Home featured BlueChilli’s CIO Colette Grgic with CEO Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin Featured Startup Featured “I’m still pinching myself”: BlueChilli’s CEO on the deal that will generate 240 tech startups James Harkness March 20, 2018 Leading tech accelerator BlueChilli will create 240 early-stage startups over three years with the aid of a US$125 million fund managed by Singapore-based VC firm Hatcher+. [Related: Investors in BlueChilli startups automatically qualify for tax deduction after ATO ruling and Why the startup ecosystem needs more non-technical entrepreneurs, not stereotypes ] Commenting on what the partnership means for BlueChilli, founder and CEO, Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin said: “In three years’ time, we’ll have 353 startups… this is what global scale looks like!” In conversation with Dynamic Business , Eckersley-Maslin discussed the value the partnership will generate for all parties, including BlueChilli’s startups. DB: What is the scope of the partnership with Hatcher+? Eckersley-Maslin: BlueChilli’s role will be to source, build and invest in 240 startups over a three-year period commencing in April, and feed them into the Hatcher+ VC fund. Meanwhile, the guaranteed supply of capital from Hatcher+ will enable us to invest in the engineers, the creatives, the UX professionals and the product people necessary to build all 240 companies. In this way, the partnership will completely remove the barriers our entrepreneurs face around finance, product and go-to-market strategy. DB: Will BlueChilli leverage the global network of Hatcher+? Eckersley-Maslin: Absolutely. The guaranteed underwriting from Hatcher+ will give us the ability to scale our operations globally from a strong