#31 What's Up, Adelaide? Monthly Update
Be in-the-know in the South Australian startup scene
What's up, Adelaide founders? I hope you had a fantastic holiday break and recharged your batteries for an amazing 2021. Following feedback from our community, I will change the format of the newsletter throughout the year. But don’t you worry, What’s Up, Adelaide? will keep its mission:
To inform and promote entrepreneurship and innovation in South Australia.
The Opportunities section will be updated on a weekly basis, although the emails will only be sent out on a monthly basis. The section Webinars and Meetups was renamed Key Events and will contain SA-based events or major entrepreneurial events that are relevant to our ecosystem. The section Featured Stories will be maintained whenever there is external content to be published. It will remain available for SA-based founders, investors, innovators and leaders who would like to share a story with the community (just get in touch). Finally, the Jobs section was restructured to offer more opportunities for the community. Please continue sharing your much-valued feedback!
Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash
Opportunities
🦼 Remarkable Disability-Tech — Due: Jan 31st
One in five people in Australia have a disability and Remarkable is on a mission to harness technology to build physical, social and economic inclusion of people with disability. Our 14-week accelerator program equips early-stage startups with seed funding and the knowledge, skills and tools needed to become commercially viable businesses that have a positive social impact. Find more
🌐 Denver Global Landing Pad — Due: Feb 1st
CEOs and founders from Australia and New Zealand are invited to apply for this seven-week virtual program that provides the education, introductions, and networking needed to expand into the North American market via Denver. Find more
🔋 Pitch to EnergyLab’s Cleantech Round 9 — Due: Feb 3rd
EnergyLab’s angel group is a unique network of investors who believe in the importance and potential of cleantech startups, can make decisions quickly and will continue to support you well after they’ve invested. Find more
🚀 Moonshot Accelerator Stage 4 2021 — Due: Feb 11th
Space startups are usually misunderstood and there are very few who really know how to support them effectively. We live and breathe space and deep-tech. We’ve built a program with access to key facilities, and have assembled an amazing community of experts from across the globe who want to invest both time and money to help you on your journey. Find more
🚀 Innovation Bay x Southstart Startup Showcase — Due: Feb 12th
Innovation Bay is teaming up again with Southstart to bring together Australia's brightest startups and the investors who want to fund them to Adelaide, for a special Startup Showcase on 4th May 2021. Find more
⚕️ Pitch at the Australian Healthcare Week — Due: Feb 28th
Returning for the second year running at Australian Healthcare Week 2021, the Pitch Fest is your chance to educate both the healthcare industry and leading technology players, about your organisation and the problems you help to solve. It will feature 8 of the leading health startups in Australia and New Zealand, battling it out to be crowned this year's champion. Find more
👩 Proper Her — Due: Feb 26th
Free training, mentoring and networking to help women launch build a successful business. If you have a business plan and have recently launched, or are ready to launch, your business, you can apply for this FREE online course. Equip yourself with the tools you need to succeed! Find more
💥 uSpark Accelerator Open Call — Due: Feb 28th
uSpark is a new type of business accelerator. Our unique partnership model builds the technology team your start-up needs to succeed. Located in Melbourne, Australia, uSpark is powered by Unico Computer Systems, one of Australia's most established IT services companies. Unico has a proven track record of success in delivering innovative technology solutions. Find more
📈 Y Combinator Summer 2021 — Due: Mar 15st
We think founders are most productive when they can spend most of their time building. Our goal is to create an environment where you can focus exclusively on building product and talking to users. Twice a year, we invest a small amount of money in a large number of startups. We have two batches per year — one from January through March and one from June through August. Find more
🍃 Founder Institute: Adelaide Virtual 2021 — Due: Mar 28th
As the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator, the Adelaide Founder Institute can help you: (i) focus on what's important, (ii) make smart decisions and (iii) build a global business. Since 2009, we have helped over 4,500 portfolio companies raise over $950M in funding, solve big problems, build products people love, recruit amazing teams, and more. Find more
🔋 Pitch to EnergyLab’s Cleantech Round 10 — Due: Apr 28th
EnergyLab’s angel group is a unique network of investors who believe in the importance and potential of cleantech startups, can make decisions quickly and will continue to support you well after they’ve invested. Find more
💻 Melt Accelerator — Due: Jun 29th
The MELT’s accelerator and incubator programs will revolutionize the way hardware Startups prove, prototype, pilot and produce globally scalable products and companies. Find more
⚕️ Medtech Actuator Accelerator — Due: applications accepted on a rolling basis for July cohort
From seed to series A in 15 months. Through intensive mentorship, industry collaboration, and capital raising support, you can achieve in 15 months what can typically take 3 years or more. The result is a road-hardened venture primed to compete and built for speed, ready to raise series A funding leading into clinical trials, regulatory approvals, at-scale manufacturing, and market launch. Find more
💡 Smart Regional Incubator — Due: 4th Tue of the month on a rolling basis
The UNE SMART Region Incubator accepts applications from new startups that are scaling up and ready to build the regional economy. Our focus is on startups bringing to market solutions for agriculture, health, environmental services and creative industries. Find more
🔋 Brinc’s Australian Clean Energy Program — Due: open year-round
A three month Clean Energy Accelerator Program in Sydney, that is uniquely designed to support Australian startups that have fully developed solutions, have established product-market fit, and are ready for commercialization. Find more
👩🌾 Spark Lab Cultiv 8 Accelerator — Due: open year-round
SparkLabs Cultiv8 identifies leading startups working on innovative food and agricultural technology. Our mission is to cultivate growth stage Ag and Food Tech companies with researchers, farmers, investors and global corporate partners, to help digitise agriculture and contribute to a more sustainable future. Find more
Government-backed Programs
🛰️ SA Space Innovation Fund — Due: multiple programs and dates
The South Australian Space Industry Centre is supporting the state’s emerging space industry by providing funding to grow jobs and build South Australia’s space ecosystem through the Space Innovation Fund. Find more
🗳️ SA Go2Gov — Due: open year-round
The Government of South Australia has established the Go2Gov
pilot program to encourage and support local startups and early-stage scalable businesses to bring innovative solutions to government as the first or reference customer. Find more
💰 SA Venture Capital Fund — Due: open year-round
To help build South Australian companies to a national and global scale, the South Australian Government has established the $50 million SAVCF that will invest in dynamic and innovative early-stage companies to accelerate their growth to a national and global scale. Find more
🤝 SA Mentor Program — Due: open year-round
Through the Office of the Chief Entrepreneur and the Department for Innovation and Skills, you are invited to register your interest in an informal mentoring service exclusively for South Australian startups and scaleups. Find more
🔬CSIRO Kick-Start — Due: open year-round
CSIRO Kick-Start provides matched funding for start-ups and small to medium enterprises to help access CSIRO's research expertise and capabilities to help grow your business. Find more
💰 Accelerating Commercialisation — Due: open year-round
Accelerating Commercialisation provides small and medium businesses, entrepreneurs and researchers with access to expert advice and funding to help get a novel product, process or service to market. Find more
🏭SMART Projects and Supply Chains — Due: open year-round
The SMART Projects and Supply Chains service provides businesses with access to strategic or high-value projects that increase business capability, meet the specific needs of a market opportunity, or otherwise improve business performance and leadership capacity. Find more
🧾 Research and Development Tax Incentive — Due: open year-round
The Research and Development Tax Incentive helps to offset some of the costs you put into eligible R&D, which benefits the wider Australian economy. Find more
💡 Innovation Connections — Due: open year-round
Innovation Connections assists businesses to understand their research needs, connect with the research sector and fund collaborative research projects. Find more.
🚢Export Market Development Grants — Due: open year-round
Export Market Development Grants reimburse promotional expenses for exporters aiming to increase their international sales. Find more
🔥 Ecosystem Resources
Y Combinator Startup Library
Over the past 15 years, we’ve created many videos, podcasts and essays as resources for startup founders. We’ve now consolidated them here in the YC Startup Library. Find more
The Guild Library
The Guild of Entrepreneurs created a curated library of resources containing 460 pieces of content to help you make the next step along the entrepreneurship journey. Find more
Flinders Legal Centre
Operated by Flinders University, College of Business, Government and Law, the Flinders Legal Centre operates a free legal advice service to the community. Through online appointments, our experienced supervising solicitors work closely with student interns and recent graduates to provide legal advice and information. Find more
Veromo Offers a $50 Discount to Register Your Business
Veromo is a smart business start-up engine, built for start-ups and entrepreneurs. We’ve fast-tracked starting a business into one simple, easy-to-navigate process – all for a fraction of the cost of a lawyer or accountant. Promo code: SUPAD$50. Valid on both: Business in a Box and Company Starter Package until 31 July 2021
Switch, Start, Scale
Entrepreneurship Facilitators provide practical assistance to support and encourage individuals to start a business as a way to create their own job. Find more
🦄 Incubators and Accelerators
Innovation and Collaboration Center
The Innovation & Collaboration Centre (ICC) is the University of South Australia's startup incubator. The ICC engages with the community through the delivery of community events, workshops and programs which draw on the research and professional expertise of UniSA and our partners, to support the generation of new startups and the growth of existing companies. Find more
New Venture Institute
Welcome to Flinders New Venture Institute. Operating out of the Tonsley Innovation District, we provide people and businesses with the tools to take innovation beyond the buzzword, locally, nationally and internationally. By connecting a vibrant ecosystem of startups, businesses and the humans behind them to our award-winning programs, events and educational pathways, we invite the next wave of disruptors to make their mark on the global workforce. Find more
Core Innovation Hub
CORE is Australia’s first innovation hub for the resources sector. We have established a national ecosystem for suppliers, researchers, entrepreneurs and industry to connect and collaborate on innovative solutions across mining, resources, energy, defence and space sectors. Find more
ThincLab
ThincLab is the place where unconventional thinkers can give their ideas an unfair advantage. It’s home to the creative thinkers, the rule-breakers, the challengers. The ones who see the world differently, and for whom ideas are everything and the future is unlimited. ThincLab is backed by the University of Adelaide. Find more
Founder Institute
The Founder Institute is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, having helped launch over 4,500 companies across 200+ cities and six continents. Find more
Foment: Australia’s Wine and Tourism Tech Revolution
FOMENT offers intensive acceleration to innovative wine and tourism tech companies who are ready to scale up and then connects them with businesses in the industry who are positioned to use their products and services. Find more
Female Founders
If you are a female founder or an ally this post has lots of ideas and programs to support you in building your startup or to help bridge the gender gap.
📅 Key Events:
Startmate Liminal Conference. Feb 1st-5th
Be inspired by world-leading women startup operators with non-linear yet exceptional career paths. After each session, join us in high-energy networking breakout rooms to share key takeaways and brainstorm ideas with kindred spirits. Find more
Front-End Adelaide: Feb Meetup In person!
Our first event for 2021 will be in-person and back at the Belgian 🥳
To kick off the year, we have two awesome talks on Web Optimization and Design System. Find more
South Start: The Emergence. May 2020
South Start is Australia’s leading curator of immersive and interactive adventures focused on helping humans to accelerate their network and knowledge in ways not traditionally found. We gather the best and brightest minds across Australia, NZ and beyond to connect and share through intelligent conversation, fabulous food and world-class wine. Find more
👩 Female Founders
Are you a female founder? Great! There are tonnes of programs to support you along your journey from idea to action. Follow the link below to find lots of programs for you.
💰 Venture Funding
Are you seeking venture funding for your startup? If so, consider reading my previous post #6 and have a look at the following database of venture capital firms and private investment groups.
👨💻 Jobs
If you are searching for your dream job startup job in South Australia, you should have a look at the SA jobs board through the link below:
This is all for today! If you like this post, leave a comment and connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn! If you would like to just say hi, or publish a story, event or job announcement on this newsletter, please drop me a line. Finally, click subscribe below to receive this newsletter every week by email.
Keep building,
Rob Blum