The 10-week intensive program is tailored to equip founders with the essential skills required to build successful businesses.
UNSW Founders, Australia’s most recommended startup accelerator, has joined forces with fund manager Luminary Partners to invest $200,000 each into 18 early-stage deeptech startups this year.
Startups will receive seed funding and 10 weeks of accelerated learning from experts and mentors.
This marks the largest public-private collaboration between a university-based accelerator and a venture capital firm in Australia. The partnership positions UNSW Founders as the country’s best-funded accelerator program and will supercharge its efforts to back emerging ventures across health, climate and sovereign capability.
If you are accepted into the 10x Accelerator, you’ll receive:
- Seed funding as a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE)
- An opportunity to pitch your startup to investors at Demo Night
- 10 weeks of accelerated learning from industry and startup experts via workshops, mentoring, and collaborative activities
- Weekly 1:1 meetings with our Entrepreneur-in-Residence
- Access to a co-working space with UNSW Founders in Residence for 6 months after the program, ongoing coaching, networking, and educational events
- Post Program ongoing support with capital raising, grant & funding applications, going global, media and PR support.
- Westpac Accelerator Scholarships: Financial support for women and non-binary founders to go all-in. By application, with three scholarships awarded valued at $20,000 each.
Each startup selected into the award-winning 10x accelerator programs will now receive $200,000 in capital, alongside tailored support to commercialise transformative ideas and build globally competitive businesses.
The funding is designed to uncover the next generation of deeptech success stories, following the trail blazed by standout UNSW alumni such as High Earth Orbit, Forage, DeCarice, evidentli, GonGlobal, Hullbot and Breaker.
“As a philanthropically funded accelerator, UNSW Founders depends on partnerships like this to turn groundbreaking ideas into high-growth ventures,” said David Burt, Director of Entrepreneurship at UNSW Founders.
“Physical product innovation needs more than just capital–it needs access to infrastructure like prototyping labs, clean rooms and testing facilities. Together with Luminary Partners, we’re building an ecosystem that helps transform breakthroughs into scalable businesses that will improve both Australia’s prosperity and security.”
About the partnership
Launched in 2025 through the merger of HappenCo and Banksia, Luminary Partners brings together deep pockets, sector expertise and a vast investor network. The firm isn’t afraid to back bold, frontier innovations and will offer UNSW Founders’ startups more than just capital. Founders can expect hands-on mentorship, strategic advisory and commercial introductions to scale their solutions globally.
The announcement comes at a pivotal time for the Australian innovation ecosystem. While the government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) is prioritising investment into Health, Defence and Climate to drive economic transformation, more private capital is needed to power early-stage commercialisation.
The Luminary-UNSW partnership will directly fuel three of UNSW Founders’ flagship 10x programs:
- Health 10x, delivered with The George Institute for Global Health and Virtus Health, supports ventures tackling urgent, unmet health needs, with a new focus on women’s health.
- Defence 10x, in partnership with the Defence Trailblazer initiative, backs companies strengthening Australia’s sovereign capability.
- Climate 10x, developed with the Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy, helps founders address decarbonisation, clean energy and circular economy challenges.
These mission-led programs align with the NRF’s key priority areas, showing how targeted private sector partnerships can accelerate national goals.
This expanded funding builds on a two-year relationship between UNSW and the Luminary team. UNSW Founders already has a proven track record investing in over 120 startups to date, with a combined enterprise value of more than $750 million.
Applications for 2025 are open until 19 May. Apply here
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