QUT Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA) has invited creative tech startups to apply for its forthcoming Collider Accelerator.
Up to 11 emerging and highly-scalable companies will be selected for Collider, which is being spearheaded this year by Alan Jones, a founding investor in Pollenizer, Startmate and Blackbird Ventures.
“CEA is really excited about Alan Jones filling the EiR (entrepreneur in residence) role for Collider this year,” Acting CEO Mark Gustowski told Dynamic Business.
“As well as being one of Australia’s most respected angel investors, Alan has built teams, supported countless startups and helped to lead some of Australia’s most high profile accelerator programs.
“He brings with him a unique background of experience spanning our ecosystem and has a deep understanding of startup mentality, product development, business building and investment”.
As part of CEA’s 12-week program, participating startups will receive $30,000 seed investment, desk space in the CEA facility and an eight-day immersion into the Asian startup market. In addition, they will receive mentoring and deep domain expertise from the likes of Chris Saad (former Head of product, Uber), Ren Butler (Community Manager, Inspire9), Atlanta Daniel (Investment Director, SAVCF, Blue Sky Ventures), Gretta Van Riel (Founder, Hey influencers), Ian Perkins (CEO, Blurb Consulting), Ian Mason (Head of Development, Virgin Startup) and Ben Sharp (Former Vice President APAC, AdRoll).
Gustowski said last year’s cohort formed a strong community during the accelerator, contributing to “some truly outstanding achievements”, including global exposure.
“Creative tech company Sortal is about to go live with their product while Carisma went on to participate in another accelerator with excellent terms and Creatively Squared knocked 2017 out of the park travelling and pitching internationally with the Creative Business Cup,” he said.
“Our team has always prided ourselves on delivering programs and events that put founders at the forefront of mind. Our philosophy of ‘founders first’ is behind every decision to bring on a facilitator, content delivery and the community we help to shape for you.
“We are anticipating a high calibre of entries after last year’s competitive nature. We’re looking for the best in creative tech and we’re going to support you with the best people from across this landscape.”
Applications are being sought from creative tech companies specialising in robotics, virtual reality, AI, music and fashion tech, digital media, games, films and wearables. Roadshows for Collider Accelerator have been announced and will be available in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast.
Key dates:
- Roadshows:1 February – 22 February 2018
Applications Close: 11:59pm, 25 February 2018 - Selection Bootcamp:19-20 March 2018
- Program Commencement:16 April 2018
- Demo Day:5 July 2018
- Program Concludes:19 September 2018
Related: “If you can tell a great story, the battle is half won”: Creatively Squared on pitching success and Winning Creative3 Pitch helped Darren Tonkin’s photo sharing app ‘cut through all the noise’.
