Innovation Bay

🚀 Calling all Adelaide based founders: We’re coming for you! 🚀

In partnership with we’re planning an exclusive invite-only dinner on Monday 3rd March to mark our official launch in SA.

Join us for this unique opportunity to gather for real conversations, deep insights, and honest support from people who understand the challenges and triumphs of building something from the ground up.

Whether you’re navigating the complexities of scaling, looking for fresh perspectives, or simply seeking a community of like-minded people, this is the place for you.

If you’re based in Adelaide and interested in joining us, please reach out via the application link in our bio 🔗

🗞 WE'VE GOT NEWS 🗞

📣 Announcing 'The COO Collective' forum for our Series A+, scale up community, Summit.

📆 Launching on 24 April, this premier destination is crafted for COOs who are not just looking to participate but to redefine the benchmarks of operational excellence.

👀 The COO Collective is more than a forum; it’s an exclusive ecosystem designed to nurture visionary leadership and shared ambition. Imagine immersing yourself in an environment where every conversation and shared insight is an opportunity to elevate your leadership and operational strategy.

🚀 Whether your focus is on pioneering innovative processes, enhancing efficiency, or navigating the complexities of global markets, The COO Collective serves as your portal to a community of peers familiar with the unique challenges and rewards of the COO role.

⏰ We have just 6 spots available in this exclusive forum. If this speaks to you, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now > https://bit.ly/4am4DMv

🤗 NEW MEMBER PROFILE 🤗

Welcome Sharon Nouh, the CEO and Founder of ProSpend, to our later stage founder community Summit.

Sharon’s entrepreneurial journey began with the establishment of corporate travel agencies in Sydney and Adelaide, culminating in a merger with Australia's inaugural travel technology company, https://bit.ly/3ws2n7E. Here, Sharon recognised the transformative potential of technology in enhancing business operations.

Driven by a vision to revolutionise how Australian businesses handle their expenditure, she pioneered the expense management market in Australia. Under her leadership, the first locally developed expense management platform was launched - expensemanager - which has since evolved into a comprehensive business spend management platform catering to over 1,000 mid-market businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

Sharon's path as a female entrepreneur in the male-dominated fintech sector was not without challenges. Securing venture capital funding proved to be a hurdle, exacerbated by the scarcity of female tech entrepreneurs and a lack of confidence. She has demonstrated that with belief in a vision, commitment to innovation, and realistic understanding of producing technology that solves real business problems, bootstrapped businesses can succeed.

Beyond her entrepreneurial endeavours, Sharon is dedicated to fostering diversity within the fintech sector. She aims to inspire and empower more women to pursue careers in fintech, hoping her story serves as a beacon of encouragement.

If you’re a founder, investor or corporate ecosystem supporter and would like to find out how being a part of our community could accelerate your success, we’d love to hear from you 👉 https://bit.ly/3T68BD8

📣 Calling visionary startup founders raising. APPLY NOW…

🔍 Innovation Bay is seeking startup talent to pitch their groundbreaking ideas to our prestigious and active angel and VC investors.

🚀 Solo founders or dynamic team? If you're at the MVP or early revenue stage and you're on the way to raising your pre-seed or seed round, we'd love to hear from you.

👇🏼If you tick the below, consider getting your application loaded into our Dealum platform.

✅ Have a clear business plan that showcases your company’s potential
✅ Have conducted thorough research to identify market demand for your product or service
✅ Have a well-defined vision that inspires and captivates
✅ Have an in-depth understanding of your target market, enabling strategic decision-making

😇 If selected, you’ll have the opportunity to pitch directly to our esteemed angel and VC investor members. This could be your chance to elevate your vision.

👉 Apply to pitch here: https://bit.ly/3wxA1Zy

🤗 NEW MEMBER PROFILE 🤗

A huge warm welcome to Zoe Parkin who recently joined our VC community, Aurora.

Zoe is an Associate Director in the Investment team at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, focusing on listed and unlisted equity investments. Zoe has prior experience investing in debt capital markets, fund investments, corporate and project finance as well as deal structuring, strategy and ex*****on.

Thrilled to have you in the Innovation Bay fold, Zoe!

If you’re a VC or angel investor, founder, CEO or corporate ecosystem supporter and would like to find out how being a part of our community could accelerate your success this year and beyond, we’d love to hear from you 👉 https://bit.ly/3I4n4cc

"Once again, Summit has delivered a unique and extraordinary experience for its community of founders. Our trip to Cape Tribulation gave me time to reflect, engage on a deep level with awesome business innovators, discover our first nations' knowledge, and return to my business more inspired, confident, and refreshed." - Lisa Vincent, HowToo

We have space for two female-identifying founders for an exclusive Sydney based, early stage forum.

If you’re an early stage series A+ founder of a company with turnover of $20m plus and are looking to accelerate your success alongside a supportive and confidential community, we’d love to hear from you.

🏔 Summit is an exclusive, highly curated community focusing on peer-to-peer learning, connection. It is a place founders can get answers to their questions sooner, share challenges and celebrate successes with others who truly get it!

🙏🏼 Summit is divided into forums (groups of 8-10, location based members). Forums stand as the foundational cornerstone of Summit and is where many find the genuine essence and ultimate value of the community, allowing the open sharing of the intricacies of their personal and professional lives with those who are currently navigating similar paths or have treaded them before.

🚀 We’re currently taking applications. Get in touch to learn more > https://bit.ly/3SOyR4W

🎧 NEW PODCAST EPISODE LIVE

Our guest for episode 172 is Tom Amos, CEO and Co-Founder of Sidekicker - a platform that matches thousands of businesses to pre-qualified temporary staff.

Tom reflects on Sidekicker's journey from the genesis of the idea as sparked by 'The 4-Hour Workweek', through to the milestone of turning over a million dollars in a month. Tom's journey is not just about business but also about building a culture where caring for each other is at the core.

Sidekicker has been backed with $40million in funding and have not only disrupted the market but have also become a vital player in the space. Sidekicker work with around 2,000 customers per year, ranging from small catering companies to large organisations like Australia Post.

From the nuts and bolts of Sidekicker to the broader landscape of business and innovation, Tom offers valuable insights into:

💫 the future of work
💫 the role of AI - sharing how Sidekicker innovatively uses AI for data automation, matching engines, and award compliance
💫 the potential challenges the economy may face in the next 24 months

🎧 Take a listen > https://bit.ly/4beaWTs or wherever you get your podcasts! Hit the subscribe button while you're at it 😉

Welcoming Norbert Herrman, Founder & Director of Liively to our flourishing Canopy community for early stage founders. Liively is a pioneering startup in the live events and venues sector.

Norbert is a bit of a serial entrepreneur, having founded a digital service business that specialised in web development, marketing, and product e-commerce development and was eventually acquired in 2005, a move that underscored a keen understanding of market dynamics and business scalability.

With a career spanning various senior roles across multiple industries, Norbert has consistently demonstrated a passion for improvement and growth. Norbert's CV spans roles across notable companies like Sausage Software, Telstra, and Sensis, as well as a stint with the innovative startup XLabs. As the CXO at LIFX, Norbert played a crucial role in building first-class customer experiences, teams, and culture across the group, focusing on making LIFX the smart home solution of choice and driving global scaling to acquisition in 2021.

In addition to Liively, Norbert has been an Entrepreneur at Antler since November 2021, a global early-stage VC enabling and investing in the world's most exceptional people. He also serves as a Start-Up Advisor since October 2015, providing practical guidance and support for entrepreneurs at any stage of the start-up lifecycle.

Thrilled to have you in the community, Norbert!

🚨 NZ-based (or visiting) founders & investors - reminder to register your EOI!

We’re heading to Auckland for the Innovation Bay New Zealand Mixer Presented by Google Cloud on Wednesday 28 February from 6-9p, at Google HQ! Wanna come? Expressions of interest are open now, closing on Friday 16 February.

If you’re a founder with a vision, a future-shaping VC, an ambitious and passionate angel investor, or a supporter of the ecosystem, this evening is for you!

After a hugely successful mixer during SXSW Sydney week, we can’t wait to bring you this night of great conversations, collaborations, and inspiration alongside Impactful Innovation 2024.

📆 When: Wednesday, February 28th, 6pm-8pm
📍 Where: Google HQ, Auckland
🤔 Expression of Interest: Fill out your details > https://bit.ly/3StMlTn and we’ll be in touch.

Know someone in the Australian or New Zealand innovation ecosystem who should be a part of this? Tag them, share this post, or direct them our way.

To kick off the year on our Investor Intel series, we’re featuring Aurora member Nick Gainsley, Partner and Head of Credit Strategy at OneVentures - one of Australia’s leading later-stage venture capital firms.

With over $700 million in funds under management, OneVentures focuses on scaling Technology and Healthcare companies through growth equity and credit

Here, we delve into Nick’s journey, his perspectives on the industry, extensive expertise and his insights into the evolving trends in VC and the tech startup ecosystem.

Take a read > https://bit.ly/3HlT0J1

📣 Are you a visionary startup founder seeking funding in 2024? Applications now open…

🔍 We're on the look out for exceptional startup talent to pitch groundbreaking ideas to our prestigious and active angel and VC investors.

🚀 Whether you're a solo founder or a dynamic team at the MVP or early revenue stage, we want to hear from you! If you're gearing up to raise your pre-seed or seed round, this could be your chance to elevate your vision.

👇🏼If you tick all of the below, we’d love to receive your application.
✅ Have a clear business plan that showcases your company’s potential
✅ Have conducted thorough research to identify market demand for your product or service
✅ Have a well-defined vision that inspires and captivates
✅ Have an in-depth understanding of your target market, enabling strategic decision-making

😇 If selected, you’ll have the opportunity to pitch directly to our esteemed angel and VC investor members. You could secure the pre-seed or seed funding you need!

👉 Apply to pitch here: https://bit.ly/47y1jfv

🤗 NEW MEMBER PROFILE

👋 Welcoming Prue Gilbert, CEO of Grace Papers, to our series A+ community, Summit.

She has been named the Women of Influence for Diversity and Inclusion by AFR, the “the anti-discrimination guru” by Marie Claire, a “Game Changer” by Vogue. Grace Papers, won the Australian Human Rights Business Award for addressing pregnancy related discrimination and was recognised as a Westpac 200 Business of the Future. She has been listed as LinkedIn’s 2022 Top Voice for Gender Equity. She’s also a lawyer, human rights advocate, co-parent of 3.

Prue is part of a new breed - a generation of social entrepreneurs who are redefining how businesses drive social change. She co-founded Grace Papers to challenge traditional stereotypes and provide a platform to empower both working parents and their employers. Since Grace Papers’ launch 10 years ago, Prue and her team have supported expectant mothers and fathers to overcome gender stereotypes as well as discrimination faced in their workplaces during pregnancy, parental leave and returning to work.

Her work transcends simple tactical tools and brings an inspiring new lens to advocacy and activism both through the online platform and her corporate coaching work. As she educates leaders, CEOs, government and ASX-Listed businesses as well as the broader community, Prue is changing a generation of workplaces and creating positive parental journeys.

A huge, warm welcome to Prue!

👉 Learn more about our incredible series A+ founder & CEO community, Summit > https://bit.ly/48Eb6Sr