Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has rejected calls to wind up the state’s embattled $2 billion venture capital fund amid ballooning debt, saying there is not enough private equity available to support start-up development.

Breakthrough Victoria, which employs 50 staff, last year spent $22 million, including $1.55 million on consultants from PwC and EY, to invest just $73.7 million, a rate venture capitalists warn is wasteful and uncommercial.