Is angel investing only for the ultra-wealthy? Not quite. This piece explores what it really takes to get started in Australia and New Zealand and why cheque size isn’t the most important factor.

Most people never become angel investors not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t know how to start. In this guide, we break down the first steps to angel investing in Australia and New Zealand: from understanding sophisticated investor requirements to building conviction and community - this article shows why backing bold founders starts with backing yourself.

When Kate Barany became a mum to two high-energy boys, she quickly realised parenting required more planning than a wedding and more group chats than a high school reunion.Every week was a new puzzle: What’s on? Where can we go? What if it rains? Which mum's group is organising something fun, and wait… was that on WhatsApp or buried in someone’s Instagram story?

Rachel Harker knows what loneliness looks like. As a clinical psychologist, she spent years sitting with young people one-on-one, listening, supporting, and witnessing the quiet epidemic rising beneath the surface. Disconnection. Isolation. A deep yearning for meaningful relationships, buried beneath the illusion of always being “online.”

What started as an experimental membership has grown into one of the most powerful and fast-growing offerings at Startmate, a community for ambitious women across tech and startups to connect, grow, and lead. Over the past year, this group has quietly become a force. It's where first-time founders have launched bold ideas, where industry experts have stepped up as mentors, and where hundreds of women have found the support, confidence, and momentum to take the next leap in their careers.

The Winter ’25 cohort is full of founders chasing the edge of what’s possible and dragging the future closer. A future where period poverty is a thing of the past. Where anyone can service a machine like an expert. Where AI doesn’t just answer questions, but books your Uber, edits your work and fills a hospital shift. From AI-native workplaces to at-home cervical screening kits, super-intelligent healthcare agents to haptic gloves that make VR touchable, this cohort is solving problems you didn’t know could be fixed and tackling challenges most shy away from.

When Holly Sanders landed a role at a fast-growing startup, she didn’t just join a high-velocity team - she found the spark for her own. Today, Holly’s the founder of Matchbox, an AI-powered recruitment marketplace pairing early-stage startups with top-tier, domain expert recruiters.

When Charlotte Jones joined the Biodesign Innovation program at the University of Melbourne, she didn’t imagine her final year of engineering would end with pitching a medtech startup in front of a live audience. “It’s been a really enjoyable journey,” she says, reflecting on the whirlwind that is ELEN MedTech.

When Vish Varma and Roupen Minassian first started building Vern, it wasn’t the product they’re known for today. Back then, it was a tool for designers and researchers: a concept that earned polite nods but little urgency.

In 2024, Carmen was scheduled for a critical surgery, but a month after the consultation, she’d forgotten much of what she was told. You know how it goes: between the flurry of handouts, shifting diagnoses, appointment bookings and prescriptions, even the most diligent patients can miss a step.

When Ned Murdoch talks about EarthBrew, it’s less a business pitch and more a reflection of the mission driving him. "We were coming at it like, 'this is a sustainability product, and that alone should be enough,'" he admits, reflecting on the early days...

Steph Brook didn’t set out to build a new social media platform. She just wanted a better way to find great recommendations from people who actually get her.

"We were just running everything on spreadsheets." When Jaden Kostogiannis first hacked together an inventory app with a co-worker, he didn’t expect it to outshine a $100k ERP system. But that’s exactly what happened.

Globally, brands spend over a trillion dollars each year on supermarket trade promotions yet over 50% of them fail to break even. When Henry Choo started thinking about building a startup, he didn’t have to look far for a problem to solve. The chaos was right there in his spreadsheets.

When Dan Borthwick reflects on his career, there’s a clear thread: a love of building, collaborating, and empowering others to create. From mobile games at EA and King to AI products in healthtech, he’s always gravitated towards highly cross-functional teams...

Startmate invests AUD $120,000 into each startup. If you haven’t raised before: we invest at a $1.5M post-money SAFE valuation cap. If you have: we match the terms and valuation of your previous raise (min. $250k from VCs or angels, fully closed). ✅ You choose: our SAFE or your priced round ✅ At least one co-founder must be full-time. No fine print. Just support, capital, and momentum.

Operations is one of the few business functions still operating in the dark. While sales, support, and engineering teams all have real-time visibility tools, ops teams are left without a system to understand what's happening, when, or how.

While financial content is a must, too many firms are missing the mark with next-gen investors. Luniate is here to change that - offering a lively platform that bridges the gap between financial firms and the investors of tomorrow.

DuoHub is changing the game for small and medium business owners by making a conversation all they need to create complex AI agents to support their business. The goal is simple: make it easy for business owners to scale without the headcount.

Security teams are drowning in noise. With every new vulnerability scanner and compliance update, it gets harder to know what actually matters - and what’s just clutter. Vulnetix is cutting through the chaos.

Quoting in the building industry is slow, manual, costly, and overlooked. Landid is changing that by helping tradies spend less time on quotes and more time doing what they do best.

In the fast-paced world of electronics, companies rely heavily on the parts that make up their devices, but finding the right customers for those parts has always been a challenge. Pentacue is shifting that by using AI to simplify how electronics companies identify potential customers based on public government filings.

Gloss Guide is building the infrastructure to turn beauty inspiration into reality, saving artists thousands in marketing costs and helping clients find the beauty professional for them.

Slice is redefining the property buying experience. Founded by Amy Stevens, a former lawyer and financial adviser, Slice is a platform that automates the home buying process, helping buyers, brokers, and lawyers work together.

As the world continues to shift towards more fluid, connected lifestyles, NOD is setting the pace for the future of childcare by providing a platform connects parents with trusted childcare professionals in real-time.

Evidentful, one of the 16 companies part of the Startmate Summer’25 Accelerator cohort, is an AI-driven platform designed for police forces to help them automate witness interviews and capture them in 60 different languages.

Each year, millions of meters of fabric sit idle in warehouses. Some of it gets sold off, some stays put, gathering dust. Bit by bit this fabric is sold off or eventually, disposed of despite its potential. Circular Sourcing is stepping up to the challenge.

Most parents want to give their kids the best start in life. But between endless parenting advice and millions of book options, it’s hard to know where to begin. That’s where Edsemble steps in.

For most sales teams, the hardest part of closing a deal isn’t the pitch- it’s the admin. Data is spread across seven tools. CRM hygiene is an afterthought. Chirp is ready to flip that script.

Gen Z is the most connected - and loneliest - generation in history. Social media has become performance. Physical third places have disappeared. Online or offline, there’s nowhere left to simply be. O3 is the startup changing that.

Zipline is transforming passive online stores into interactive, insight-rich experiences where creation and IP begins with you.

Underground infrastructure rarely gets the attention it deserves - until it fails.‍ For utilities and industries reliant on complex, often inaccessible pipe networks.‍‍‍ Puralink is setting out to change that.

Ned Murdoch didn’t just join the Student Fellowship to learn - he came in with a startup already in motion. As the founder of EarthBrew, a company repurposing waste materials into sustainable fertiliser, he was already knee-deep in the world of startups.

Khiem Nguyen's journey is proof that with the right mindset, you can turn big ideas into impactful realities. With a background in biomedicine and an ambition to create a biotech company, he joined the Student Fellowship to dive deeper into the startup world. We sat down with Khiem to chat all things Celiva.

Eechan and Joyce didn’t enter the Student Fellowship with a startup idea in mind, but they left with something even better - confidence in their ability to build. Coming from different backgrounds, they quickly found themselves immersed in the world of startups - together.

Andrew Yuan wasn’t set on following the traditional paths of investment banking or consulting. While his peers pursued well-worn careers in finance, he was more interested in exploring what else was out there. We sat down with Andrew to get his perspective.

Natasha Nagle didn’t always see herself in the world of entrepreneurship. As a PhD student in geoarchaeology, she was deep in research when she stumbled across the Student Fellowship. We sat down with Natasha - here's what she had to say.

We sat down with Ethan Green, Summer’25 Student Fellow who is passionate about entrepreneurship and startups. From discovering the program through a uni club email to pitching an RFP automation tool at the Founders Challenge - hear what Ethan had to say.

It’s rare that you meet a founder whose ambition and drive take your breath away; meeting 28 of them at once is all but guaranteed to leave you breathless.

A huge congratulations to the winner and 27 nominees of Startmate’s 2024 Women Leader of the Year Award. These stories of leadership are so incredibly inspirational to read, exactly the stories we need to shine a light on, for the very reason we started it because “you can’t be what you can’t see”.

Over two dynamic evenings in Sydney and Melbourne, we dove deep into the art of negotiation and communication for engineers. Here's a recap of the events and a couple of highlights from our awesome speakers - Osman Mah and Braden Moore.

Every day, women across the ANZ startup and tech ecosystem are driving change, leading teams, and breaking new ground. But being at the top can often be isolating, and sometimes, finding the right guidance and support feels impossible. Here are (just) 5 reasons why women leaders are choosing to join the community!

Startmate exists to make Australia and New Zealand the best place in the world to build a startup. For us to do this, we need to pull in the most talented and ambitious people into the ecosystem and set them up for success. To do this we need to increase the amount of opportunities available to the people who are making it happen.

At Startmate, we believe in the power of visible role models. The saying “You can’t be what you can’t see” rings true, especially in leadership.‍When women see others thriving in leadership roles—whether as managers, mentors, or trailblazers—they’re more likely to believe that they, too, belong at the top. This is why we’re running the #StartmateCollectiveLeaders Award: to showcase and spotlight the incredible women leaders in the ANZ tech and startup ecosystem.

In this spotlight series we are introducing the courageous, clever and powerful women in our Startmate Collective community. So, let us introduce Brinley Meagher, Corporate Transactions & Startup Lawyer at LUNA!

In this spotlight series, we are introducing the courageous, clever and powerful women in our Startmate Collective community. So let us introduce Rachel! Rachel is the Product Manager at pay.com.au.

In this spotlight series we are introducing the courageous, clever and powerful women in our Startmate Collective community. Let us introduce Zoe Keck! Zoe is a Corportate Accountant at Canva!

In this spotlight series we are introducing the courageous, clever and powerful women in our Startmate Collective community. Let us introduce Cinthya Zurita, Senior Operations Manager at Remarkable!

In this spotlight series we are introducing the courageous, clever and powerful women in our Startmate Collective community. Let us introduce Mona Chiha! Mona is the founder of JurisTechne!

In this spotlight series we are introducing the courageous, clever and powerful women in our Startmate Collective community. So why don't we introduce Jess Hope! Jess is the founder of Create Racket!

In this spotlight series we are introducing the courageous, clever and powerful women in our Startmate Collective community. So, let us introduce Jessica Golder! Jessica is the Marketing Manager at Vivi!

Did you know? While you’re gearing up to apply for our first-ever Startmate Collective intake, our Startmate Collective - Leaders membership is already thriving, bringing together some of the most talented women in the startup scene! The real magic of these memberships lies in the connections you build—talented, like-minded people who become not just colleagues but lifelong friends.

Finding the right mentor is like unlocking a career cheat code—someone who’s not only going to call you out when you need it but also guide you to level up in ways you didn’t know were possible. The trickiest part? Getting that relationship off the ground. In this article our COO Phoebe shares some tips and tricks.

Health tech entrepreneur, Dana Allison has led a big, beautiful life.‍“I have had this amazing life, I won't lie,” she laughs. “And it's mostly because I'm the kind of person who says yes to opportunity, even if I have no idea how it's going to work out.”

Totex is on a mission to prevent 2 trillion tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. How do they plan to achieve that feat? With their revolutionary ‘all-in-one’ heating, cooling, and hot water system (with built-in thermal energy storage larger than two Tesla batteries) that cuts energy use, saves money, and fast-tracks the global shift to renewable electricity grids.

In Córdoba, Argentina, about a year ago, two lifelong friends put their heads together to create a tech product for tech people—something to change the way teams build software all over the world. By some accident of fate (with a little romance thrown in), they’ve ended up building the foundations of their product in Australia. It’s here that they’re iterating, testing, and building. It’s here that they’re networking and onboarding their first clients. And it’s here that they’re learning some of their biggest lessons as first-time founders.

"In the world of software, technical mastery is essential—but it’s the engineers who master communication, leadership, and collaboration that rise to the top."‍The tech landscape is shifting. ‍With more engineers working remotely, AI taking over technical roles, and new waves of redundancies being announced each week, how do you stand out from the crowd? How do you get that next promotion, or work on that epic project?

In 1883, French writer Émile Zola documented the first in-store fitting room, but according to Zello co-founder Olyvia Munro, not much has really changed since then. ‍“Bricks-and-mortar fashion retail has remained largely untouched by technology,” says Olyvia, 23. 

With record-breaking temperatures scorching the earth and 'mega-fires' threatening to devour entire landscapes and communities, combating the risks that come with extreme heat has never been more urgent.Rising to the challenge, Hurtec has invented a breakthrough technology with the potential to save countless lives, prevent billions in damages, and transform firefighting on a global scale.

Fairgo.ai is an interview platform designed to get the very best people into tech roles, while removing bias from the application process.‍And with decades of experience building machine learning models, plus stints at Amazon and Seek under his belt, founder Julian Bright is probably the best placed person to build it.

Dive into Startmate CEO Michael Batko's GBU update to learn what we've been up to this month.

‍Ron 'The Mussel King' Park has invented a new technology that's been 5 years in the making. With the ability to radically transform how we extract nutrients out of everything from fish to fungi, his new venture, NE Tech, is set to disrupt the entire global supplements industry.

When I meet Adam Beaupeurt, co-founder of Preve, on Zoom he is seated on his couch and propped up by pillows. He tells me that he injured his leg earlier that day and is waiting on a scan to confirm the extent of his injury. He is anticipating a gruelling few weeks of physiotherapy ahead. As someone undergoing a physiotherapy program myself, I empathise. It is genuinely hard because recovery takes time. Just how long, however, is difficult to anticipate.

‍Paris, fashion, and never ending viral social media posts and campaigns. I’m describing the key elements of ‘Emily in Paris’, a global phenomenon that follows the exploits of Emily, a Chicagoan social media marketer and influencer living and working in Paris. We see her documenting her life in Paris on social media, always receiving love and compliments online. However what we don't see is the non-Hollywood romanticised side of social media: vile DMs, and harassment at scale waiting for her to review and escalate. 

Imagine for a moment standing at the entrance of a gigantic maze. You’ve navigated a few different mazes in your time and so are excited at the thought of this new challenge. At the end of the maze lies an incredible treasure, yours for the claiming, except for one small problem: you’re not at the entrance alone. You’re surrounded by people with a plethora of different experiences and abilities. Some have navigated this exact maze before and recall what twists and turns lie ahead. Others have been given helpful clues about what to look out for. A few are in the exact same position as you and they know this – so their plan is to copy what you do but faster and better. 

‍One of the most beautiful things about being human is our ability to experience many firsts as we age. Some of these, such as first wins, first failures, or first loves, leave an unforgettable imprint on our souls. A similar profound first, for those who want to experience it, is becoming a mother. The experience of bringing a new life into the world is uniquely transformative - you’re raw, yet calm. Vulnerable and fragile, yet strong. It is the most difficult thing you’ve ever done, yet it is purported that it’ll all come to you almost effortlessly. ‍

Dive into Startmate CEO Michael Batko's GBU update to learn what we've been up to this month.

Meet Beth, Head of Ops & People at Emmi!

Meet Simone Barakat, Chief of Staff @ Number 8 Bio!

If you haven't heard - We've just launched three different memberships: Ladymates Leadership, Ladymates Collective & Engineers Collective. Included in these memberships are "peer advisory groups" that meet once a month and form an incredibly valuable and popular part of the membership experience. Keep reading for more information around these peer advisory groups that we keep harping on about.

This cohort is ending online abuse, rethinking firefighting to make it safer and more effective, and building novel ways to support mothers post-childbirth. They are revolutionising the tender process, transforming the fitting room experience, finding new ways to extract oil, and re-creating the physio-patient journey. They’re creating a new thermal heating and cooling system to halve energy costs and emissions, catching bugs before your users do, enabling digital health companies to expand globally, and using human avatars for live interviews to power recruitment.

Dive into Startmate CEO Michael Batko's GBU update to learn what we've been up to this month.

Startmate offers some pretty epic L&D opportunities. Here are some hot tips for persuading your employer to invest in your education – even if there’s no set L&D budget or tuition reimbursement policy. 

In our Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to our first ever cohort of Startmate Collective - Leaders.

In our Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to our first-ever cohort of Startmate Collective - Leaders.

In our Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to our first ever cohort of Startmate Collective - Leaders.

In our Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to our first ever cohort of Startmate Collective - Leaders.

In our Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to our first ever cohort of Startmate Collective - Leaders.

In our Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to our first ever cohort of Startmate Collective - Leaders.

In our Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to our first ever cohort of Startmate Collective - Leaders.

In our Spotlight series, we’re introducing you to our first ever cohort of Startmate Collective - Leaders.

Since 2021, 13% (5/39) of Accelerator companies have come through Launch Club. Keep reading to learn more about the companies and what made them stand out.

Dive into Startmate CEO Michael Batko's GBU update to learn what we've been up to this month.

Dive into Startmate CEO Michael Batko's GBU update to learn what we've been up to this month.

Dive into Startmate CEO Michael Batko's GBU update to learn what we've been up to this month.

By offering proactive delivery prediction and efficiency, Keeyu is the holy grail for success that e-commerce businesses have been looking for. 

It’s a stomach-churning task, but there is hope for our planet's farmers and foodies. Queensland-based startup, Carbonaught. has exploded onto the scene with a radical new solution.

Graphics et al., the startup solving the IKEA problem for healthcare communication. 

Telemattica is taking a ‘Check Engine Light’ and converting it into a supercharged diagnostic tool. 

Venu founders Kieran Gardiner and James McArthur are on a mission to level the playing field for independent hospitality businesses.

Entrepreneur Lisa Lie founded Learna in January 2023. The app is a microlearning platform teaching conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and people skills you can master in under 10 minutes. 

Kite Therapy, a Victorian startup with the mission to make therapy significantly more affordable for kids with autism and developmental delays, by coaching parents to implement it at home.

Angela and Mani are the co-founders of Everbility, a documentation AI co-pilot for allied health professionals, to assist them with their administrative load, and ultimately help them “provide better health services and outcomes for their patients.” 

KiwiFibre creates natural fibre composite materials from Harakeke - a natively grown New Zealand wonder plant, and one of the world’s strongest natural fibres. 

NOA The Brand is on a mission to untether humanity from the world of cords, and their breakthrough tech could change the way we power just about everything. 

Dive into Startmate CEO Michael Batko's GBU update to learn what we've been up to this month.

Here are 10 people who have played an important role in shaping the Climate Tech Fellowship. We want to give the spotlight over to TEN of our speakers and advisors who have opened their minds (and their busy calendars) in our previous Fellowship cohorts.

Dive into Startmate CEO Michael Batko's GBU update to find out what we've been up to this month.

We sat down with Archer Simmonds and Davin Karunanayake, Summer’24 Student Fellows and co-founders (alongside Dhruv Verma) of Huddled (previously Grouptag) a student-first communication platform centralising class discussions, assignments and social messaging all in one place. Archer and Davin share their experience of the Student Fellowship, the evolution of their startup and why they have chosen to pursue the founder pathway.

We sat down with Charlotte Jones, Winter’23 Student Fellow who is passionate about entrepreneurship and startups. Alea shared her experience of the Student Fellowship, the startup she pitched during the Founder Challenge and why she feels drawn to founding.