Momentum set to continue for Victoria’s $130B startup ecosystem

Last Updated: Thursday 12 December, 2024

LaunchVic, Victoria’s lead startup agency, has announced new board appointments and its new strategy to propel Victoria’s $130 billion startup ecosystem beyond its current growth rate of 23X since 2016.

New appointments to LaunchVic’s Board include:

• Charlie Day: CEO of Monash University spinout Jupiter Ionics and former CEO of Innovation & Science Australia.
• Chaman Sidhu: Former Chief Legal and Company Secretary roles at Xero, Envato, and Lonely Planet.
• Brigitte Smith: Co-founder and Managing Director of GBS Venture Partners, managing $450M of investments in life sciences.
• Geoff Tarrant: Co-founded Payapps, acquired by Autodesk for $600M earlier this year.

Collectively they bring expertise in startup creation, supporting scaleup growth, exiting multi-million-dollar businesses, investment management, university engagement, innovation policy, and governance.

Priorities for LaunchVic include driving awareness and advocacy through events and campaigns; helping founders and their teams start, grow and scale global businesses; and continuing to develop the private early-stage investor landscape.

Targeted grant rounds will continue along with LaunchVic’s successful 30X30 program and CivVic Labs.

New focus areas for LaunchVic include working with Victorian universities to boost startup creation and a new program called Basecamp set to launch in February to help seed to Series A founders make their first executive hires.

Victoria’s investment landscape will continue to be supported through the funding of a new investor education program, angel networks, and early-stage VC funds.

LaunchVic Chair Leigh Jasper said LaunchVic was focused on growth.

“We aim to see an increase in startups, stronger support systems for entrepreneurs, and more private sector funding for early-stage ventures. I welcome the new board members and look forward to contributing to this growth.”

LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick said Melbourne’s startup ecosystem was maturing and had grown in value 23X from $5.6 billion in 2016 to $130 billion today.

“We have come a long way but if we are to continue to sustain this growth and compete with other global startup cities, the number of startups in Victoria needs to increase from 3,500 to more than 5,000.”

“Our new strategy aims to support the creation of as many viable early-stage startups as possible, support founders as they navigate growth; and continue to unlock private capital and develop the early-stage investment landscape in Victoria. ”

Download the full strategy here.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Kate Gittings
GM Communications and Marketing, LaunchVic
kate.gittings@launchvic.org