ilab is not just the first established incubator/accelerator in Queensland, it is also one of the top contributors to the startup population and success stories. And so the story continued to be told recently. With the eleventh cohort of the “Germinate” accelerator program taking to the stage for their pitch night. A night to remember for the startups. A night of focus and opportunities in front of a full house made of investors, seasoned entrepreneurs and other eminent members of the entrepreneurial and education ecosystem.
In a celebration of UQ’s vibrant entrepreneurship and innovation culture, the ilab UQ G11 pitch night featured a showcase by the startups of the current cohort and a “demo day”-like pitching session. The evening providing a platform for entrepreneurs to interact and to present to key industry leaders, investors, government representatives and members of the local community.
If a community is to be judged by its numbers, ilab proved that it is keeping and even increasing its appeal, 5 years in the current format of its accelerator program, with a record attendance at this pitch night. A standing house only welcoming more than 150 people and setting a new audience record.
With a kick off by entrepreneur and high-energy MC Dee Deng, the tone was set for the night! Followed by a fireworks display of an exclusive announcement by recent ilab alumni (Germinate 9), Microba, in the form of a $7 million funding.
The elders were showing the juniors how to get the job done, before the latter took the stage. The 10 startups pitching were:
Brisbane Tool Library (brisbanetoollibrary.org)
The Brisbane Tool Library is a social enterprise that will provide resources, such as tools and skills. People who do occasional home improvements, garden or camping trips, but do not want to buy a tool that they might only use once, could borrow it from our tool library. The main goal is to go beyond the material consumption of the current linear model of “take, make and dispose”. This project is based on reusing, repairing, recycling.
Precieo (precieo.com)
Precieo are developing simple devices that help our most experienced citizens maintain independent fulfilling lives. We make technology work for everyone. Their first product is a bluetooth-enabled wearable that uses a simple physical interface, and multi-sensory feedback to lead users towards lost items around their house. A smart-phone is not required.
Augmented Bionics (augmentedbionics.com)
Augmented Bionics are developing devices that allow non-invasive wireless stimulation of nerves. Our first product that is currently under development is aimed towards enabling patients with severe to profound hearing loss to hear again without the need for a cochlear implant surgery, thus removing the risks and costs associated with such a surgery.
Arable (arableau.com.au)
Arable is a fintech startup with a vision to enable anyone to change the world around them through their investments. Users simply deposit funds onto the Arable platform at anytime and these funds are automatically invested into a diverse portfolio of ASX and Internationally-listed companies that are investing in green technology and sustainability. This plays a major role in shifting the course of climate change, halting environmental destruction and shaping the future of what our cities and countries will look like for generations to come.
Micromelon (micromelon.com.au)
Micromelon is a robotics education company started by a group of engineering alumni from The University of Queensland. The Micromelon robot and software package is designed and built specifically for the Australian curriculum changes that require schools to teach coding and robotics principles. Micromelon understands the limited time and resources teachers have to learn new coding languages and technologies to teach their students. Micromelon’s platform is simple to understand for both student and teacher and diverse enough to teach full curricula for a range of ages and abilities.
SPACE (spaceplatform.co)
Space is the search engine of indoor locations.
SPACE Platform brings the benefits of e-commerce to offline commerce retailers. With SPACE, you can track shoppers behaviour and increase conversion rate and customer engagement!
Our tracking system works WITHOUT any app/software required on the user’s smartphone.
Purple Robotics
Purple Robotics are developing drones for work. Our core product, the Y4 drone, can fly for 3 times longer than existing drones. Which allows it to cover more area and improve operational efficiency. The Y4 drone achieves this by utilising novel aerodynamic technology developed at the University of Queensland.
TokenSpin (tokenspin.io)
TokenSpin revolutionises the way non-profits fundraise for good causes using blockchain technology. Because of iLab, we further expanded our vision to create the world’s first native application of a blockchain charity.
Vibelabs (vibelabs.com.au)
Vibelabs’ vision is to improve engagement and enhance the user experience in organisations and community groups. Our solution simplifies event discovery by centralising data from
multiple sources while making the measurement of ecosystem health and engagement efforts possible regardless of the platform on which event information are posted.
Modulr Tech (modulrtech.com)
Modulr Tech is an Australian Software/Data company dedicated to enhancing operational performance through data-driven solutions. We specialise in transforming under-valued big data that has already been collected and turning it into real-time actionable insights. The data-driven solutions are powered by machine learning, cloud computing and agile software processes. We offer these services for mining and resources companies to organise and understand their data with greater insights, to make better-informed commercial decisions. We’re currently working on a collaborative project with an open-cut coal mining company on automated material characterisation using geological and drilling data to help improve blast designs.
This whole pitch event is available on replay on our Facebook page (the livestream raking up 2,700 views and a reach of 6,500 people). Meanwhile, on Twitter, the #ilabuqg11 hashtag was a trending topic in Brisbane and reaching more than 530,000 impressions.
To conclude the proceedings in the conference room, we could only celebrate; The funding rounds, the successes, the 10 well crafted and delivered pitches and… ilab’s Entrepreneur in Residence – Peter Laurie – birthday! This event was followed by networking time offering the audience the opportunity to get to know more about the startups and ilab’s initiatives.
Coming soon, for the entrepreneurs-to-be, are the ilab startup internships program (http://bit.ly/2FJEEVw), the new accelerator program, Germinate 12 (applications open 30 April 2018) and the Mentor Blaze 10, speed mentoring event as a satellite of the Myriad festival.
