Building Victoria’s Startup Pipeline Announcements Last Updated: Thursday 11 July Aspiring startup founders will soon have access to free support to take their startup ideas to the next level with seven new pre-accelerator programs to be rolled out in Victoria thanks to LaunchVic. Australian Medical Angels, Boab AI, the Australian Society for Medical Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Remarkable, RMIT Activator, Runway HQ and Dr Kyle Turner have each secured grants of up to $400,000 as part of LaunchVic’s ‘Grants for Targeted Pre-accelerators’ round released in March. The programs’ focus areas include high-growth industries (AI, MedTech), underrepresented groups (First Nations founders, regional Victorians), and social impact (Circular Economy, DisabilityTech). The programs will run across Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat, and provide aspiring entrepreneurs with networks, support and mentorship to test out their startup ideas and find potential customers. One of the recipients is Dr Kyle Turner, a Wiradjuri man and successful startup founder, who will be launching the Ochre Indigenous Pre-Accelerator to bring more First Nations people into the sector. LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick said the programs had been funded to increase the number of startups hitting the market. “The Victorian startup ecosystem has undergone significant growth since LaunchVic was established in 2016, with the number of startups increasing 3.5 times from around 1,000 to more than 3,500,” Dr Cornick said. “However, globally leading startup ecosystems support many more startups, which in turn contribute to economic growth through job creation. It is therefore imperative that we continue to support the creation of new startups in Victoria and ensure our startup ecosystem reflects the diversity of the Victorian population.” The recipients are: • Australian Medical Angels – Clinician Incubator and Clinician Accelerator Program • Australian Society for Medical Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASME) – Clinical Entrepreneurs Program • Boab AI – Boab AI Pre-Accelerator • Dr Kyle Turner – Ochre Indigenous Pre-Accelerator • Remarkable – Launcher Pre-Accelerator • RMIT Activator – [Re]Launch Pre-accelerator • Runway HQ – Roving Runway Regional Incubator For media enquiries, contact holly.clark@launchvic.org. About LaunchVic LaunchVic is Victoria’s startup agency. We were established by the Victorian Government in March 2016 as an independent agency to fuel the growth of Victoria’s startup ecosystem. For a free and dedicated source of real-time data on Victoria’s startup founders, investors, corporates, and policy makers including startup jobs, go to dealroom.launchvic.org.
