The Winter23 Demo Day cohort is here, and they are going to make our lives 100x better. They are running through brick walls to tackle the thorniest problems frustrating industries world-wide. From AI-powered recruitment and misdiagnosed prenatal ultrasounds to inflatable space solar panels and vaccine nebulisers, the Winter23 cohort is one of our most innovative yet.

Scared of heights? ‍A career as a rope access engineer will not be for you. ‍Those are the folks you see rappelling down high-rise buildings, checking the facade for safety and maintenance issues. ‍But for Defy-Hi Co-Founder Dr Abbie Widin, the best way to keep people safe at heights is to eliminate the risk entirely. This helps property owners meet their safety obligations.

‍For a long time, humans’ relationship to space has been characterised by NASA astronauts, high-tension countdowns and once-in-a-lifetime, billion-dollar missions.‍That’s ‘old space’, say Astrix Astronautics founders Max Daniels and Will Hunter.

Every now and again you hear about a technology that has so much transformative potential that it’s hard to wrap your head around it. ‍The team from Ubiquetherm humbly refers to their invention as ‘the next generation of heating and cooling.’ What they are actually creating, is a breakthrough product that could have dramatic and brilliant ramifications for virtually every human on earth - and give us an almighty leap towards solving our climate, energy, and economic challenges. 

When Dr. Anushi Rajapaksa was just 7 years old, she was so terrified of needles that she had to be sedated to receive a simple injection. Now, after 15 years of dedicated research, she and her team have created a breakthrough technology with world-changing potential. ‍“Misti is a multi-award winning, novel and non-invasive lung delivery system that uses ultrasound waves to turn life-saving biomolecules into a mist that can deliver treatments to the deep lungs.” No needle required. 

‍The first rule of business is to find a big hairy problem in need of a grand solution, so when Eric Fan and his team discovered a way to solve a challenge that plagued virtually every marketing manager on the planet, they knew they were onto something epic. ‍

Take a third-generation farmer with three startups under his belt and a serial innovator who’s turned algae into medicine and developed an AI mental health app for an A-league football team, and what you get is a recipe for magic. 

‍As co-founder Robhy Bustami puts it, BioticsAI sits at “the intersection where humanity and technology meet”. ‍Specifically, it integrates artificial intelligence with ultrasound imaging tech, to help detect and diagnose foetal abnormalities in unborn babies.‍

In an industry of shooting stars, tractors, dragons, and unicorns say hello to self-driving rocketship, Empathix. An AI-driven recruitment platform, founded by Olivia Dyet, this start-up transformed from idea to business in Startmate’s Launch Club in a matter of weeks. ‍Next, Empathix was announced as one of Startmate’s Winter23 Accelerator companies. Since then the company has only continued to grow. ‍

‍Imagine a billion-dollar idea that completely shakes up an industry. Typically, you might picture fancy new inventions or super complex tech stuff, right? But sometimes, the next big thing is just a clever and straightforward solution that revolutionises the way things work. That's exactly what Nomad Fleet is all about. ‍Will Smith, a civil engineer, and Mourad Kessas, a computer scientist, teamed up to create Nomad with one goal in mind: to be the iOS for the construction industry.

‍Imagine this: It’s 11:45 p.m. and a dedicated lawyer finds themselves deep into their nth document as they conduct due diligence for their client. Having sifted through masses of information all day, and knowing what is at stake, they ask themselves: what if there was a better way?

‍In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, a butterfly flaps its wings, and across the globe a poor business decision is made. Good decisions are at the heart of business success, however today most businesses cannot afford to spend hours contemplating the “right” decision. 

Sobering research from the Black Dog Institute has revealed that nearly half of Australian teachers are considering leaving the profession in the next 12 months, with workload and burnout post-COVID cited as critical concerns. ‍Ange Alcock, a former head of English at MacRobertson Girls School, says the average teacher spends about 6.5 weeks (WTF) of unpaid overtime on marking per year. Not only is this outright wrong, but the burden of extra work threatens to affect student outcomes, too. ‍

Ok. So we all hear the words “Product” and “Manager” thrown around. But WTF actually is Product Management and what does a Product Manager do?‍Why are they so flippin important? And why are they in such high demand? ‍Well. Let us tell you!!! 

If you’re lucky enough, at some point in your career you’ll be promoted into a management position.‍Typically, this looks like being given the responsibility of guiding, growing and getting outcomes from more junior staff members alongside managing your own workload. ‍Before you know it, you’re plagued with existential challenges that read sort of like rhetorical questions because of how unachievable they feel:

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

Recap of a webinar with Justin Angsuwat showing practical ways for HR, founders, and exec to handle these unprecedented times of change and stress to make sure their teams feel supported and motivated.

We’ve put together three tips (and a template!) that HR/People teams can use yourselves, and share with your managers, to help you get ahead of your plans and make the day a success, especially when in a remote environment.

Sometime in the last 20 years, the word “manager” has turned into the 4-letter-word of the business world. Everyone is now a “leader,” a “head of,” a “supervisor,” or a “team lead.” Even “boss” has made a comeback. People will do just about anything to not use the word “manager.” We’re here to sing from the rooftops that managers are amazing.

For many of us, it’s that time of year – performance review season! For HR and people managers alike, this period can feel overwhelming and draining. There is a lot to write, calibrate on, and discuss all while maintaining day-to-day operations. We’ve put together our top 5 list of things that can go wrong during performance reviews with proactive pointers for HR and People teams on how to avoid these common pitfalls.

Timing in life is key, and the inaugural Startmate Climate Tech Fellowship came into my life at a particularly auspicious time. I was looking to transition from Fin Tech to Climate Tech when Kristin Vaughan of Virescent Venture Capital recommended the Fellowship to me. I went in with high expectations and was not disappointed. I finished feeling overwhelmed and excited by the possibilities in front of me. 

In 2021, I was provided the opportunity to step into a product management role (PM) after years as a user experience (UX) designer. I said yes, and started learning on the job. ‍I wanted to supplement my experience with a more objective, structured environment to learn best practices. Startmate’s Product Management 101 Fellowship came at the perfect time. ‍

Employee evaluations, performance reviews, yearly appraisals – these events have many names, but they all boil down to the same purpose. We do them to ensure people know how they are doing and have a clear path to succeed.

People strive to become managers for a number of reasons ranging from impact to compensation and everything in between. Given the varied motivations for the role, it can be tricky as an HR partner to implement programs to make managers successful. We’re here to help, which is why we've partnered with The Mintable to run our Manager Fellowship.

When I embarked on the Climate Tech Fellowship, I was driven by my desire to channel my passion for addressing climate change into meaningful action. (Spoiler alert: this led me to land a role at Trace, an exciting Climate Tech startup).

Climate change, climate action, climatetech, greentech, cleantech, deeptech… the list of names and buzzwords goes on. No matter your definition, the future of business is green. Net zero. Carbon negative. Regenerative. Because it has to be. Coming from a non-climate and not-really-tech background, it felt daunting to even start wrapping my head around this world. ‍

As humans, it’s part of our survival instinct to try and quickly solve problems the moment they arise. This often results in missing the first and most critical step of taking time to understand the problem. There is no formal training on how to understand and define problems in school, uni, or at work. All of this contributes to why ‘Finding Meaningful Problems’ (PM101 Session 2) moulded my character and lead to subtle but enriching changes in my daily life.

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

It takes a village to raise a child. Likewise, it takes a village to build a startup. Launch Club is a golden ticket into the Starmate village – a buzzing, vibrant, ever-innovative and inspiring village. Launch Club fast-tracks and amplifies your village by creating connections with people who just like are at the beginning of their startup journey and looking to build their community. And You gain access to the knowledge, feedback and first-hand experience from some of the most successful and influential founders, operators and investors in ANZ's startup ecosystem.

Startmate Launch Club is the ultimate catalyst for early-stage startups, offering unparalleled opportunities to kickstart and propel your venture forward. It demystifies the startup journey and makes it accessible to aspiring entrepreneurs. Ultimately, the indispensable insights from each of the sessions and speakers provide you with business knowledge that is adaptable and beneficial for any career path.

‍You know those moments that turn your life around? Those experiences that broaden your horizons, connect you with the right people, and set you on a path you never thought possible? That's what Startmate's First Believers program offered me—a wild ride that has opened doors to opportunities I never thought possible. 

University students Kai Van Lieshout and Linus Talacko are using AI to create a new kind of grad job: startup founder.‍The second and third-year university students are the creators of Lyrebird Health, Australia's first and most widely used AI assistant for allied healthcare practitioners. ‍Lyrebird took out the top prize in a two-week hackathon in the Startmate Student Fellowship, a national program challenging a generation of young people to look to startups as an alternative career path. ‍Following this mighty win, Kai and Linus got a one-way ticket to Launch Club, where they spent the next ten weeks validating their idea, talking to customers and preparing for launch. 

Reflecting on my 11-week rollercoaster through Startmate's inaugural Launch Club fellowship, I can't help but marvel at how pivotal the experience has been. Shaking off the cocoon of my solo venture, I found a vibrant community that championed honesty, vulnerability, and camaraderie. Startmate, “the Y Combinator of Australia” as I affectionately dub them, has crafted an experience that makes the daunting task of starting and founding a startup feel accessible, inspiring, and exciting.

Ever had an idea that you were irrationally obsessed with? A brainchild so brilliant, it held the key to solving a big, hairy audacious problem, yet left you wondering: how do I start? Olivia Dyet found herself here. Then she decided to apply to Startmate’s Launch Club program. In a whirlwind of weeks, she validated and breathed life into their idea for Empathix, an AI-powered recruitment platform, and secured a highly coveted spot in Startmate’s upcoming Accelerator cohort. Here’s here extraordinary journey. 

✋The future of ✨work✨ 🤚— it sure is movin’ and shakin’. ‍We’re Zoom-ing, Chat-ing and Slack-ing, with the ways of working as-we-know-them continuing to evolve and shift — however one thing remains (mostly) unchanged, the humble CV.‍Hiring managers (and their Applicant Tracking System counterparts 🤖) are still sifting through hundreds of job-hopeful career love letters (resumes) in search of the perfect match.‍

‍When Connor Finlayson founded the Unicorn Factory in 2018, his intentions were simple: Find more clients to freelance for. ‍Today, the Unicorn Factory is the largest freelance marketplace in New Zealand. Wowza. ‍“When I started out, my plan was just to build a landing page so I could advertise myself and some friends as freelancers.” ‍“I had zero coding knowledge. All my experience was in sales and marketing so I didn’t really know where to start.”

Welcome to the world of angel investing and nope, it isn’t just for the super wealthy anymore. Startmate First Believers democratising angel investing, making it possible for trailblazers, like alumni power couple, Anna Cifuentes-Rius and Guillem Clemente to change the world through investing.

The Startmate First Believers program is more than just a learning experience; it's a journey through the world of startups and venture capital that fundamentally shapes your business mindset. It's an opportunity to immerse yourself in a dynamic community and gain insights from successful entrepreneurs, seasoned investors, and ambitious founders. This exposure to the exciting and sometimes less glamorous world of startups expands your horizons and equips you with the skills, mindset, and network to make your mark in the startup ecosystem.

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

With our No-Code Fellowship right around the corner, we thought it would make sense to spotlight some of the incredible community members leveraging no-code tools to change the world. Here are 7 of the most impressive Startmate companies and operators using no-code.

If the thought of naming your price and asking for what you want (and deserve) makes your skin crawl, you’re not alone. In particular, research tells us 32% of women never negotiate their pay at all, due to the fear of being denied, losing their job, believing they are inexperienced or unworthy, or simply not feeling equipped for the conversation.

When most people hear the word “code” in a sentence, they think of a complex arrangement of GREEN letters, numbers, and figures trickling down like raindrops against a black backdrop. It’s giving Matrix vibes.‍Or maybe that’s just me?‍If “code” is a mysterious puzzle of digital green rain, then WTF is “no-code”, how the hell do you use it, and Why TF is Startmate running a Fellowship dedicated to it?‍By the end of this article, you will have all the answers to these pressing questions. 

May Samali, a Harvard-trained and certified leadership coach (among many other things), is speaking to us as part of the Startmate Women Fellowship. “Ask yourself, ‘where am I now?’ If we’re deciding where we want to go, we need to first start with where we are currently at”. Referring to the Wheel of Life coaching tool, she asks us to consider where we’re at across each facet of our life (I’m feeling personally 💅attacked 💅).

Startmate’s CEO, Michael Batko holds the belief that we can create our own luck. He shared these musings with the current Women Fellowship cohort — “Luck is like a lightning bolt ⚡. Unpredictable, powerful, and easily missed in the blink of an eye. For luck to strike, you need to increase your surface area.” That surface area is your network — and the lightning strikes are the introductions, the coffee catch-ups and the ‘ins’ our network provides us. Put simply, Batko believes lightning strikes help us cut through the noise.

If you’re a living, breathing human on the internet, there’s a good chance you’ve stumbled across a Startmate. We’ve all seen that curious post appear in our feed — “Lachlan is a First Believer”, “Bonnie is a Student Fellow Coach”, “Tim is a Climate Tech Fellow” — the little update that suggests “✨I’m up to something✨”. So, what exactly are they all up to? And, what is this Startmate thing all about?

There’s no doubt, startups are hard work. The high-risk, high-reward environment characteristic of startups is a beautiful and chaotic way to test yourself. Suddenly you’re surrounded by passionate people with a shared vision, and you feel inspired. You start to believe in yourself. Believe in the mission. Your hard work has purpose and you become ambitious to succeed. But no one could have ever really prepared you for the unyielding deadlines, cosmic to-do lists, and sheer determination required of you every. single. day. 

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

In the spirit of honesty and transparency (two values we hold very highly at Startmate), we want to debunk the myths, clear up the grey areas and communicate unequivocally to our community what the Accelerator IS and ISN’T. We are covering it all. From the basics, to the nitty gritty. We want the Accelerator to be clear as day and if it still isn’t by the end of this article, we would love you to send your “questions and misconceptions” here: hello@startmate.com.au.

Every 6 months, we get 500+ applications for our Accelerator. There are three stages to the application process. The first stage involves submitting a short pitch video as well as written answers about your company, founder story and what problem you are trying to solve.

Startmate and Boundless Earth, the philanthropic venture of Mike Cannon-Brookes, are excited to announce their partnership to recruit and upskill 300 new founders and operators into climate tech startups over the next 18 months.

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

What if we realise that a traditional 9-5 career path isn’t for us? What if we're hungry for something more?

Revolutionary climate-tech startup Kelpy is on a mission to eliminate plastic packaging, replacing it with sustainably sourced, marine degradable seaweed bioplastics. 

If you haven’t personally experienced the horrors of renting, chances are you know someone who has. Renting is a painful experience further exasperated by the fact that a whole generation of renters have been excluded from the prospects of homeownership. But don’t despair. Leesy’s vision is to make renters love renting. 

We can debate over timelines or whether the movie ‘Transformers’ was in fact a documentary, but in the meantime, the future of self-driving transport is here and knocking at our door. Founders Tim Snell, Joe Bullock and Pat Ivory have been answering some of these knocks, launching Pitcrew AI in 2020.

It’s not everyday you meet a founder who has spent the last 20+ years solving some of the world’s greatest humanitarian issues. Cameron Higgins is a neuroscientist and the founder of Resonait, a med-tech startup innovating the treatment of depression. 

While Australia has wind and solar farms in abundance, getting that power into the main electricity grid is a tad more challenging than one might have thought. gridmo is a software platform tackling that challenge, and ramping up the rate at which renewable energy can be connected for regular, everyday use. 

AI-NC’s technology is revolutionising the software infrastructure of automated manufacturing – and if that doesn’t mean much to you, you’re not alone. But a big shake-up in this niche industry could have far-reaching effects in all manner of other sectors, all over the world.

Kiwi power-couple Sophie and Christian Silver are on a mission to rebrand mathematics for kids, through their app making learning engaging, personalised and genuinely fun. Polymath turns maths questions into games tailored to the individual, using situations kids might be familiar with.

If you asked Raj Bagri six years ago what her life’s purpose was, she would have told you it was to build an impactful company that will change the world. Today, she is the founder of Kapture, a climate tech startup that is decarbonising diesel generators to fight climate change. 

Mark is a serial entrepreneur with more than 15 years’ experience in the alcohol sector and two startups already under his belt. And while he didn’t necessarily set out to start a business this time, he realised that through tinkering in his Auckland garage, he’d stumbled across a global opportunity.

SplootCode founders Katie Bell and Mattia Fregola are on a mission to make coding simple, widespread and accessible to everyone.

Send the women in your life who are wasting their time in rigid, boring or soul-sucking roles to our Women Fellowship page.

We get a lot of questions about what actually happens in the Women Fellowship, so we’ve put together a bit of a BTS to give you some tangible ideas.

It’s not uncommon to see founders solving problems they’ve faced themselves. Jessica Dove London is doing just that – and founding stories don’t get much more personal, emotional and passion-fuelled than hers.

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

Agtech startup Flux is here to drive efficiency with precision farming and weed-busting robots.

Why climate tech? Why now? Why… you? To solve the world's greatest challenge, we’re going to need the world’s best talent.

Interested in one of Startmate's founder programs, but not sure where to start? We've broken it down for you here.

Why joining Launch Club will be the best thing you do as an aspiring or early stage founder.

The problems these 21 founders are solving are systemic, far-reaching and incredibly pressing — from treating depression and ensuring worker safety to democratising access to medical information and reducing CO2 emissions.

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.

Cricketer turned startup operator and investor Ed Cowan believes athletes are one of the startup world’s most under-utilised assets. 

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

Crunchbase News recently reported that overloaded families are turning to famtech — but this isn’t news to Eggy founders Kate Morgan and Kirk Reynoldson. 

Seventeen seasons with the Western Bulldogs taught AFL great Brad Johnson a thing or two about the slings and arrows of startup life.

“Athletic Ventures has been helpful in having something else I can identify with,” Matt de Boer tells Christie Jenkins.

Sport is one of the greatest education tools we have in our country.

"Elite athletes are an unusual group of investors that probably understand the struggles of the founder journey almost as well as other founders."

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

The Head of Finance & Fund Operations will holistically run Startmate’s funds and finance functions.

“In hindsight, I wish we had taken more time to celebrate our wins as we had them. It’s been a big journey to get here," says SoundSmith co-founder Gajan Nagaraj.

Lydia and Esther have both been athletes since they were teenagers. Now, they're also the co-founders of female fitness startup Femmi.

Billy Jeremijenko and Nelson Smith want to create an entirely renewable and global energy system. Take a moment and think about that.

Joey Moshinsky, Sonny Moshinsky and Richard Mathieson are on a mission to optimise STEM education.

Dennisson Technologies is "creating a muscle that you can wear on your body" which can move up to 900 times its weight.

A whopping 60% of children aged 6-17 are becoming infrequent readers — and Meena Tharmarajah is fighting this statistic head-on.

In 20 years, humanoid robot companions will be as common as the humble robot vacuum cleaner.

Alex Pan and the Storipress founding team are on a mission to build the future of culture. 

Let Phoebe Pincus introduce you to our motley, inspiring, ambitious and bullish Winter22 founders.

When Jack Philips kick-started Dexta’s growth trajectory in June 2022, he already had 10+ years of media experience under his belt. 

Xylo Systems is a conservation-tech startup fighting species extinction with tech and augmented intelligence.

Today, customer success plays a critical role in every startup’s growth trajectory and ultimate performance, while jobs seem to be popping up left, right and centre.

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

We're proud to invest in Aquila as part of our Winter22 Accelerator cohort. Here's why.

We're proud to invest in Andromeda as part of our Winter22 Accelerator cohort. Here's why.

We're proud to invest in Butter as part of our Winter22 Accelerator cohort. Here's why.

We're proud to invest in Dexta as part of our Winter22 Accelerator cohort. Here's why.

We're proud to invest in Eggy as part of our Winter22 Accelerator cohort. Here's why.