Momentum set to continue for Victoria’s $130 billion startup ecosystem Announcements LaunchVic, Victoria’s lead startup agency, has announced new board appointments and its new strategy to propel Victoria’s $130 billion startup ecosystem beyond its current growth rate of 23X since 2016. The four new directors include: Charlie Day, Chaman Sidhu, Brigitte Smith and Geoff Tarrant. Reappointed members include Leigh Jasper (Chair), Aneetha De Silva, and Ilona Charles. The new Board has expertise in startup creation, supporting scaleup growth, exiting multi-million-dollar businesses, investment management, university engagement and innovation policy as well as governance . Charlie Day: CEO of Monash University spinout Jupiter Ionics and former CEO of Innovation & Science Australia . Chaman Sidhu: Former Chief Legal and Company Secretary roles at Xero, Envato, and Lonely Planet. Brigitte Smith: Co-founder and Managing Director of GBS Venture Partners, managing $450M of investments in life sciences. Geoff Tarrant: Co-founded Payapps, acquired by Autodesk for $600M earlier this year. Priorities for LaunchVic include driving awareness and advocacy through events and campaigns; helping founders and their teams start, grow and scale global businesses; and continuing to develop the private early-stage investor landscape. Targeted grant rounds will continue along with LaunchVic’s successful 30X30 program and CivVic Labs. New focus areas for LaunchVic include working with Victorian universities to boost startup creation and a new program called Basecamp set to launch in February to help seed to Series A founders make their first executive hires. Victoria’s investment landscape will continue to be supported through the funding of a new investor education program, angel networks, and early-stage VC funds. LaunchVic Chair Leigh Jasper said LaunchVic was focused on growth. “We want to see more startups, more support and a more funding for early-stage startups. I welcome the new board of directors and look forward to steering this growth.” LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick said Melbourne’s startup ecosystem was maturing and had grown in value 23X from $5.6 billion in 2016 to $130 billion today. “We have come a long way but if we are to continue to sustain this growth and compete with other global startup cities, the number of startups in Victoria needs to increase from 3,500 to more than 5,000.” “Our new strategy aims to support the creation of as many viable early-stage startups as possible, support founders as they navigate growth; and continue to unlock private capital and develop the early-stage investment landscape in Victoria. ” Minister for Economic Growth Tim Pallas said the new additions to the board would strengthen LaunchVic’s impact and help more Victorian startups succeed and contribute to Victoria’s future prosperity. For more information visit launchvic.org/strategy KEY LAUNCHVIC STATS Since being established LaunchVic has: Upskilled 12,300 entrepreneurs Supported 1,402 startups Unlocked $1B + in private capital Created 2,225 jobs For media inquiries, please contact: Kate Gittings GM Communications and Marketing, LaunchVic kate.gittings@launchvic.org
