LaunchVic announces strategy to accelerate Victoria's startups
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The news: Victoria's lead startup agency, LaunchVic has announced a new strategy intended to grow the number of startups and has made four board appointments.
The numbers: LaunchVic aims to increase the number of startups from 3,500 to more than 5,000.
Victoria's startup ecosystem has grown 23-fold from $5.6 billion in 2016 to $130 billion today.
The context: The new board appointments include:
- Charlie Day, chief executive officer of Jupiter Ionics;
- Chaman Sidhu, former chief legal officer at Xero;
- Brigitte Smith, co-founder and managing director of GBS Venture Partners; and
- Geoff Tarrant, co-founder of Payapps.
The agency's priorities include driving awareness through events and campaigns, supporting founder growth, and developing the private early-stage investor landscape.
A new program called Basecamp will launch in February to help seed to Series A founders make their first executive hires.
What they said: "We aim to see an increase in startups, stronger support systems for entrepreneurs, and more private sector funding for early-stage ventures. I welcome the new board members and look forward to contributing to this growth," LaunchVic chair Leigh Jasper said.
LaunchVic chief executive officer Kate Cornick said: "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".
The source: LaunchVic press release
