Meet Alexis, Founder And CEO Of HerHelp 💗

We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Alexis McDonald, a young and driven female entrepreneur based in Bunbury. Alexis founded HerHelp, a wellness app that has been making waves in the mental health and wellness space.

Q1: What did you do before starting HerHelp?
I started HerHelp in my bedroom at 17 and worked on developing it after school while procrastinating my ATAR studies. Unlike most kids, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, so creating HerHelp was such an eye-opener to me towards pathways and opportunities I never thought I could access.

Q2: How did HerHelp get started?
HerHelp started in my bedroom at 17 after being bullied growing up and realising that in school, we learn so much about English, maths and history, but when it comes to actual life skills like paying taxes, regulating your emotions, dealing with conflict, relationships with food etc I had no idea where anyone went, so I hopped onto YouTube and searched “how to make an app” to create the ultimate safe space online.

Q3: What’s been the most challenging thing about starting a startup in Western Australia?
Being a young female tech startup in a regional town in WA was super challenging because I truly couldn’t see anyone else like me doing what I was doing or even at times, understand what it was that I did. So the early days were very challenging, but now I have been doing this for 4 years, I have been able to connect and create a really amazing network, but it definitely didn’t start that way!

Q4: What piece of advice do you give aspiring entrepreneurs in Western Australia?
I would tell them that their age doesn’t determine their ability to do absolutely anything, if you see something you want, go out and grab it with two hands, it may just be the best thing you ever do.

👉 Discover HerHelp 

WA Founder Spotlight: Meet Esther, Founder of Agili8

We had the opportunity to interview Esther, the founder of Agili8, this month. Her award-winning smart glasses with deep learning capabilities are designed to reduce human errors, time delays, and knowledge gaps.

Q1: What did you do before starting Agili8?
Before embarking on my entrepreneurial journey, I was the Deputy Commercial Director in charge of 7 departments with 100 staff and 3000 contractors at a large global miner. 

I became Managing Director and subsequently Chairwoman for another mining exporter, winning multiple awards before starting Agili8.

Q2: How did Agili8 get started?
I founded Agili8 – an adjective meaning Empower to work Smarter. Faster. Safer as a Business For Good, when my second son lost his vision at 16 years old from misdiagnosis and delays during the COVID-19 lockdown, precluding a gifted child from more than 60% of the jobs in the workforce.

This made me realise that this misdiagnosis and delay problem leading to adverse events affect more than 136m people globally yearly.  

As I shared my story, I found many more people like me who had their loved ones taken away or robbed of a future like my son. So many babies and kids died prematurely, with people young and old all suffering from permanent disabilities, mental health issues and family breakdown, but 80% of these deaths and disabilities are preventable!
The root cause of this problem is often due to the frontline clinicians not having sufficient information, experience or expertise to diagnose the medical condition accurately. More often than not, they work under extreme stress and pressure to perform with long working hours in understaffed conditions to cope with complex cases they have never dealt with before. 

That’s when I decided to combine deep tech using extended reality, artificial intelligence and computer vision which we call XRAI Vision, to solve this problem by delivering knowledge on-demand in real-time. 
We connect front liners to remote specialists or AI assistance through lightweight smart glasses connected to a mobile app and web platform to empower humans to work Smarter. Faster. Safer, and deliver quality telehealth transcending time, distance and exorbitant costs with benefits to both patients and clinicians alike.

Q3: What’s been the most challenging thing about starting a start-up in Western Australia?
We don’t have a mature startup ecosystem like Silicon Valley or huge government and private sector funding like in Singapore. Investors in Western Australia tend to only invest in resources, property and blue-chip listed companies, which precludes most start-ups in other industries.

Ironically, despite Western Australia having one of the highest rates of self-made billionaires in the resources and property sectors, wealth or knowledge of successful entrepreneurship is not shared or flowed into the startup ecosystem here.

Unlike the US, Europe or Asia, where the economies are highly competitive with the survival of the fittest culture, Aussies tend to be very risk-averse to new technologies they don’t understand or even suspicious of out-of-the-box ways to solve problems differently. The Lucky Country mindset stifles innovation as we are too blessed and cosy with the status quo.
 
Q4: What piece of advice do you give aspiring entrepreneurs in Western Australia?
Don’t go alone. Be humble to seek advice or mentorship from those who have done it before. One great thing about Western Australians is that we are mostly kind and generous with our time and advice, so don’t be afraid to ask.

Also, surround yourself with great people who share the same PPE as you – Purpose. Passion. Ethics to make your vision a reality. That is the foundation of a great company that will last beyond your generation.

Don’t forget to treasure your loved ones and help those in need. After all, we all only have one life to live.

For instance, one project we did last year was to crowdfund for the Foundation of Indigenous Sustainable Health so we can deliver our telehealth solution to remote Indigenous communities who suffer the problem we are so determined to solve, especially when there is a huge lack of doctors in the Kimberleys. Deliver telehealth to Indigenous communities - Lift Women

Another project we are currently doing is to support Dr Tim Inglis with our solution in his London Marathon to raise funds for disabled kids. You can read more about how we use our innovation to optimise human performance, prevent injury, and create assistive technologies to help people with limited mobility.

I strongly urge the community to give generously and make a difference to those needing our help!

👉 Find out more about Agili8

WiTWA Shines A Light On Women In Technology

Women in Technology WA (WiTWA) is the leading advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) for women in technology in Western Australia.

Their goal is to attract and retain more women into tech [+] across WA. WiTWA supports those already in the tech [+] sector, helps upskill and reskills women interested in emerging areas of work, and inspires the next generation to embrace the opportunities these future skills unlock.

Their 4th WITWA Conference addresses the overarching topic of Driving Sustainable Change. The following topics will be discussed:

• "Unconscious" Bias - Can unintended attitudes and beliefs hinder diversity and inclusion?

• Securing our Future - Protecting ourselves at home and in the workplace in a hyper-connected world.

• Sustainability and Tech - Creating tech to meet the needs of the present without compromising the future.

• Thriving in Challenging Times - Creativity, adaptability and resilience - a recipe for success.

💡 View the full Program
👉 Get your Conference tickets

The WITWA Awards Night celebrates the incredible women, men and individuals who are making an impact on Western Australia, the community and the world, through the work they do in Tech [+].

The evening includes the awards ceremony, free-flowing drinks, canapés, entertainment, dancing, professional photos, and more at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

👉 Get tickets for the Awards Night
👉 Vote for the People's Choice Category

Source: WiTWA Tech [+] 2022

WA Founder Spotlight: Meet Erin And Damien, Founders Of Dark Stry

Dark Stry allows its users to go on a self-guided journey to discover the hidden world of Perth. Their tours contain immersive stories that blend photos, videos and audio.

Q1: What did you do before starting Darkstry?
I run a technology consultancy, The Exchange Collective, in my ‘spare’ time. Dark Stry’s ’30 day from idea to market’ launch challenge was driven largely by necessity… I only had four weeks between finishing one major client project and starting a new one. 
 
Prior to Dark Stry, I had a previous start-up, Ignitzee, that provided a series of automated tools to simplify business planning for small business owners. While Ignitzee never made it to the big leagues, we still use several Ignitzee tools behind the scenes as part of The Exchange Collective.

Q2: How did Darkstry get started?
At least one bottle of bubbles may be responsible for Dark Stry...
At the start of 2022, my co-founder and I were frustrated at how many hospitality venues had either completely closed or substantially reduced their hours in the Perth CBD. We wanted to see more people in forgotten spaces. Our favourite thing to do when travelling is to do walking tours. We’ve used some pretty terrible walking tour apps in our time, and coming from an innovation background, we figured we could do it better to get people back out and about. So, we did. Dark Stry is our love letter to all things Perth.

Q3: What’s been the most challenging thing about starting a start-up in Western Australia?
We don’t fit neatly into a box, so like most start-ups, we’ve found working with process-driven organisations challenging. Engaging with local government, insurers and accreditors has required out-of-the-box thinking! We don’t have scheduled events, set geographical boundaries, make traditional art, have named participants or write proprietary code. We’ve had to do some deep thinking to squeeze what we are done into their existing processes and guidelines rather than expect flexibility. 
 
Q4: What piece of advice do you give aspiring entrepreneurs in Western Australia?
Get a working prototype as quickly as humanly possible! It is totally normal to be embarrassed by what it looks like. Our early codeless prototype was critical for us to understand who we are targeting and what they are willing to pay for. We found out very quickly that young people aren’t interested in historical pub crawls – they are drinking less than any other demographic. But they do love true crime! This has driven a sense of urgency for our Murder and Macabre walking tours, which we will be launching in the next quarter.

👉 Explore Perth with one of Dark Stry's self-guided tours

Plus Eight Sprint: 6-Week Business Growth & Startup Pre-Accelerator Program

Plus Eight Sprint is a 6-week pre-accelerator program run by Spacecubed. The program connects you with a community of successful mentors, investors and advisors to help you take your startup idea to the next level and provide the content and environment to grow your skills as a founder.

The Plus Eight Sprint program provides you with the connections and support to turn your early-stage startup into a sustainable business. So throughout the program, you can expect:

• Structured Content with masterclasses, peer-to-peer check-ins and practical assignments;

• Growth Network, full of alumni, mentors and the Spacecubed community;

• The chance to pitch for a Golden Ticket straight into our Accelerator Program.

This program is valued at $3,000 for each business but has been subsidised thanks to the support of Spacecubed and their overall mission to empower and support 1,000,000 change makers and entrepreneurs by 2030.

💡 Find out more about the program outline
👉 Get your tickets

Source: Spacecubed 2022
Photo Credit: Spacecubed

Discover Western Australian's Startup Ecosystem With Dealroom WA

Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson announced the launch of Dealroom WA at Perth Morning Startup. Dealroom is an online platform that collects and displays information on startups, innovators, scale-ups, corporates, funding rounds, and investments across Western Australia.

The platform provides real-time and historical information on WA's startup and innovation ecosystem, including support systems such as accelerator programs, co-working spaces, universities, grants and assistance.

"Through the platform, we can showcase the scale and expertise across the state's innovation sector, which supports our local startups to engage investors, service providers and policymakers.”
- Minister Stephen Dawson

This will be a giant leap forward in the growth of the WA startup sector. Collecting these data is something that StartupWA has been advocating for to government and industry. Now it’s important that we encourage all WA startups to use the platform and help keep the database updated.

These data will allow StartupWA and Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation to build a stronger business case for increasing funding and support for the ecosystem so we can continue to become a world-leading tech startup hub.

You can add your startup to Dealroom WA - if it's not already listed - via this link for free 👉 https://wa.dealroom.co

Source: Media Statement, Government of Western Australia 2022

StartupWA Meets Hon Stephen Dawson MLC, Minister for Emergency Services; Innovation and ICT; Medical Research; Volunteering

StartupWA's chair, Jason Balchand, had the pleasure of meeting with Minister Stephen Dawson to discuss the WA startup ecosystem on behalf of StartupWA. It’s good to have a Minister in the portfolio who’s so passionate about the sector and wants to support startups to create a thriving ecosystem.

Some of the topics discussed were:

• How Government procurement may be able to help advance gender equality in the tech and startup ecosystem.

• The CivTech procurement model and how it may be of benefit to the Government.

• The increased amount of investment capital available to WA startups through funds such as Quokka Capital, FundWA, BetterLabs, Tractor Ventures, and more.

• How we can shine a brighter spotlight on the state’s startup success stories in order to better position WA as one of the world’s best startup hubs.

• The importance of supporting startup founders through tailored education programs that give founders the practical knowledge and tools they need to grow their ventures.

• StartupWA’s upcoming series of roundtable discussions which seek to better understand opportunities in resources tech, web3, and esports and gaming.

• What the role of Chief Entrepreneur could look like.

The team at StartupWA is looking forward to continuing to work with Minister Dawson, Charlie Gunningham, and the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation to grow the sector and show the world how awesome and innovative the WA ecosystem is.

Photo (from left to right): Minister Stephen Dawson and Jason Balchand, Chair StartupWA.

Tattarang launches Tenmile, a $250m venture capital fund for medical technology start-ups

Andrew and Nicola Forrest are backing a new Perth-based venture capital fund. Tenmile is a dedicated health technology investment business owned by Tattarang, one of Australia’s largest private investment groups. With an initial capital allocation of $250 million, Tenmile can act fast and with confidence, investing without the constraints of most venture capital funds.

Tenmile Executive Chair, Dr Steve Burnell, said while there was some government funds for startups in the incubation phase but “beyond that it is a bit of a cliff they will fall off” because so few know how to develop ideas into a business model or product.

Mrs Forrest highlights, “Tenmile is another demonstration of our focus in using capital as a force for good and will apply Tattarang’s responsible investment framework, including backing female-founded and led health businesses."

👉 Read the full article

Source: Adrian Lowe, The West Australian, 2022; Ten Mile Ventures 2022.
Photo: Tenmile chief executive Dr Steve Burnell with Carina Biotech CEO Dr Deborah Rathjen. Credit: John Nieddu

West Tech Fest returns to Perth from Sunday 4 December to Friday 9 December 2022

As part of West Tech Fest Community Drinks, the WTF team shared their exciting plans for the 2022 festival program, which will be bigger than ever. As well as the return of West Tech Fest Conference, West Tech Women and Freo Startup Fest, #WestTech2022 announced a suite of new events and programs, including:

• An Innovation Showcase invites the public to discover the diverse technology, entrepreneurs, and scalable businesses being developed in Western Australia.

• A Sunday Sundowner Opening Night event held poolside at Joondalup Resort.

• The 2022 WA Innovator of the Year Awards Ceremony is taking place at the festival for the first time, celebrating outstanding Western Australian companies that have developed an innovative product, technology or service.

• A Cybotics AI Conference showcasing the best innovations Western Australia has to offer in cyber security, robotics, data science and artificial intelligence, delivered in partnership with the City of Joondalup.

• A Young Entrepreneurship Showcase powered by Student Edge, providing an opportunity for young, aspiring entrepreneurs to promote and showcase their startups to the business community, investors, and general public.

• A revised format of Rotto Tech Fest, allowing for greater access whilst maintaining the intimate nature of the event, taking place at the conclusion of the festival on Friday, 9 December.

This year West Tech Fest runs from Sunday, December 4th to Friday, December 9th. Single tickets go on sale on Monday, 17 October.

👉 Subscribe to WTF's newsletter to get the latest updates.

Source: West Tech Fest

The Cost Of Capital - Exploring Founder-Friendly Funding

After seeing the Tractor Ventures' Cost of Capital tour details on Twitter, Dave from Morning Startup asked them to add a stopover in Perth. And guess what, they did! Jodie Imam, Tractor Ventures Co-Founder & COO, and Garry Williams presented to a full house at Morning Startup earlier this month.

Jodie provided insights about Tractor Ventures' non-dilutive strategic funding for AU and NZ tech founders. She notes, that the revenue-based financing alternative is a growth-friendly funding mechanism. The revenue sharing agreement is based on a % of monthly revenue to repay that allows companies to share their revenue risk.

Currently, they fund between $50k and $1 Million. Their guide is 2 - 5 times your monthly revenue. Tractor Venture advises founders to think carefully about how much capital they can practically deploy over a 6 months period. 

Tractor Ventures fund:

• Technology-first companies

• Predominantly SaaS, but also e-commerce, marketplaces and more.

• Base requirement of $15k+ monthly recurring revenue.

• Companies with a maturing growth engine.

So far they have provided non-dilutive strategic funding to over 50 companies. Their average loan size is $300k+. Within the next 6 months, there is $20 million in capital to deploy.

👉 Find out more about or apply for Tractor Ventures' revenue-based finance model.

Source: Jodie Imam, August 2022 and Tractor Ventures homepage 2022

From Founder To Venture. What VCs Don't Tell You About Raising Seed Capital

Morning Startup invited Shahirah Gardner, Founder of Finch and Board Member of Skalata Ventures to provide insights about raising capital.

Here are our top five takeaways:

1. VCs are looking for the grand slam. They always evaluate a startup's potential to get x return on investment. Startups need to show at least 10x.

2. In a pitch, VCs assess:

   • Founder risk: is the founding team coachable and open to advise.

   • Market risk: how attractive is the market size.

   • Product risk: defensibility.

   • Competition risk: what competitor exists and what is the startup's unique value proposition.

   • Technology risk: innovation.

   • Timing risk: is it too early or too late.

   • Marketing risk: how does the startup acquire customers, and for what costs.

   • Financing risk: what capital is needed, and when do VCs get their 10x return on investment.

3. A slow maybe, it's a no. Things that VCs say, but actually mean 'no', are for example: "We'd love to get in on this as soon as you find a lead investor!" or "Sounds interesting, can we meet in four weeks?".

4. Don't stop pitching to VCs until the money is in your bank account.

5. Do your due diligence on VCs. It is important to find the right investor-startup fit. Helpful questions to ask VCs are:

   • What else can you bring to the table?

   • How have you helped your portfolio companies?

   • Who can you connect us to?

   • Why should we accept your funds?

The Skalata Venture Team offers free office hours, where experts provide advice, help to point out blind spots and offer a fresh perspective.

👉 Book a  free 30min online session with one of their experts.

Source: Shahirah Gardner, July 2022.
Picture: Morning Startup

McGowan Government Commits $1.2 million To New Creative Technology Innovation Hub

McGowan Government invests $1.2 million over four years to establish the State's first Creative Technology Innovation Hub in Bunbury

• The WA Creative Technology Innovation Hub (WACTIH) will contribute towards a future WA and its regions by harnessing creative digital industries

• WACTIH is funded through $16.7 million New Industries Fund

Support for regional creative enterprises is set to receive a boost, with the State Government investing $1.2 million over four years to establish the State's first Creative Technology Innovation Hub in Bunbury.

The WA Creative Technology Innovation Hub (WACTIH) was announced today by Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson in Bunbury, and will operate in collaboration with the State Government, Edith Cowan University, City of Bunbury and industry to stimulate and grow Western Australia's emerging creative and immersive technology industry.

The hub will assist in growing a future ready workforce, entrepreneurs, start-ups and innovators in WA and its regions. The hub will focus on creative digital industries including gaming, experiential and immersive technology, software development, product design, advertising, film and media.

The WACTIH will help businesses and creative enterprises grow by linking research, entrepreneurship and education in the use of digital and immersive technologies.

👉 Read the Media Statement

Source: Media Statement, Government of Western Australia 2022
Photo (from left to right): Prof Cobie Rudd, Minister Stephen Dawson and Member for Bunbury Don Punch MLA.
Photo Credit: Startup News

WA Founder Spotlight: Meet Mihailo And Jordan, Founders Of Envited

Envited allows you to easily host and share events with your friends, family and colleagues across any social media. Imagine if Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, Discord or Group Chats had events.


Q1: What did you do before starting Envited?

Mihailo: I was at UWA finishing my Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Jordan: I was a student at UWA studying economics and data science.

Q2: How did Envited get started?

I (Mihailo) came up with the idea after chatting to a few first year students at orientation day at UWA last year (2021). They asked me how they could follow uni events and I told them on Facebook, but they said they didn’t have Facebook and only had Instagram and Snapchat. I asked them how they hosted & got invited to events and they said they didn’t really have a way other than group chats. It made me realise there was no alternative to Facebook events for people who didn’t use Facebook. This idea kept festering in my mind for a few weeks, and I told my girlfriend, Anica, about it and she suggested I meet up with her friend Jordan because he was technical and could code it. Jordan and I went for a burger & beer at Varisty Bar - next to UWA - we hit it off, and that night envited was born!

Q3: What’s been the most challenging thing about starting a startup in Western Australia?

Mihailo: It’s very difficult to get funding in WA, especially as a very early stage company. WA Government grants are nowhere nearly as founder-friendly as the one’s in NSW and VIC, none of the big Australian VC funds have offices here, and WA investors tend to have a bias towards investing in mining and property as that’s what we’re known for, so as a non-mining, non-property tech company the conservative nature of WA’s startup funding ecosystem meant that we had to raise money from a Sydney-based VC fund. I would love to see this change in years to come with investors being more risk-tolerant, diversifying their portfolio companies, and offering to match higher valuations that companies who raise on the East Coast tend to get.

Jordan: I found the scale of the start-up community in WA to be quite small. We have met some amazing people from the start-up community here in Perth, that have helped us immensely along the way. However, I found that with the community being so much larger over east the opportunity to meet and interact with people who work in or are passionate about start-ups is so much higher. In saying that, I have noticed a huge increase in the number of people who are interested in the start-up world since we started this journey around a year ago. I look forward to seeing how this community in Perth grows and develops and what the next generation of WA entrepreneurs do to shape the world.

Q4: What piece of advice do you give aspiring entrepreneurs in Western Australia?

Mihailo: Australia’s most successful tech startup, Canva, started at a home in Duncraig. Goes to show you WA is a pretty great place to start. The hardest thing, however, is starting. Most people will have a billion dollar idea in their lifetime. Less than 1% will ever actually turn that idea into reality. Be that 1%.

Jordan: I would say just go for it. No matter what people think or how little resources you have, you will never have a successful company until you start one. The hardest part is starting, you’ll figure the rest out as you go.

👉 Support your local startup by creating your next event with Envited 🎉

Building Blocks of a Business for CORE Start cohorts

Kay Solanki, Director of StartupWA, was invited to hold a group mentoring session for the current and past CORE Start cohorts.

CORE Start focuses on helping founders to efficiently scale and enact change through the ongoing development of emerging technology and innovation over 3 months. Australian startups in the Mining, Oil and Gas, Resources, Energy, Defence and Space industries may be eligible.

Kay's session addressed three 'Building Blocks of a Business', such are:

1. Business Structure: The importance of a written partnership agreement identifying the duties of responsibilities of the founding team members.

2. Funding options: Understand the available funding options such as revenue, family and friends, Angel investment, Venture Capital investment, Crowdfunding and Bootstrapping. Kay also highlighted the advantages of the R&D tax incentive.

3. Mentors and Advisory Board: The benefits of getting advice from external subject matters. Founders often have the misconception that they have to monetise mentors or advisory board members. However, there are many people who like to give back to young businesses and/or like to get experience at an advisory board level.

Photo: Kay Solanki (left) and Renu Kannu (right)

StartupWA Summit Series 2021

One of StartupWA’s strategic objectives for 2021 was to explore WA’s diverse startup ecosystem from different angles in order to develop inclusive recommendations and advocacy messages to Government and Industry. 

With support from the WA Government New Industries Fund, StartupWA organised a series of events during the second part of 2021 comprised of three separate summits: 

1. StartupWA Female Founders Summit (Lead - Kate Brooks) 

2. StartupWA Indigenous Founders Summit (Lead - Leslie Delaforce)

3. StartupWA Regional Founders Summit (Lead - Tom Goerke)  

StartupWA enlisted the help of Senior Management Consultant and World Café facilitator, Dee Roche, to provide the overall design of the three summits using the World Café methodology.

Each Summit ran as a single world café event by chosen facilitation consultant and included approximately 50 invited attendees from across the WA startup ecosystem (entrepreneurs, government, universities, investors, large corporations, incubators, mentors and support service providers). Each summit explored a series of questions that matter to identify emerging themes and collective actions.  

A Book of Proceedings was produced after each Summit to record the discussions that took place and capture the emerging themes.

StartupWA’s commitment to promise is to collate the key findings from each Summit and present them as one single StartupWA report.

The StartupWA Board would like to thank everyone involved with the Summit Series 2021 - organisers, facilitators, and attendees. The StartupWA Summit Series was made a success because of the passion motivating everyone involved. 

StartupWA likes to thank Bethan Winn for facilitating the Female Founders Summit, Kali Norman for facilitating the Regional Founders Summit and Rhys Paddick for facilitating the Indigenous Founders Summit. Special thanks to Dee Roche for providing StartupWA with her rich knowledge and advice.

Sherin Breuer Joins StartupWA as Support Officer

In December 2020, StartupWA announced a series of new initiatives and $160,000 in support from the WA State Government. 

To enable StartupWA to deliver these initiatives and grow the startup ecosystem in Western Australia, it has appointed Sherin Breuer into the newly created role of Support Officer. This new role has been made possible through the WA Government New Industries Fund – Unsolicited Bids Program.

Sherin has a long history of working in the startup world; having previously been involved with startups in Berlin, London, Singapore, and most recently, Perth. She brings a strong operations skillset to StartupWA and will play a pivotal role in the organisation delivering a series of summits over the next two years.

Sherin says she is delighted to be joining StartupWA on its mission to help Western Australia to be recognised as a global hub for entrepreneurial and technology talent.

StartupWA Chair, Tom Goerke, commented, “StartupWA is excited to appoint Sherin Breuer as our Support Officer funded by the WA State Government. Sherin brings a wealth of startup experience and will provide a great resource for the startup community here in WA. Look out for Sherin as she will be hanging out in the WA co-working spaces.”

If you do see Sherin at one of the co-working spaces, be sure to say hello and have a coffee with her.

2021 State Election Priorities for WA's Startup Sector

We want Western Australia to be recognised as a global hub for entrepreneurial and technology talent, where the value that startups bring to the economy is widely embraced.

StartupWA supports the WA Government’s focus on the need to diversify our economy and strongly believes that startups play an integral role in creating new industries and net new employment.

StartupWA is a not-for-profit, representative organisation which promotes the growing startup sector in Western Australia. StartupWA aims to accelerate and advocate for the startup ecosystem that includes investors, technology hubs, accelerator programs and early-stage technology businesses.

The need for local supply chains, advanced technologies and digital skills has never been greater and the startup sector plays a crucial role in moving WA forward.

StartupWA is keen to see the startup sector benefit from a level of government support that reflects the high economic value that startups unlock for WA and in line with other similar-sized business sectors.

StartupWA welcomed the $16.7m New Industries Fund released in 2017. This fund has now run its course and StartupWA are excited to see what the state government will invest in the sector going forward.

StartupWA proposes the following initiatives be supported and/or led by the WA Government:

New digital economy jobs

1. Create a government-led co-investment fund.

2. Lead on-going quantification and analysis of the economic impact of startups. 

3. Incentivise investment with government and industry in startups.

Government contracts for startups

4. Develop and fund a government led GovTech initiative to unlock solutions to government issues while creating new businesses in WA.

Promote the sector: 

5. Promote entrepreneurship in high schools as a viable career option.

6. Attract international talent to migrate and/or return to WA to create new startups and invest in the sector. 

7. Engage tourism agencies to promote WA’s combined attractions of lifestyle and innovation.

8. Fund the role of State Chief Entrepreneur.

Building innovation infrastructure 

9. Partner with Industry for an Automation Centre of Excellence to showcase WA.

10. Build a technology precinct enabling co-working spaces and laboratories.

StartupWA announces new initiatives and $160,000 support from WA State Government

Western Australia’s peak startup advocacy body, StartupWA, has released its 2021 strategy and announced $160,000 in support from the WA State Government through their New Industries Fund.

From Minister for Innovation and ICT Dave Kelly’s media release:

“Working closely with StartupWA, the McGowan Government will provide $160,000 over two years to facilitate a series of summits aimed at showcasing local talent and start-ups as well as helping them access the opportunities they need to grow their business in Western Australia.

 The summits will be targeted at new opportunities for local early-stage businesses and start-ups, with a particular focus on female-led, Aboriginal and regional businesses.”

StartupWA Board chair, Tom Goerke said the support will enable StartupWA to strengthen the startup sector which is an important driver of new jobs and economic growth in Western Australia.

 “We are excited to have the support of the WA State Government through the New Industries Fund to deliver a programme of initiatives to strengthen and grow the startups and ventures that make up the startup and small-business ecosystem.”

 “This is a positive step forward for Western Australia and one that we hope will see support for WA’s startup sector go from strength to strength,” Mr Goerke said.

 “We see this support from the WA State Government as a positive step in the relationship with StartupWA and the startup ecosystem."

Launched in 2017, the New Industries Fund has supported new and emerging businesses across Western Australia.

Other State Governments, such as Victoria with their LaunchVic programme and South Australia with their Go2Gov SA programme are unlocking economic value through working with startups.

 About StartupWA

 StartupWA is a not-for-profit representative organisation that was established in 2015 to advance the startup industry in Western Australia

“We want Western Australia to be recognised as a global hub for entrepreneurial and technology talent, where the value that startups bring to the economy is widely embraced.”

The StartupWA Board of Directors for 2021 is:

●      Tom Goerke (Chair)

●      Rafael Kimberley-Bowen (Secretary)

●      Dr Kate Brooks (Treasurer)

●      Chloe Constantinides

●      Les Delaforce

●      Cam Sinclair

●      Kay Solanski

●      Jason Balchand

All Board Directors and our new Advisory Board are volunteers, giving their time to support this mission of helping grow opportunities for Western Australia.

 The StartupWA 2021 strategic objectives are:

●      Deliver the StartupWA 2021 Summit Series (three world cafe workshops to measure the pulse of the startup community in Perth and the regions)

●      Continue the rollout of the StartupWA membership model.

●      Increase StartupWA engagement in regional and remote WA. 

●      Expand Industry and Government engagement in startups

●      Secure long term funding partnerships.

WA: The State of Startups - Event Insights and Highlights

StartupWA, Techboard and our other event partners kicked of WestTechFest with an insightful review of the WA startup scene this year, including the Techboard 2017 WA Awards, presentations from a host of industry experts and the Minister for ICT & Innovation, Hon. Dave Kelly MLA.

City of Perth generously hosted StartupWA's WA: The State of Startups event, kicking off WestTechFest with  150+ startup community members, founders, industry partners and local, national and international guests coming together at Council House.

You can watch the video below and read on for relevant links and highlights.

The evening began with an introduction from Startup WA Co-Ordinator, Sam Birmingham, followed by presentations from:

• Hon. Dave Kelly MLA, Minister for Innovation and ICT; Science - who outlined the State Government’s focus and support for innovation following from the recent announcement of their New Industries Fund.

• Peter van Bruchem and Rafael Kimberley-Bowen, Co-Founders of Techboard - who showcased the year’s investment highlights and trends in local and national capital markets.

• Monica Wulff, Co-Founder of StartupMuster - who presented a range of interesting WA and Australia-wide startup data hot on the heels of releasing the 2017 Startup Muster Report.

• Alex McCauley, CEO of StartupAUS - who highlighted some of the key recommendations from the latest 2017 Crossroads report; and

• Andrew Outhwaite, Chairperson of StartupWA - who passionately articulated StartupWA's vision and path forward for WA as an innovative, sustainable and economically diverse place to launch and grow global ventures.

Minister Kelly began his keynote with a comparison between the State Government's first twelve months in office and startup life - "full of ideas but no money, the the classic definition of a startup."

He then went on to outline the Government's focus on initiatives that are likely to create and support new West Australian industries, including training and re-training workers, developing the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are crucial to the jobs of the future.

Central to this is the New Industries Fund, which Minister Kelly went on to explain is a $16.7m investment in broadening the economy - not just doing better at what we've always done, but also encouraging new industries to come forward and blossom. 

You can read StartupWA's more detailed summary of the New Industries Fund announcement here. Key points from Minister Kelly's address included:

• $4.5m of the total pool allocated to regional investment
• Continued support of programs such as the Innovator of the Year and innovation vouchers
• Support for industry-led innovation hubs
• And perhaps most relevant of all to those in the room - not all the money is committed yet; the Government is looking at new ideas for how to invest New Industries Fund resources to help create new Western Australia jobs.

The Minister's keynote was followed by data-intensive presentations from event partners, Techboard (16:30 - 28:30 in the video above), StartupMuster (29:30 - 39:00) and StartupAUS (39:30 - 50:30), all of whom then joined StartupWA's Chairperson for a panel discussion (1.01:30 - 1.09:30). 

Observations from the panel that piqued the crowd's interest included:

• Andrew Outhwaite's practical invitation to keep giving back to the ecosystem - "whatever we can do to collaborate and increase the likelihood of startups and founders getting the support they need"; and reiterating the value of data collection, evaluation and mapping of ecosystem growth.

• Peter van Bruchem advocating for more visibility and sharing - not just of startup's raw data, but also their news, stories, successes "to encourage and enable others to achieve what they might not otherwise have been able to achieve"

• Monica Wulff's challenge to the whole startup community to take our story mainstream, highlighting our achievements and the globally-scaleable businesses we are building, and how they are going to benefit Australia in the long-term - "change the narrative - tell your stories loudly and proudly" 

• Alex McCauley on the importance of connectedness - not just within co-working spaces and local startup communities, but across states and the whole nation.

After the crowd adjourned for startup community drinks and nibbles generously provided by the City of Perth, all while overlooking the picturesque Swan River, Peter and Raf returned to the stage to announce the winners of Techboard's 2017 WA Awards. 

You can watch the full video below. Congratulations to the winners winners for each category:

• Top Trending Up and Coming Company - Credi
• Top Trending Company - PowerLedger
• Community Award - Nate Sturcke

Insightful events on big-picture topics are just one of the activities StartupWA undertakes in service of its mission to create the local conditions, enabling the global success for the ventures of tomorrow.

Thanks to our event partners who made this possible:

• City of Perth

• Techboard

• StartupMuster - you can download their 2017 Startup Muster Report here

• StartupAUS - you can download their 2017 Crossroads Report here

• eGroup

• WestTechFest; and

• Niche Interview

Finally, thank you to everyone who came along in person or participated online, it was great to kick off the festive season with so many friendly startup community faces in the audience.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to our email list for periodic updates on events, surveys, advocacy and opportunities to help develop and support WA's startup community. You can also follow us on Twitter for more frequent updates, and even more opportunities to connect with the wider ecosystem through spaces, networks and events.