december 2019 impact report - launchvic · as a result, we have seen a rapid maturing of the...

Impact Report

December 2019

Warrnambool

In the last four years, LaunchVic has supported over 320 individual startups to scale and over 4,800 entrepreneurs to upskill.

Contents

04Welcome

14The science of

growing a startup ecosystem

32Victorian Startup

ecosystem strengths, opportunities and government’s role

11About

LaunchVic

22Empowering

founders to establish startups

40Summary of

LaunchVic activities

08Defining a startup

ecosystem

18Inspiring the next

generation founder

24Accelerating

early stage startup growth

28Boosting

Victorian Scaleups’ growth trajectories

In 2019, Startup Genome estimated the Victorian Startup ecosystem to be valued at $3.2b (AUD), which represents a 40% increase from 2018.Reference: Startup Genome, 2019

LaunchVic Impact Report 2019 3LaunchVic Impact Report 20192

Welcome from the MinisterThe Hon Martin Pakula MP Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Trade

Victoria is Australia’s innovation state, and the Andrews Labor Government is getting on with supporting a vibrant innovation economy at every stage.

Over the past three years, we have seen innovation and entrepreneurship activities lift across the state. This was recently confirmed when Melbourne was recognised as Australia’s most innovative city, and 11th in the world.

Melbourne’s rise in the rankings is credited in part to the rapid development of a vibrant startup ecosystem, which has been ably supported by the Labor Government’s startup agency, LaunchVic.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the LaunchVic board, team and all the contributors to the Victorian startup ecosystem for their hard work and dedication.

Victoria’s growing reputation for innovation is built on this strong ecosystem, as well as our inventive creative industries and world-leading enterprise in fields ranging from medtech and pharma to fintech, advanced manufacturing, foods, fibre and sport.

Created in 2016 by the Labor Government, LaunchVic has supported the growth and development of early-stage startups and scaleups through programs, events and research that has contributed to significant expansion in the innovation ecosystem.

This Impact Report, prepared by LaunchVic, sets out the achievements of the agency since its inception.

LaunchVic has backed over 320 companies and more than 4,800 entrepreneurs by providing mentorship, access to accelerator programs, bootcamps and other support for startup businesses to reach their potential.

In past year alone, the value of the early-stage startup ecosystem has doubled from $1.6 billion to $3.2 billion and now supports more than 26,000 jobs – demonstrating very real economic benefits for Victorians.


Welcome from the CEODr. Kate Cornick

Welcome from the ChairLaura Anderson

The Victorian entrepreneurial ecosystem has matured significantly over the last three years and I am incredibly proud of the role LaunchVic has played in maximising synergies and establishing global partnerships and virtual hubs.

LaunchVic continues to lead the development of a globally connected startup ecosystem by supporting startups, scaleups and investors to sustainably grow and deliver economic, societal and cultural benefits for both Victoria and Australia.

Our programs have inspired entrepreneurs to start their own company and supported them to accelerate growth and scale globally. As a result of LaunchVic’s work, we are seeing Victorians embrace entrepreneurship, developing the sustainable workforce of the future.

We have supported over 110 programs and the return derived from these collaborations is unprecedented. Our startup ecosystem is now valued at $3.2b, representing a 40% increase over the last 12 months.

One in four entrepreneurs in Melbourne have come here from another country specifically to start a startup – a third more than the global mean. We are in the top 25 globally for global connectedness and talent.

Startups that scale leveraging innovation and next generation thinking hold the key to solving some of the greatest societal challenges while leading and supporting the transformation of industries, jobs and economic development opportunities. They are our future.

With Victoria’s startup ecosystem representing a $4 billion opportunity for the Victorian economy in the next few years, the work of LaunchVic has never been more important.

The future is bright, the future is bold, the future is full of unprecedented opportunities and the journey has only just begun.

Three years ago, startups were not well understood in

Victoria. While there was activity, the sector lacked support,

coordination and wasn’t acknowledged for the significant role

it plays in economic development.

Since then, LaunchVic has activated 110 programs

supporting over 320 individual startups and up-skilling

more than 4,800 aspiring entrepreneurs.

As a result, we have seen a rapid maturing of the sector.

There are now more than 2,700 startups in the state

– 1,700 of which are using new and innovative technologies.

Encouragingly the Victorian startup sector is growing

at 23 per cent per annum. In fact it was identified as

the 5th fastest growing startup ecosystem in the world

for its stage of development last year.

At LaunchVic, we know Victoria has the right ingredients

– talent, support and investment – to become a global leader.

Our vision is to ensure that Victorian startups are

supported by an ecosystem with the capability and

connections that empower them to build the global

companies that will underpin Victoria’s future.

However, there is still work to do. Our startup

density is lower than other global hubs and our

investor ecosystem is underperforming. We also

need to do more to support scaling startups to

grow globally, creating the local jobs that will fuel

Victoria’s future prosperity.

The end of LaunchVic’s first term has provided

us with an opportunity to celebrate the Victorian

startup ecosystem’s growth over the last three years

and reflect on the role LaunchVic has played.

None of this would be possible without the support

of the Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Trade,

the former Minister for Innovation, the Victorian

Government, LaunchVic board members and

the incredible LaunchVic team.

Thank you.


Startups are designed to rapidly scale and it is this focus on growth, unconstrained by geography, that differentiates startups from small businesses.

It also presents unique challenges including: the ability to attract the capital needed to invest in innovation before reaching ‘break-even’ and the ability to rapidly grow a business from a founding team to a ‘scaleup’ business that involves creating tens or even hundreds of jobs in a short time frame.

Startups are also inherently high risk, and not all startups survive to achieve their ambition of becoming a ‘unicorn’ – a billion dollar company with thousands of employees.

What is a startup ecosystem?Startups don’t succeed by themselves – they require exceptional ideas, talent and a supportive ecosystem.

“Our global startup community is now the #1 engine for job creation and economic growth”JF Gauthier - Founder and CEO of Startup Genome

STARTUPS

In

vestors Corporate

Gove

rnm

en

t

Talent

Re

search orgs

Un

iversities and

The key ingredients include:

• Talented founders and employees

• Investors to provide capital, support and access to networks

• Universities and research organisations to produce new ideas and nurture talent

• Government to provide support and a conducive policy environment

• Corporates who are customers, mentors, and can help grow startup networks

While the individual strength of each startup ecosystem element is important, it is the connections and serendipitous collisions between each element that determines the strength of a startup ecosystem and differentiates good from great.

The percentage of external factors that influence a startup’s success: the

stronger the ecosystem the more likely a startup will be successful.

>70%What is a startup?A startup is an early-stage business with high growth potential that uses innovation and/or addresses scalable markets.


55% of founders have one or more parents born overseas

2,700 startups with 1,700 using new technologies

10+ unicorns with an estimated $35b market capitalisation

Valued at over $3b in 2018, which is 40% from 2018

1 in 5 startups are in health, wellbeing or sports

The average age of a founder is 37

1 in 4 founders are female

Through our work we...

• Support programs that build founder, startup and investor capability and connectedness

• Undertake research to better understand the Victorian startup ecosystem and inform policy interventions

• Support and run events that connect the ecosystem

• Communicate, promote and advocate on behalf of the sector

Ecosystem Value (2017 to 2019)

Ecos

yste

m V

alue

(in

$b

n)

2017(2014 - 1H2016)

0

1

2

3

4

5

2019(2016 - 1H2018)

2020Lower Estimate(2017 - 1H2019)

2020Higher Estimate(2017 - 1H2019)

About LaunchVic

LaunchVic is Victoria’s startup agency, established by the Victorian Government in March 2016 as an independent agency responsible for growing Victoria’s startup ecosystem.

Our mission is to lead the development of a globally-connected startup ecosystem, supporting startups and investors to sustainably grow, delivering economic and cultural benefits for both Victoria and Australia.

In collaboration with startup founders, entrepreneurs, investors, corporates and universities, we’re working towards building a startup ecosystem that will strengthen our economy, creating the jobs of the future.

At a glance

Victoria’s startup ecosystem

37

Source: Startup Genome, 2019


In addition, Victoria is home to three biotech unicorns valued at over $1 billion - Mesoblast,

Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals and Polynovo.

In just four years, the number of unicorns tripled in Victoria Just a few short years ago, startups were on the fringe,

driven by a small number of people and a minor subset of innovation policy. Today, startup ecosystems are globally recognised as key drivers of economic development:

1. Contributing to the future of work, as they create thousands of jobs

2. Fostering talent with lived experience of rapid growth, who are statistically more likely to contribute to the success of follow-on ventures

3. Growing international trade, as they typically address global markets

4. Securing local economies as creators, not purchasers, of international innovation

5. Creating a ‘virtuous cycle’ of wealth creation where successful investors and founders provide Angel investment to early stage startups so they can scale

6. Attracting multinationals who chose to co-locate within successful startup ecosystems to support lower risk M&A activity to bolster internal corporate innovation functions

The new frontier of economic development

2016 2019 2017 2018


The Science of growing a startup ecosystem

An increasing body of research shows that entrepreneurship can, and should, be taught by experienced entrepreneurs with ‘lived experience’.

Entrepreneurship programs need to target different stages of the business creation life cycle by:

• Inspiring people to found startups

• Helping aspiring founders to explore ideas

• Empowering founders to establish startups

• Accelerating early stage startup growth

• Boosting Victorian scaleup trajectories

From London to Tel Aviv, New York to Singapore and beyond, there is evidence that government plays a significant role in building successful startup ecosystems.


INSPIRATION

Thinking about startups, seeking ideas and growing

networks through engaging the community

EXPLORATION

Testing ideas through workshops and bootcamps

ESTABLISHMENT

Establishing a company and building an MVP

(pre-acceleration)

EARLY STAGE

Accelerating and attracting seed capital

GROWTH STAGE(SCALEUP)

Attracting venture capital

LaunchVic: Fuelling the Startup state

LaunchVic has invested over $46m in programs to grow the startup ecosystem and adopted a model of entrepreneurship support taught at MIT Sloan School to grow the Victorian startup ecosystem.


Warrnambool

Inspiring the next generation founder

Meetups and events

Events and meetups help to create strong connections between people within the ecosystem, and encourage and inspire aspiring entrepreneurs to join.

More than 25,000 people have attended LaunchVic sponsored, supported or run events, including:

• 84 meetups, including Ngamai (Victoria’s first indigenous startup meeting) and Hatch Quarter meetups (focussed on supporting migrant entrepreneurs).

• 55 events, including Tech Inclusion and Pause Fest.

• LaunchVic’s own ‘Yeah Nah Summit’ to showcase Victoria’s best founders, and ‘Thrive Conference’ to build a community of best practice for startup leaders in outer metro and regional areas.

Regional support

While it is true that startup ecosystems benefit from the natural network effects that come from co-location, LaunchVic – as the State Government startup development agency – has a role to ensure entrepreneurship is fostered across Victoria.

Just as Melbourne benefits from our connections to leading innovation hubs globally, so do our regional centres’ connections to Melbourne.

To support regional entrepreneurship, LaunchVic developed a Startup Guide and Toolkit for Local Government, which has helped local governments support and develop their local startup communities.

In its first term, LaunchVic supported 15 projects across 26 local government areas in Victoria to foster startup and entrepreneurial activity in local regions, including meetups and events.

People connected through events and meetups.

25,329


“Living in Rural Victoria, I don’t get the opportunity to mix with such a diverse group and I was apprehensive about what I had to offer.

Startup Weekend really inspired me and surprisingly taught me a lot about myself, my skill set and how I can be a better team player under pressure.” Danielle Roberts, participant Techstars Global Startup Weekend Women

Helping aspiring founders explore their business ideas

Hackathons and Bootcamps

Hackathons and bootcamps are great environments for exploring ideas, meeting co-founders and embarking on a journey of starting a company surrounded by experienced mentors, end users and fellow entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs supported across 9 Bootcamps and 25 Hackathons

1,145


Empowering founders to establish startups

Founder Education

Not every founder is born a CEO. Founders who have technical backgrounds often don’t have the business skills they need to grow.

Conversely, sector specialist founders who understand product market fit often don’t have the technical skills needed to build a product.

Helping founders upskill and develop commercial acumen is key to ensuring their long-term future. LaunchVic has invested in 23 founder education programs that have improved founder capability.

The subject areas included:

• How to access capital

• Marketing

• Leadership and personal development

• Export and growth skills

• Corporate governance

Pre-Accelerators

Pre-accelerators provide bootcamps to help founders hone their ideas and develop a minimum viable product or ‘MVP’.

Experts in Residence

Access to experts is critical for founders to learn from those who’ve done it before and to accelerate the development of their business.

LaunchVic has supported 15 experts in residence across 14 coworking spaces in Melbourne and Regional Victoria.

Entrepreneurs upskilled through founder education, pre-accelerators

and mentorship

3,698

Ovira FounderStory: Alice Williams

“Just want to say a huge thank you to the LaunchVic team for helping to supercharge Ovira’s growth. Prior to attending the EIR course, I had zero friends, experience, and close to no knowledge of the whole Melbourne startup scene.

Not only was the content amazing, but Ned who ran the course ended up introducing me to Startmate which took me on an incredible journey too.

I got to spend 3 months hanging with some of Australia’s smartest and most experienced mentors, and then on top of that got taken to the US at the end of the program and introduced to more people over there.

There’s no way Ovira would be as far along as she is, or myself as experienced and ambitious if it weren’t for both the Expert in Residence and Startmate programs that were supported by LaunchVic.”


Accelerators typically run in cohorts over several months and during this time, startups build their capabilities through a combination of curriculum content and mentoring. They also provide pathways to access the capital and connections required to grow their startups.

Places are usually secured through a competitive process with accepted startups usually receiving a small financial reward on entry. In return for this and the program, many accelerators take a small equity stake in each company.

The number of Accelerators has increased ten times since LaunchVic was first established.

723New jobs created by startups

(and growing)

$21.8mLaunchVic grants to accelerators

$22.2mCash and in-kind contributions

264Startups supported

$36.8mCapital raised by startups (and growing)

2.6:1 Leverage on Government investment

LaunchVic increased the number of accelerators in Victoria by XXX.

Num

ber

of A

ccel

erat

ors

in V

icto

ria

2015 2016 2017 2018

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2019

LaunchVic Accelerators Other Accelerators

1

8

3

7

12

13

11

18

10

A startup accelerator is a program that provides participants with support to help them accelerate their company’s growth.

Accelerating early stage startup growth

LaunchVic has supported 196 startups across 18 Accelerators:


A few months after the company was officially launched, FLAIM Systems participated in LaunchVic’s first ACMI Xcel Accelerator in January 2018.

After the 12-week creative tech bootcamp, FLAIM was able to refocus their value proposition, develop a strong pitch for clients, and network extensively.

“The Accelerator connected us with some of Victoria’s best software developers,” said FLAIM Systems’ CEO and CTO James Mullins.

“Without these key people we would not be exporting and delivering training solutions to 14 countries. The mentors have been amazing throughout the journey and extremely knowledgeable.”

Refining their pitch deck in particular put FLAIM on the map with investors, successfully securing series A funding in early 2019.

They went on to win Startup of the Year at the coveted AIIA National iAwards in 2019, solidifying what is set to be an exponential and impactful trajectory in the emergency services market.

Now, FLAIM Systems is expanding its global presence, with a continued focus on driving innovation and developing further solutions across other parts of the emergency services sector.

FLAIM revolutionising emergency services training

Accelerating early stage startup growth

Dandolo Partners: The role of accelerators in the Victorian Startup Ecosystem

In 2015 there were 3 accelerator programs in Victoria, in 2019 there were 28.

84% of startups participating in a LaunchVic supported Accelerator reported that the program contributed to their revenue growth.

94% of startups participating in a LaunchVic supported Accelerator reported that the program increased their customer acquisition.


Boosting Victorian Scaleups’ growth trajectory

Scaleup Support

Once a startup has found product market fit, and achieved initial sales, they must scale in order to secure market share, achieve revenue aspirations, create jobs and contribute to economic development.

While LaunchVic has focussed on growing the number of early stage startups, there is more work to do to support companies to scale, and achieve their global aspirations.

Scaleup Your Career

The Scaleup Your Career campaign, developed by LaunchVic in partnership with local and international Victorian-based scaleups, was designed to connect top Victorian talent with a growing pool of jobs at local scaleups.

The campaign was born from insights that identified:

• Local and global scaleups with offices in Melbourne were finding it difficult to find local talent.

• Fifty per cent of suitably qualified Victorian talent were not considering a scaleup career due to perceptions of financial insecurity, and a further 47 per cent were concerned about business longevity.

• The campaign was a huge success with over 36,000 Victorian Change Makers visiting the website.

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

Melbourne

Early Scaleup of $50M Early Scaleup of $100M

Copenhagen Vancouver Barcelona Helsinki Stockholm Singapore Tel Aviv London

LaunchVic has invested in a number of programs to help startups to scale, including Skalata, Bio Melbourne, SBE Australia and Techstars.

Together they are supporting more than 170 startups to scale.

Startup Genome, 2019

12,000+Victorians explored the careers pages of scaleup partners

36,000Victorian job seekers influenced

700+Registrations for the Careers Fair


“Since the LaunchVic Scaleup Careers Fair I applied for jobs in HealthTech and have since been offered a job as Customer Support Consultant at Precedence Health Care – it’s a start in the right direction…Thank you!!!” Kelly Kiang, attendee at LaunchVic Scaleup Careers Fair


Victorian Startup Ecosystem Strengths

Diversity and Inclusion

Entrepreneurship is a skill that can be taught, and we need to ensure that every Victorian has the opportunity to get involved in the startup ecosystem if they wish.

While leading startup ecosystems are known to be very male dominated, in Victoria we are now leading the way in diversity and inclusion metrics:

26Regional programs

6Programs for migrants

4Programs for Indigenous Australians

1 in 5 startups are focussed on Health, Wellbeing and Sports

Victoria has recognised key strengths in HealthTech, Wellbeing and SportsTech.

We already have a strong local health market which contributes $30 billion each year to the state’s economy and is our largest and fastest growing source of employment. It is projected that global healthcare will reach USD $8.7 trillion by 2020, up from USD $7 trillion in 2015.

Meanwhile, the SportsTech industry was valued in 2018 at USD$27.5 billion and is expected to grow to USD$93.8 billion by 2027.

This creates significant opportunities for Victorian health, wellbeing and SportsTech startups (that currently account for over 20 per cent of Victorian startups) to supply other global markets with high-quality products and services.

28% of founders are female

2% of founders identify as Indigenous (compared to 1 per cent of Victorian population)

34% of founders were born overseas

LaunchVic has supported:

8Programs for women


Victorian startup ecosystem opportunities

Investors

While Victoria’s startup ecosystem continues to go from strength to strength, LaunchVic has identified that the startup investor ecosystem is underperforming compared to global benchmarks.

Just as founders need education, so do investors. Startups are a different asset class and investors need to understand the art and science of investing in startups.

For this reason, LaunchVic’s first term had a focus on funding investor education programs, including, InvestedED by Scale Investors, and Decode by Artesian Capital.

Recognising the challenges in the Victorian startup investor landscape, LaunchVic invested $2.1m in the creation of The Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship’s VC Catalyst Program, which aims to build Angel and Venture Capital investor capabilities.

Program participants gain the skills and strategies for building high-yield portfolios, new connections and context for generating future deal flow. Global experts and practitioners are brought to Melbourne to deliver the program, making this a truly world-class initiative and positioning Victoria on the global stage. The first cohort ran in 2019 and has already invested over $2.5m in startups.

A property investor by trade, Simon Bayley was no stranger to numbers and risk. To diversify his portfolio, he decided to try something new by investing in startups.

Although he had some experience investing in startups, he enrolled in the LaunchVic supported VC Catalyst program to learn how to build more structure around his investments and expand his network in the ecosystem.

He’s attracted to the ‘dynamic, young people’ who work in startups and enjoys seeking out new ideas and ways of doing things – a commitment to supporting innovation is therefore at the centre of his investment thesis.

Whether it be his next commercial development, investing in an app or consulting on a giant wave pool, no doubt Simon’s impact on Victoria’s economy will continue to grow.

Average early stage capital (Seed and Series A)

0

100

200

300

400

500

Melbourne VancouverBarcelonaSingapore

600

Peer Ecosystem Average

BostonNew ZealandSydney

“ VC Catalyst definitely opened my eyes to the breadth and diversity of the investment opportunities that exist out there.”

Simon Bayley



Government plays an important role in growing a successful startup ecosystem

Role of Government

Government has an important role to play in facilitating the Victorian startup ecosystem. At LaunchVic, we are proud to have contributed to this work by investing in programs that support startups and investors, research, events, promotion and advocacy.

In 2018, Victoria was found to be the 5th fastest growing startup ecosystem in the world for its stage of development and whilst the startup ecosystem has the potential to add $4 billion to the State’s economy over the next few years, there is still more work to do that includes:

• Building a robust investor community that keeps pace with the growth of the startup ecosystem

• Supporting our scaling startups to become global businesses

• Increasing the creation of new startups to ensure we continue to grow into the future

• Research to inform, including through policy interventions

• Promote, facilitate and connect the ecosystem

LaunchVic is excited to lead this work into the future.

CivVic Labs, accelerating the growth of Victorian startups

Governments have a responsibility to drive economic development and jobs, and one of the greatest levers they have in this space is procurement.

Funded by LaunchVic, with additional funding from the Public Sector Innovation Fund, CivVic Labs seeks to simultaneously fuel the growth of early-stage startups and solve government challenges.

CivVic Labs’ vision is to increase citizen value and grow the Victorian economy by transforming the way the state government engages with the startup sector.

Government choosing to purchase from local startups creates a virtuous cycle. The benefits include:

• Providing startups with a valuable first customer and case study that encourages others to purchase from them

• As startups grow their customer base, they’ll grow their teams, creating the jobs of the future

• Experience of co-creating a product with startups provides government with access to innovative thinking

“Being accepted into the CivVic Labs program changed my life, giving me the confidence to leave my corporate role and found the global startup I’d always dreamed of.

I’ve learned so much from the program both personally and professionally and hope the government continues to support this amazing program so that more startups can go on to become global companies.”Kanav Batra, Founder Envision Systems


Victorian Innovation HubVibrant startup ecosystems rely on the connectivity of stakeholders to survive and grow, making the Victorian Innovation Hub an important place for startup, mentor and investor interaction.LaunchVic has

hosted over 5,920 people across 43 events at the Victorian Innovation Hub since July 2018.

0

2000

4000

6000

2017 2018 2019

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Mail Chimp

8000

10000

Promoting the Victorian Ecosystem

LaunchVic has built a sizeable community from scratch. Just three short years ago, our community was under 1,000 and now it’s over 20,000.

Over this time we’ve also secured in excess of 400 media mentions across startup, state, national and international mastheads.


Led by LaunchVic and Stone & Chalk, the space became the home of 6 leading accelerators: Australia’s national medtech accelerator, the Actuator; leading technology accelerator, Startmate; Government procurement accelerator, CivVic Labs; AgTech accelerator SproutX, Australia’s first Indigenous accelerator, Barayamal; and cybersecurity accelerator, CyRise.

Other leading tenants include: CSIRO’s data analytics experts, Data61, and the BlockChain Centre. Notable startups also include Gobbil, Money Place, Frankie Financial, Stelect, Cynch and Provenir. On any given day there are around 250 people across 80+ startups operating out of the Hub.


Key LaunchVic EventsYeah Nah Summit - 2017, 2018, 2019

Thrive Regional Conference - 2018

Pause Festival - 2017, 2018, 2019

Pivot Summit - 2019

Melbourne Entrepreneurship Gala - 2018, 2019

Sports Analytics Conference - 2018, 2019

Tech Inclusion - 2018, 2019

StartupVic Pitch Nights - 2017, 2018, 2019

Melbourne Knowledge Week - 2017, 2018, 2019

DIF - 2018, 2019

LaunchVic & Partner ResearchBest Practices for Angel Networks: Bella Capital Markets 2019

SportsTech Report: Advancing Victoria’s Startup Ecosystem: KPMG 2019

Victorian Startup Ecosystem Mapping Report: Dandolo Partners 2018

State of HealthTech Victoria: Dandolo Partners 2018

Melbourne Startup Ecosystem Report: Startup Genome 2018

Digital Market Places: EY 2017

Startup Investment Snapshot: Dandolo Partners 2017

Mapping Victoria’s Startup Ecosystem: Dandolo Partners 2017

Startup Guide and Toolkit for Local Government: KPMG 2017

* Includes LaunchVic run and sponsored events


Programs

Round

01Scale, reach and impact

Victoria’s startup community received a

$6.5 million boost, with the first round

of LaunchVic grants supporting

18 projects across the state.

Scale, accessibility and diversity

LaunchVic provided $1.9 million in funding to

large and small initiatives to increase the scale,

accessibility and diversity of Victoria’s startup

sector across a number of industries including

Victoria’s key strengths in health, education

and technology.

02Round

Round

03Increase participation for migrants and refugees

Migrants and refugees are recognised as important

contributors to successful startup ecosystems.

They are known to have high risk appetites, having

started a new life in a new country – often with no

capital, no credit history, no assets, and no security.

LaunchVic delivered $1.4 million in funding for

programs to increase the number of first generation

migrants and refugees participating in the Victorian

Startup Ecosystem by improving their access

to supports.

World-class Accelerator Program

It is important that Victorian startups have access

to world-class accelerator programs.

To facilitate this, LaunchVic provided $7 million

in funding to Australian accelerator programs,

SBE Australia and Skalata Ventures, as well as

internationally renowned Techstars so that

more than 170 Victorian startups and entrepreneurs

could build their capabilities and access the

connections they need to grow globally.

04Round

Round

05Founder Education

It is estimated that just 15 per cent of startups in

Victoria go through an accelerator program with

many believing that they’re not ready or have

moved beyond the need for intensive support.

Sixteen service providers received $2.9 million

in funding to run education programs to upskill

up to 2,000 Victorian founders and their teams

to fill this gap.

Round

06Supporting Local Council Startup Communities

LaunchVic’s 2017 Mapping Victoria’s Startup

Ecosystem survey revealed only 3 per cent of the

state’s startups are based outside inner Melbourne.

To boost access and participation in regional

and outer-metropolitan Melbourne, LaunchVic

provided $2.4 million in funding to Warrnambool,

Corangamite, Moyne, Ballarat, Latrobe, Wellington,

Bass Coast, Baw Baw, Towong, Benalla, Indigo,

Mansfield, Wangaratta and Mildura, Whittlesea,

Melton, Casey, Cardinia, Brimbank, Moreland,

Maribyrnong, Hume, Dandenong, Wyndham,

Hobsons Bay and Moonee Valley local councils.

Round

07Entrepreneurial Programs for Aboriginal Victorians

This funding was part of the Tharamba Bugheen

Victorian Aboriginal Business Strategy 2017-2021,

which sets out the Victorian State Government’s

vision for helping Aboriginal Victorians become

innovative entrepreneurs and business leaders.

$1.37 million in funding was provided to service

providers that could strengthen entrepreneurship

and startup activity amongst Aboriginal Victorians.

Round

08Health Startup Sector

Whilst the 2018 Startup Genome Global Startup

Ecosystem Report identified Melbourne as one of the most

important global health and life sciences sectors in the

world, the LaunchVic State of HealthTech – Victoria report

revealed that most health startups don’t know where to go

to access the support they need to grow.

To help address this, LaunchVic provided $4.8 m to

seven service providers to help to accelerate the growth

of Victoria’s health and life sciences startups and bolster

Melbourne’s reputation as a leading HealthTech hub

in the Asia Pacific.

Round

09Expert-in-Residences (EIRs) for Coworking Spaces

Coworking spaces are hubs for innovation and the

place where many startups spend time on their journey

to scaleup. Founders that have access to experienced

mentors are more likely to succeed.

This Expert-in-Residence program provided many Victorian

startups with access to invaluable industry knowledge and

practical advice from experienced people.

LaunchVic allocated $500,000 to this program, funding

15 experts in residence across 14 coworking spaces in

Melbourne and Regional Victoria.

Round

xSupporting Further Growth

This funding was to support early-stage and

scaling startups. Twelve programs received

grants to connect startups from a range of

disciplines with investment opportunities.

Full list of programs run by LaunchVic can be found at https://launchvic.org/funding


LaunchVic Impact Report 201944

december 2019 impact report - launchvic · as a result, we have seen a rapid maturing of the...

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