Jack McQuire

Let's talk about Accelerators as VC Funds TIL ANZ has 69 active Accelerators, but only 4 invest: 👉 spreadsheet with all Accelerators in comments 1️⃣ Accelerator as a Business Firstly, Accelerators are shocking businesses. (Don't start one 😅) How do they pay the bills? There are 4 usual business models: 🏛️ Government - you get a grant for 2-3y, the grant stops, you have no revenue, you die 🧳 Corporate - corporate cares about you, until there's a leadership reshuffle, stops caring, you die 🧑‍🎓 Universities - similar to corporate, but more aligned with getting students into working world, usually grant rather than commercial funding 💰 VC - you run it as a VC fund, full alignment of LPs to the outcomes you and founders want to achieve BUT as you've learned in this series (post #5), management fees on SMALL funds are barely enough for a skeleton team So yeah, in short - bad, bad cashflow But ofc if you can make it work >> small funds = better VC returns (post #14) 2️⃣ Accelerators as VC Funds 🤯 there are 69 active Accelerators in Australia and NZ! BUT only 4 that actually invest money. 🔥 1/ UNSW Pretty epic deal at $100k SAFE note 15% discount Varies program by program though, so couldn't exactly find online if the deal still exists and for which program 👀 2/ Techstars Tagline: $180k for 5% + ~5% future equity Reality: [Tranche 1] $30k at $600k post (5%) >> $30k at $600k val 👀🤯 >> not entirely sure how that works, as it also triggers everyone else's MFN clause so you get extra diluted! [Tranche 2] $150k uncapped with MFN >> AU$150k So your startup is really valued at $600k. Note: converted from USD to AUD at $1.50. 😬 3/ Antler Tagline: $260k at $2.2m post-money (12%) Reality: $260k investment - but you don't see the money, because: $75k fee 😱 Effective investment: $185k for 12% which implies $1.5m valuation 😢 Even worse off are actually LPs, because only 😱 45 cents on every $1 invested goes to the founder = working capital 👉 you get charge mgmt fee + expenses (~25%) AND 👉 the investment to startups gets charged back via the fee to Antler (~30%) ❤️ 4/ Startmate ofc biased here, but no hooks nor surprises in our investment terms: Simple SAFE or equity (whatever you prefer) either: 1. $120k at $1.5m post-money (8%) or 2. we match your latest valuation if you have raised $250k previously Fun Fact: Startmate is the only investing Accelerator in NZ 🥝 👉 today's comment request if you liked the content: 🥝 ("kiwi") for the hidden gem and the love for Kiwi founders that Startmate backs ❤️ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ What is this? Day 16/30 - I'm posting one VC fund insight per day this month. I'm often wrong. What did I miss this time? 👉 cut my usual outro as I ran out of characters on this post 🥲

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Are you a NSW startup looking to commercialise your innovative product? Unlock your potential with the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) Ventures Program! The MVP Ventures Program is a NSW Government grant to support businesses bring new innovations to market. A total of $3 million is available each year for the next four years starting this financial year. There will be three application rounds for funding throughout 2025-26. The program will offer two funding streams, with a tailored stream for businesses founded by women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and regional entrepreneurs to address systemic barriers to raising required co-contribution funding. ◾ Stream 1 is available for all eligible businesses with a maximum grant of $50,000 and a minimum co-contribution of 50%. ◾ Stream 2 is available for eligible women-owned businesses, regional businesses and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander businesses with a maximum grant of $75,000 and a minimum co-contribution of 25%. Applications for Round 1 of the 2025-26 MVP Ventures Program will open on Monday 1 September 2025. To check your eligibility and how to submit your application visit: https://lnkd.in/gkhPdR55 #NSWIndustryPolicy #InnovationBlueprint #StartupSupport #MVPVenturesProgram 

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What's been happening in health tech? 💊🎉 🧠 OneMRI announced $2.5M funding to expand its whole-body MRI startup, launched by Go1 founders & Gopi Sara to bring radiation-free, preventative scans to Aussies using underutilised imaging clinics 🔬 Mirugen secured up to $4.5M in seed funding to accelerate its gene-reprogramming therapy for retinitis pigmentosa 🦴 SDIP Innovations Pty. Ltd. Innovations snagged $3.95M in federal funding to develop an implant system that manufactures bone fillers for orthopaedic surgery 🧪 Lucia Bio, raised AU$3M seed funding from UniQuest & Uniseed to advance its selective spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitors 🌏 Teladoc Health is acquiring virtual care provider Telecare to expand specialty access & hospital partnerships across the country 🧵 Southern Cross University & NACCHO bagged $2.5M to codesign a program offering cervical screening during pregnancy for First Nations women 🚀 Startmate announced its Winter ‘25 Cohort ft. 4 Health companies: *Care GP: AI infrastructure for Healthcare provider admin *HEYSTU: A desk companion robot to help people with ADHD stay focused *Medlo: AI-powered hybrid staffing and care delivery for hospitals *June Health: At-home STI & cervical screening kits 🧠 An ALS patient became the first to control an iPad with thought alone, using Synchron’s brain implant & Apple’s BCI protocol 🚀 Google & NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration tested an AI assistant to help astronauts diagnose & treat medical issues autonomously during deep space missions 📝 Epic, used by nearly half of U.S. hospitals, enters the AI scribe race with plans to launch its own ambient note-taking tool Keen for the details & links? Take a gander at last week's newsletter in the comments below👇😊 --- PS - Like this? Join >9700 legends getting the latest health innovation news direct to your inbox, by subscribing to my newsletter, What the Health, linked in the comments! 💜 📩

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Big news. Airtree have just announced their new $250M Seed fund and $400M Growth fund which will be used exclusively to back Kiwi & Aussie founders. Another huge win for the NZ / AUS tech ecosystem 🚀 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gWZiiuRn

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At 13, Liam Millward started a travel magazine from a caravan. At 17, he raised Australia's biggest pre-seed round ever. At 21, his company hit a $100 million valuation. From the Dinner Stories series: Meet Liam Millward, co-founder and CEO of Instant . Most founders wait until they're "ready." Liam started building businesses before most kids had their first job. While traveling Australia with his family in a caravan at 13, he launched Navigate Australia, a travel magazine that hit 50,000 monthly readers in its first year and partnered with 150+ tourism brands. Then COVID hit and killed the travel business overnight. Most teenagers would've given up. Liam pivoted to e-commerce, building a store that grew to $10K monthly revenue. But he kept running into the same frustrating problem: cart abandonment. Customers would add products, then disappear. He had no way to bring them back. That frustration became his next business. At 17, he teamed up with William Gao (a software engineer who'd been coding professionally since he was 17) and founded Instant to solve the problem every e-commerce brand faces—98% of visitors leave without buying, and most brands have no idea who they are. They raised $2.2 million in what became Australia's biggest pre-seed round ever. The pitch: Instant can identify up to 40% of anonymous website visitors and automatically trigger branded emails at the exact moment they abandon their cart. Within 12 months, they hit $1.5 million ARR and reached 1 million users. And earlier this year, they closed an $18 million Series A in under two weeks, hitting a $100 million valuation. At 21, Liam’s on his third business and already figured out what most founders spend decades learning: solve your own problem, move fast, and don't wait for permission.

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Climate tech startup Vycarb has raised $5 million in seed funding. The money will help the company develop its new method of capturing and storing carbon using natural waters. SGInnovate is one of the investors in this funding round. The funding round was led by Australia’s Twynam. Other investors included MOL Switch LLC, Hatch Blue, Clocktower Ventures, Idemitsu, and SGInnovate. Garrett Boudinot | Lindsey Dukles | Jason Glover | Greg Humphries | Lydi Keppler | Prafull Moona | Matt Pfeiffer | Farhana Rahman | Benjamin Smith 🔗 Read full article link in comment #vycarb #climatetech #startupnews #funding #businessupdate

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🎉 No VC funding? No worries. For Aussie founders, access to capital can feel like the biggest barrier but you don’t have to give up equity to keep building momentum. There are a host of grants specifically for startups, tech, and innovation-driven businesses, covering everything from early-stage funding and R&D to commercialisation, export readiness, and climate-smart innovation. Too often, founders overlook grants, thinking the process is too hard (or hidden), but as this handy SmartCompany roundup shows, there's useful non-dilutive funding out there if you know where to look. Tips: 1. Match your funding ask to clear milestones, don’t just chase big numbers. Treat grant funders like investors: show outcomes, ROI, and alignment. 2. Start your grant search before you need it because success takes planning and researching and writing grant applications can take waaaay longer than you/I expect. 3. If making words pretty isn't your thing, engage a grant writer to do your grant application while you keep your startup moving forward Check out the full list of open grants and funding deadlines, including CSIRO Kick-Start, Seed-Start Grant, Female Founders Co-Investment Fund, WFP Innovation Challenge, and more, thanks to SmartCompany: https://lnkd.in/gHtHwPrD

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Twenty-one of Australia’s most innovative startups will take to the SXSW Sydney stage to pitch their companies next month. Thirteen of them are from NSW, five are based in Victoria, and three are located in Queensland. One Kiwi startup will also be pitching at the October 16 event, and one from the USA. The grand finale of the pitch competition will be judged by VCs Bill Tai and Kim Jackson, and founders Lars Rasmussen and Lucy Guo. 🖋️ Shivaune Field for Forbes Australia https://lnkd.in/gshncBPH

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LaunchVic has tipped a further $3.75 million into Victoria’s startup ecosystem, seeding seven venture funds with $300,000 each, funding pre-accelerators at four universities, and backing a 60-event community program run by Aussie Founders Club. https://lnkd.in/gebNnbWT

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Aussie 🇦🇺 Payments unicorn Zeller will spend $20 million over the next year to fund an aggressive expansion into the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 , its first international market. Founded in 2020 by former Block executives Ben Pfisterer and Dominic Yap, Zeller made the most of favourable market conditions in 2021’s boom period to raise $75 million over two rounds before it launched its suite of small-business banking products. It then secured another $100 million at a $1 billion valuation in early 2022 from investors such as Paul Bassat’s Square Peg, superannuation fund Hostplus and US-based venture capital firm Headline. The start-up has not raised any capital since 2022. However, Pfisterer said the company would embark on a fundraising campaign in the coming months to fund its next phase of growth. The company aims to reach $100 million in annual revenue from 1 million merchants across 10 countries. Zeller’s products are currently used by more than 100,000 small and medium-sized Australian businesses. The company offers eftpos payment terminals, transaction and savings accounts, corporate cards and software to manage expenses and invoices. It competes with banks, as well as FinTech disruptors such as Square and Stripe. Source/more info: https://lnkd.in/dEud24K3 Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

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