Start-up founder Dean Freestone is suing the Victorian government’s troubled venture capital fund Breakthrough Victoria, claiming he was unfairly dismissed from the medical technology company he established.

Dr Freestone’s claim, lodged in the Federal Court of Australia, alleges the John Brumby-led fund and one of its officers coerced him into signing a deal to dilute his own equity in the start-up he co-founded, Seer Medical, which provides in-home epilepsy diagnostic technology.