Events

Victoria is Australia's 'startup state', and Melbourne is at the epicentre. We operate within an ecosystem that is flourishing with over 2000 startups as well as investors, accelerators, co-working spaces, and more accross a myriad of different industries. We've had success stories with Lord of the Fries, Carsales, Nura, Vinomofo, and Redbubble rising to the international stage, and now, we want to shine a light on the best startups currently working and growing within our ecosystem The Pitch Night: Best of the Startup State with LaunchVic is open to startups from any industry. On the night, 4 finalists will pitch on stage at The Goods Shed to a room full of ecosystem players, fellow founders, and an expert panel of judges to win The StartupVic Prize Package. Timeline:

• 17 June - Applications Open
• 16 July - Applications Close
• 17 July - Shortlisted applicants announced
• 23 July - Pitch Training & Selection Session (for shortlisted applicants)
• 24 July - Top 4 Finalists announced
• 30 July - Pitch Night

To Apply:

• Please fill out this form by Tuesday 16 July.

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Prize Package:

• Austrade: Participation in the Landing Pads program at a location of your choice (Singapore, Berlin, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Shanghai)
• AWS: $5,000 AWS Credit to the winner and $1,000 AWS Credit to finalists
• Crazy Domains: 1 x hour consultation with a web expert and free comprehensive website health check, valued at $279
• Coglan Duffy & Co: 1 x hour of free legal advice
• Connect Labs: $4000 worth sales and marketing technology audit for your startup to get found, get leads and get customers
• General Assembly: $1000 credit for classes & workshops, valid for 1 year.
• Law Squared: $2500 credit to use the Cubed by Law Squared platform
• Northraine: 10 hours x machine learning training and consultation
• Prime Financial: 4hours x consultation for winner and 2hours x consultation for finalists
• SendGrid: $5,000 credit to winner and $3,000 credit to finalists
• Stripe: $50,000 of volume waived of Stripe fees
• SquarePeg Capital: 30mins x consultation with the team

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Major Partners:

LaunchVic is leading the development of a globally-connected startup ecosystem. With the help of startup founders, entrepreneurs and investors, corporates and universities, we aim to build a startup ecosystem that can strengthen the economy, encourage more people to work with and for startups, and represent all Victorians. Our focus lies in the areas of funding, community building and global recognition for the Victorian startup ecosystem.

Official Event Staffing Provider:

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Photos and video may be taken at the event and may be used for promotional purposes. Your attendance at this event is considered as implied consent for the use of these photographs for these purposes.

Crowdfunding (CF) is a vehicle for young companies to raise funds and attract first wave customers in the crucial early days of bootstrapping a brand launch. Startups may offer merchandise "rewards" or equity in exchange for pledges from the public. The design and marketing of a startups campaign can make or break its success at raising capital. Join us as we interview CEO, Alan Crabbe of Pozible and Birchal Equity Crowdfunding through several case studies of food, beverage and agtech campaigns. Dissecting what went right, and perhaps more importantly how it can go wrong..

Venture Cup is an annual pitching competition led by Swinburne's Innovation Precinct. If you could use some funding to kick start your startup - this is the place to be! We’re giving $20,000 to a founder who delivers an outstanding pitch. Convince us your business idea is best-in-class by telling us about the market potential of your venture and how it addresses an unmet need for your target customers. Your journey through Venture Cup starts by submitting a video entry of your pitch. This will help us decide who will participate as a finalist for the Venture Cup pitch night. Finalists will receive one-on-one coaching from the Innovation Precinct team, and successful founders. To prepare you for the fierce competition, we have created a series of workshops to help you develop your winning pitch. Come along to our story telling workshop and info night/how to pitch workshop to find out how to share your startup story in a succinct and engaging way. Venture Cup is a pitch competition open to early-stage ventures that are pre-investor funded. To be eligible for the program, a founder from your team must be a current Swinburne student, staff, or alumni.

Experience Wines of Character and Integrity in a group of entrepreneurs, business owners and wine fanatics... Welcome to the "not so cheesy" wine tasting & networking event on Wednesday July 3rd - 5:30pm at CoWork Me St Kilda. Bring your best wine friend and a clean palate for this wine tasting, served with some yummy cheese and great tunes. An opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs, business owners and wine lovers over a glass or two. Tickets are $12 and includes a beautiful selection of wines, cheese, enjoyed together with other likeminded people. We have invited wine expert Darren Jahn for a special presentation of Robert Oatley’s award-winning wines from Margaret River & McLaren Vale. Robert Oatley Vineyards, founded by the late Robert (Bob) Oatley AO BEM in 2006, is a family owned winery led by his eldest son Sandy Oatley who, with his father, brother and sister, planted the first Oatley vineyards in the late 1960s. Focussing on wines from Margaret River and McLaren Vale, their home is in the stunning Margaret River, with a vineyard, cellar door and restaurant in Wilyabrup, in the heart of this great wine region. Consistently scoring over 90 points with the critics and having collected too many medals to detail, a number of the wines have been or are trophy winners; but, most importantly, they’ve resonated with the wine-loving public around Australia and the world.

USE THE PROMO CODE 'SPARKSTARTUP' FOR 50% OFF YOUR TICKET PRICE. 'You can't be what you can't see.' — Marian Wright Edelman SPARK Deakin will be hosting a screening of Dream Girl a documentary showcasing the stories of inspiring & ambitious female entrepreneurs that premiered at Obama's White House. We know the names of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. But what about the female entrepreneurs? From brand new startups to million-dollar industries, it’s time we stop telling girls they can be anything they want to be and show them what it means to be a leader. With less than 2% of global venture capital funding being invested in women it's time we make a ruckus. After the screening, we will engage in a panel discussion featuring three dedicated and outstanding women from Melbourne’s own startup ecosystem. Stay tuned as we will reveal the panellists soon. Our friends at Pause Fest are also throwing in a couple of Creator tickets to 2020 Pause Fest to give away (valued at $295 each). Buying a ticket will automatically put you in the draw to win. Pause is the world’s leading creativity-infused business event celebrating a decade of Australian innovation

Calling all innovators! Activator LaunchHUB applications are now open. If you have been working on a startup idea that is on the cusp of market launch, and you're looking for the right kind of support and resources to boost your success, then LaunchHUB is for you. LaunchHUB is Activator’s offering designed to support RMIT affiliated startups progress towards market launch. The 12-week experience is designed to amplify your startup journey’s success by providing the accountability, support and resources you need to get you to market faster. It is a community-centred experience based out of Activator's Melbourne CBD co-working space with benefits including: * 24/7 and fixed desk in the Activator CBD co-working space * Cohort based accountability and support * Startup coach & mentors * Professional Advisory * Access to RMIT interns * Network building & exposure opportunities * Access to workshops and Masterclasses * Designer-in-Residence * Opportunity to apply for pre-seed funding up to $25K awarded by Activator's Capital Fund * Extended access to co-working space post LaunchHUB RMIT is committed to supporting enterprise development, so this opportunity valued at more than $10K is provided FREE of charge to all selected RMIT affiliated participants. Applications close 11.59pm Sunday 23rd June.