The Victorian Government has announced a $4.9 million boost for Victoria’s booming startup sector with Round 2 funding from LaunchVic – the state’s $60 million startup initiative.
Regional Victoria has some big winners this round, with globally recognised Australian outfits Startmate and Girl Geek Academy running regional roadshows and bootcamps across regional cities including Geelong, Shepparton, Albury/Wodonga, Ballarat, the Latrobe Valley, Bendigo, Warrnambool and Warragul.
All grants in this second funding round are matched with cash and in-kind investments that will result in a total investment of $11.6 million for Victoria’s startup sector. More information on the grant recipients can be found at www.launchvic.org.
Round 2 LaunchVic recipients:
| Large Projects | Organisation | Funding | Description |
| The Frankston Foundry | The Frankston Foundry | $154,500 | The Frankston Foundry was launched in 2016 to provide a co-working space and startup incubator for entrepreneurs and technical professionals across the bayside and Mornington Peninsula region. It is committed to actively connect within Victoria’s startup ecosystem by facilitating networks between its regional entrepreneurs and the Melbourne sector. In 2017, the Frankston Foundry will hire a dedicated community manager role, and develop a program of events, including an annual hackathon, to turbo charge innovation on the Peninsula. |
| #SheHacks Victoria | Girl Geek Academy | $300,000 | Girl Geek Academy is a global movement encouraging women to learn technology and create startups. Currently operating in Australia and the United States, Girl Geek Academy is committed to increase inclusion and greater representation of women and female founders in the startup ecosystem. In 2017, Girl Geek Academy will present #SheHacks Victoria – a high profile hackathon event and startup competition for over 200 women. With a focus on University students, the first Victorian statewide program will offer participants the opportunity to attend bootcamps in Melbourne, Warrnambool, Warragul and Bendigo, join a startup team, build an MVP and receive ongoing mentoring. Finalists will showcase their startups at the #SheHacks Victoria Demo Day. |
| Startmate Melbourne | Startmate | $384,000 | Startmate is one of Australia’s most successful startup accelerator programs with a deep, experienced technology mentor network, and a proven track record in connecting Australian founders to global knowledge and capital. Startmate has chosen to open its program and establish its operations in Melbourne, and will accelerate 16 local tech companies over 2 years including a regional roadshow program that will connect with tech entrepreneurs in Geelong, Shepparton, Albury/Wodonga, Ballarat and the La Trobe Valley. They will create a Melbourne Startmate mentor network of 50+ of the most successful technology founders and executives who will invest in Victorian Startmate companies. |
| ACMI X CreativeTech Laboratory | ACMI | $398,000 | ACMI is the world’s busiest museum of the moving image and is highly regarded as an industry leader in the development and promotion of creative industries. In 2016, ACMI opened ACMI X – a co-working space for local digital creative professionals – and a world first for a major cultural institution. ACMI will now extend its co-working space to include a CreativeTech Laboratory to incubate and grow creative startups. The laboratory will support 8 new creative companies through mentoring and facilitating connections with industry and universities. The ACMI X CreativeTech Lab will give both ACMI X participants and the wider creative tech startups access to the Museum’s huge public audience to test, refine and promote projects, as well as showcase outcomes to the industry, investor and international audiences that visit ACMI. |
| Disability and Health Care Innovation Hub and Incubator | Seeva Plus Inc | $500,000 | Seeva Plus Inc is a Melbourne based social enterprise committed to innovation in the disability and health care sectors. It actively supports cultivating creative and disruptive solutions, and aims to drive greater diversity within the startup ecosystem including entrepreneurs with a disability. Seeva will establish an incubation program and launch an innovation hub that supports startups and entrepreneurs to drive change within the disability sector. The hub will bring together community, consumers, businesses, entrepreneurs and startups to work collaboratively while offering a place for people with a disability, chronic health condition and older people to cultivate their own business ideas. |
| Project | Organisation | Funding | Description |
| Edupreneur 2017 | Education Changemakers | $87,000 | Melbourne-based Education Changemakers is behind Australia’s growing movement of educational entrepreneurship through teacher led innovation. It has gained international recognition for its Educhange Festival and thought leadership through its book Edupreneur – an examination of change and opportunity at the intersection of education and entrepreneurship. In 2017 Education Changemakers will present the inaugural nation-wide industry event, Edupreneur 2017, in Melbourne as part of the annual Educhange Festival. The three-day major industry event aims to inspire innovation in education and facilitate clustering of education startups. It will also run a regional roadshow of the event in Geelong, Shepparton, Warrnambool and Mildura. |
| Outcome-Hub | Outcome.Life | $94,510 | Outcome.life is a Melbourne based organisation focused on assisting Internationals transitioning from study to the professional workforce in Victoria. Outcome.life has established a co-working space, Outcome-Hub and in 2017 it will expand this hub to include an incubator that will support international student entrepreneurs. The hub will also match students interested in working in startups in internships at Victorian based startups through an online portal. A comprehensive events program will support the hub and inspire more internationals to get involved in the startup ecosystem. |
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