The Startup Network team celebrating their final Pitch Night of 2023 at MCEC. Left to right: Desmond John (Membership Manager), Dickie Currer (Head of Partnerships & New Markets), Vicki Stirling (CEO), Steph Hall (Head of Programs), Ryan Burns (Head of Community). Image: provided by The Startup Network The Start Up Network is ready to kick off a massive line up of tech events for budding entrepreneurs this year. The sector hit the ground running with over 150 bright sparks attending the AUNZ Startup Growth Summit exploring lessons about scaling Australian unicorns and the role AI will play in the coming year. Future entrepreneurs are also gearing up for a big year. Australia's leading university startup accelerator is even hosting their MAP Founder Drop-in sessions until the end of Jan in the lead up to their Info Night on 1 Feb. But the BIG news is that The Startup Network kicks off the techfest calendar with their Future Horizons Festival. This is sure to become a game-changer in the tech and startup world and we’re so excited its home grown in Melbourne. A stellar line up from brands Culture Amp, Canva and TikTok and a host of creative technologists, investors and industry leaders looking to drive the future, not just be a passenger. Then, get on the dancefloor and network in new ways – it is festival season after all. Inside the Future Horizons Festival Image: taken from Dickie Currer's LinkedIn. To get the inside story on this new festival, the DIF team sat down with Dickie Currer, Head of Partnerships & New Markets at The Startup Network. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind organising the Future Horizons Festival? The inspiration for Future Horizons came while we were planning an end-of-year party. The team had the brainwave of scrapping our plans to squeeze another event into an already packed calendar within our ecosystem, so we opted for a 'Start of Year' party, so that we could kick 2024 off with a bang! With that in mind, there was no better theme than ‘Future Thinking’. How do you anticipate the festival will benefit both aspiring entrepreneurs and established professionals in the tech and startup space? We're confident that there is content that will appeal to everyone within the Tech and Innovation ecosystem. Aspiring and Early Stage Founders will be inspired by the insights of people who have been there and done it before, and more established members of the Startup community will have the chance to learn from their peers and contribute to the conversation. The festival includes a diverse range of speakers. How important is diversity and inclusion in shaping the discussions at the Future Horizons Festival? Diversity and Inclusion is one of our core tenets at the Startup Network, so it was really important when putting together the Future Horizons. It's a responsibility that we have as thought leaders in our ecosystem to make sure that equal voices are heard and that people feel part of an inclusive community. The list of speakers from Festival Horizons Festival’s Day Program includes • Douglas English, Co-Founder & CTO of Culture Amp on the future of teams • A hand-selected panel of Australia’s most creative technologists including Konrad Spilva of Shadowboxer, Andy Lee of WilderWorld & Nicole Gibson of Love Out Loud. • Simone Attanasio, Group Design Lead at Canva. • Rachel Yang from Giant Leap, Tracey Warren of F5 Collective and Rachel Nuemann of Flying Fox Ventures. • Anthony Dever, Head of Brand & Creative Consultancy at TikTok Can you provide details about any interactive or networking opportunities that attendees can participate in during the festival to enhance their experience and connect with the speakers and other attendees? We have plenty of opportunities for attendees to connect. During our day session, we're hosting a lunch where festivalgoers can come together and talk shop. There'll also be a virtual platform to help get to know who is in the room pre, during and post-event. The night is all about relationship building in a different way, as we hit the dance floor for a good old-fashioned party. Personally, what are you most looking forward to experiencing at the festival? I personally can't wait for the debate! We have a highly talented panel of Investors who will be discussing the solutions that solve the gender funding gap present in our Startup ecosystem. It's such an important topic to highlight, and I love the format, so it definitely isn't one to miss. Finally, could you share any exciting plans or developments for the Startup Network or other events in the works? We've got a busy year ahead, with a huge National events program to boot. We'll be kicking off our pitching program in Melbourne with the Australian National Final of the Entrepreneurship World Cup before we hit the road for events outside of Victoria. We're also adding new programs to our existing repertoire and re-launching our successful scale-up cohorts. So, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for updates! With its focus on future thinking, diversity, and inclusive discussions, the Future Horizons Festival is not just an event but a platform for inspiration, learning, and networking. Head here for more information about the event, its speakers and ticketing information.
VICTORIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM RAPIDLY MATURES, GROWTH OUTPACING MAJOR GLOBAL CITIES LaunchVic, Victoria’s startup agency, has found the state’s startup ecosystem is maturing rapidly, with growth outpacing some of the world’s most renowned entrepreneurial cities including Tel Aviv, Toronto and Amsterdam. The 2022 Startup Ecosystem Mapping Report, the fourth report of its kind developed by LaunchVic in partnership with consulting and research firm dandolopartners international, identified 1,300 new firms since the previous report in 2020, reflecting a strong pipeline of new ventures in the state. The number of first–time founders has also jumped by 20 per cent since 2020, increasing from 44 to 53 per cent of all founders. New ventures are becoming more innovative. Between 2018 and 2022 the share of Victoria’s startups aiming to create a new market more than doubled from 24 to 58 per cent of all firms surveyed. In another sign of maturation, there is a higher proportion of larger startups, with 32per cent firms now having 10 or more employees compared to just 21 per cent in 2018. In total, Victorian startups employed more than 52,000 employees in 2022, an increase from 38,000 jobs in 2020. LaunchVic CEO, Dr Kate Cornick said findings of the report vindicate LaunchVic’s strategy to aggressively invest in programs to support new and more innovative startups to be created and help existing startups to scale. “The impressive growth rate of the ecosystem, demonstrated by the number of new startups coming to market, the increase in innovation and the growth of larger firms is extremely positive for Victoria’s future.” LaunchVic CEO, Dr Kate Cornick DIVERSITY OF FOUNDERS Firms with at least one-woman founder havegrown from 20 per cent in 2020 to 34 per cent in 2022, however they still only represent 22 per cent of founders across all firms. This suggests that in firms that have both men and women founders, male founders are outnumber by a ratio of 2:1. Firms with a woman founder have a significantly smaller median firm capital raise. Most founders have one or more parents born outside Australia, reflecting almost identical proportions as in 2018 & 2020, while the shareof founders from outside Australia has reduced slightly from 35 to 32 per cent. The average founder age is 42, the same average reported in 2020. However, the share of founders in their 30’s has increased substantially from recent years. “It’s exciting to see the number of women-led founders increase but there is still work to do to ensure that women founders and their firms reach their full potential. LaunchVic is committed to increasing access to capital for women founders in the startup ecosystem through initiatives such as the Alice Anderson Fund.” LaunchVic CEO, Dr Kate Cornick SECTOR STRENGTHS The share of startups in the Enterprise & Corporate Services, Consumer Goods & Manufacturing and Financial Services sectors has also grown since 2020. Growth in the number of Health firms remains unchanged from 2020, which remains the joint largest sub-sector at 16% along with Enterprise & Corporate Services (also 16%). INCREASED PARTICIPATION IN ACCELERATOR PROGRAMS A third of startups surveyed participated in accelerator programs in 2022, up from 27% in 2020. The average age of startups participating in accelerators increased. Dr Cornick said this indicates a growing recognition amongst experienced operators that these programs can add substantial value. CAPITAL RAISES An estimated $4 billion in total capital was raised by Victorian startups and scaleups in 2021, from both venture and non-venture capital sources such as corporate investment and debt financing. There was also growth in deals worth more than $1M and a decline in smaller raises since 2019. These findings are consistent with LaunchVic’s State of Startup Funding Report released in December 2022, which revealed that Victorian startups raised a record AUD$2.3B venture capital funding in 2021.However, this report showed that much of the growth is in later stage capital raises (Series B and beyond), while early-stage funding continues to flatline. Dr Cornick said the report highlighted that Victoria’s early-stage investor ecosystem continued to lag and that more work was required to get capital flowing to startups at this vital stage. DRIVING RESEARCH COMMERCIALIZATION Only 6 per cent of firms reported that they were commercializing a technology developed at a university. Relatedly the report shows 88% startups have a founder with at least 2 years of prior work experience in a relevant industry and 83% of firms have at least 1 founder with a business degree or at least 2 years’ experience as a manager. “More needs to be done to drive research commercialization into startups. We mustrecognize that most founders have commercial experience, so more needs to be done to connect commercial expertise to university research commercialization opportunities to generate new startups from our universities,” said Dr Cornick The full 2022 Startup Ecosystem Mapping Report can be found at LaunchVic Research. Article originally published by LaunchVic on 8 March 2023 Victorian startup ecosystem rapidly matures, growth outpacing major global cities