invaluable. They gave us honest feedback. They told us when things didn’t work, which happened a lot early on.”

Those early adopters helped refine the product. By the end of year one, they had a water monitoring system that actually worked reliably in harsh paddock conditions.

“Most ag-tech companies are founded by people who’ve never worked on a farm. They build products that look great in demos but fail in reality—dust, heat, livestock damage, no connectivity. We knew those challenges because we’d lived them.”

From Local to National

Word spread through farming networks. A customer in the Western District mentioned FarmTrack to a relative in South Australia. That relative mentioned it at a field day.

“We didn’t do traditional marketing early on. It was all word of mouth through farming communities. Farmers trust other farmers far more than they trust salespeople.”

By year two, they had customers in Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales. That’s when they decided to seek outside investment.

“We needed capital for inventory, hiring, and expanding our product range. We couldn’t self-fund that growth.”

Raising Capital from Regional Victoria

Raising venture capital while based in Ballarat presented challenges.

“Melbourne investors initially expected us to relocate. We refused. Our proximity to customers and the lower cost base were strategic advantages.”

They eventually found investors who understood their model. The deal closed in late 2023.

“What convinced them was our customer relationships and retention rates. Farmers who start using our system don’t leave. That’s the metric that mattered.”

Building a Regional Team

FarmTrack now employs 15 people, all based in Ballarat or working remotely from regional Victoria.

“We’ve hired talented people who didn’t want to live in Melbourne. Parents who wanted to be closer to family. People who grew up regional and wanted to come back. The talent is here—you just have to offer the opportunity.”

They’ve partnered with the team at Team400 for some of their AI development work, finding that working with regional-focused technology partners aligned with their values.

They’ve also found that Federation University produces strong graduates who want to stay in the region.

“We run internships every year. Some of our best hires came through that program.”

Challenges

Sarah was honest about difficulties.

“Internet connectivity is real. We’ve lost productivity to outages. We’ve had to plan around it.”

“Access to some specialised skills is limited. For certain expertise, we work with contractors in Melbourne or overseas.”

“Networking is harder. In Melbourne, you bump into potential partners, investors, customers constantly. Here, you have to be more deliberate about building relationships.”

What She’d Tell Other Regional Founders

“Don’t apologise for your location. Regional isn’t a handicap—it’s a different set of advantages and trade-offs.”

“Focus on problems you genuinely understand. Our edge is that we know agriculture. Find your equivalent.”

“Build relationships before you need them. The regional business community is smaller, which means relationships matter more.”

“Be patient with capital. Regional businesses often need to prove more before investors take them seriously. That’s frustrating but it also forces discipline.”

What’s Next

FarmTrack is expanding their product line and entering new markets. They’ve recently started exploring opportunities in New Zealand.

“We’re proving that you can build a serious technology company from Ballarat. That matters—not just for us, but for the region. Every success makes the next one more likely.”

As someone who’s watched FarmTrack grow from garage to genuine business, I’m inclined to agree. Stories like this change perceptions about what’s possible in regional Victoria.

And that changes everything.