Startmate

At Startmate, we help exceptional people build iconic companies. We are backed by the most powerful community of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in Australia and New Zealand. 

Since our inception, we have invested in 110+ startups with a combined valuation of $1B+.

Australia and New Zealand’s centre of startup gravity.

Startmate is Australia’s best startup accelerator and fellowship program. We help teams build enduring companies and avoid the activities and theatre that take away from that mission. At Startmate, we help exceptional people build iconic companies. We are backed by the most powerful community of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in Australia and New Zealand.

The Story

Startmate was created in 2011 when there was latent creativity and potential in Australia, but no venture capital or accelerators to support it.

So, Niki Scevak (who would go on to found Blackbird Ventures) and a bunch of successful founders (including Mike and Scott from Atlassian) put their money where their mouths were. Everyone invested $10k into a mini fund to invest in the next generation of early-stage founders, and started building a community of successful founders to support them.

Nowadays, we run two accelerator cohorts a year and have a world-class community of VCs, mentors and alumni who share our vision, all of who invest their own time and money into each cohort. To date we have invested in 100+ startups. 

The Fellowship was born to create pathways for the super ambitious and misunderstood. Empowering the hungry, not the proven, the Fellowship supports the community by empowering and developing a pool of talent that will accelerate startup growth. 

We want the Startmate Fellowship to be playing a critical role in the growth of the Australian & New Zealand tech ecosystem. We provide pathways to the most ambitious operators into the Narnia of great Australian & Kiwi startup. 

We challenge and support the ecosystem to think bigger. Our mission is to create a prosperous country as the world progresses.