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Hey Startmate Family,

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This month, I’ll start with something “boring”: Fund Operations.

(don’t get me wrong, we actually love this stuff <3)

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Over the last 12 months, we’ve overhauled our entire investor experience:

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It now starts through Single Form Investor Onboarding (Passthrough), continues with one stop Anti Money Laundering checks (FirstAML) and culminates on our full Fund Reporting and Tax overview platform (Fundpanel).

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We didn’t stop there:

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We now have a full public overview of Startmate Funds.

And our investors get a Monthly Update of the investments we’ve made (we average ~5 per month) AND upcoming rounds that they can participate in, which brings them on the journey, but also helps our alumni raise.

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Why does it matter?

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We’re ANZ’s largest community driven seed fund.

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We raise ~$3m from 100+ investors every 6 months - our mentors, founder and fellow alumni.

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We need to provide a smooth if not magical experience to make the fund accessible to our community and be able to handle this many checks every 6 months.

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If you want to hear more about the funds - check out the full overview here!

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What’s on?

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🙏 Ask/invites

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• REFER to Startmate - HERE!
  • Do you know a Founder, Investor, Operator who has to do Startmate!
  • Refer them to Startmate, and we’ll give them all the info, help + loop back with you if/when they get into Startmate!
• Ladymates Leadership - apply by tonight HERE! 
  • What? Highly vetted, 3 month membership for women in startup leadership roles. Fortnightly exec coaching, peer advisory, and workshops, running from May 6 - Aug 2. Full info: here
  • Apply by TONIGHT, April 1: here
• S24 Investor Only Demo Day
  • 30 minute virtual call for investors to get across the progress of the latest Accelerator cohort and consider the companies for investment - RSVP
• W24 Accelerator applications are open!
  • 12 weeks laser-focused on your customer and building the best product.
  • Applications by 26th May - here
• W24 Student Fellowship applications are open!
  • Are you a student keen on exploring startups as a career? In 2 weeks you'll gain all the knowledge, practice and connections to get started.
  • Applications by 27th May - here

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🚀 GREAT alumni news

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• JigSpace (MEL18) has been named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2024 - Read more 
• Climate Tech Pitch = Startmate Alumni gathering - The Climate Tech Pitch Session for KPMG High Growth Ventures was 50% women, 50% First Nations AND 100% Startmate accelerator alumni - Read more
• Heaps Normal (MEL20) has partnered with Who Gives A Crap to launch a new non-alcoholic Cheeky IPA - Read more 

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😀 Good

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• Ladymates Launch - long time in the making, we went public with Ladymates in Forbes, our whole suite of offerings for women across all stages of their career.
• IWD was unreal - we hosted a sold-out International Women’s Day event for 300 women across Sydney and Melbourne and it was an epic success. It was such a fun night as we ran an event our way packed with a great panel, a workshop and speed friending all in one evening!
• Launch Club - kicked off strong with 130+ founders and many of them joining us for our weekly Wednesday co-working!
• Welcome Kate!! Kate has joined as our Investment Associate, and will be leading First Believers. Make sure to give Kate a big warm Startmate welcome HERE. A little bit about Kate:
  • Kate founded dog e-commerce startup, Waggly, and built it into a 7-figure business over 7 years before being acquired by Mad Paws (ASX: MPA) in 2021.
  • This is Kate’s first job back from mat leave! Kate has 2 little munchkins, Leo (4) and Louis (18 months)
  • Now, on the journey to become an angel investor herself and play a big role in contributing to our startup ecosystem, running First Believers has come at the perfect time.
• Women Fellowship Selection Nights are back - we brought back speed interviews for the Women Fellowship this cohort - such a great way to give coaches the opportunity to meet Fellows even before the program. 180 interviews with 30+ SM community members later… we have our final cohort!!

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🥴 Bad

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•  Farewell Ryan - we’re equally sad and excited for Ryan, our Head of Product, to be leaving Startmate after 3 years and to take off on a once in a lifetime trip around the world! The legend will still be around till Demo Day, so you’ll hopefully see him there!

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😵‍💫 Ugly

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• Climate Tech Fellowship Applications: Australia has a bit of a love / hate relationship with climate, one moment it is what everyone wants to do, next moment we’re all looking another way. That is reflected in a lower number of applications for our 3rd Climate Cohort, but fortunately a super high quality of applicants for the ones who are committed. Smaller but very committed cohort this time around.

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👏 Kudos - introducing a new section to say Thank You to the community!

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• Kudos to Tash Jamieson (Founder Fellow, Accelerator Alumni & WF coach/speaker) for running an AMAZING and candid WF community session on her journey through startups
• Kudos to Richard (surname yet unknown) who was the first person to jump on and refer 3 mates to Startmate within hours of the form going live on a weekend!

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Hope you enjoyed the read, fam!

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Reminder that if you'd like to receive future monthly Startmate GBUs, subscribe here. This includes a monthly GBU template for founders on sign up.

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