I have had a long association with Curtin University, running sessions with their Entrepreneurship Team from their Growth Program as far back as the early 2000’s, Curtin Ignition, the Commercialisation team with two startup companies, and Curtin Accelerate. Their work in this space over that timeframe has provided a huge catalyst to growing the startup / scale up successes in Western Australia.
Curtin Accelerate 2024 has just completed, and the cohort of businesses is of a high standard.
This year the team I have been working with is SpaceSync. They solve the problem of matching retailers with pop up retail spaces. It is a classic problem of a lot of friction in getting a transaction completed.
Retailers have to provide a lot of information to shopping centre leasing teams – and those leasing teams then have to review that information, and decide which will be a fit – and not create issues with existing retailers. Suffice to say, there is a LOT of backward and forward, leading to a lot of frustration, wasted time, and lost opportunity.
In a very short period of time, SpaceSync have moved from concept to signing first customers. It has been very good to see the progression and in particular:
- Focussing the sales message to the audience
- Being demonstrably clear on the value proposition
- Getting clarity on path to market
- Building the MVP
- Signing first customers
A brief overview of the participants is as follows:
- Tempo: A two-sided marketplace for health providers and health professionals working in the gig economy to fill shifts and contracts.
- Thetford Industries: Thetford Industries Pty Ltd aims to manufacture and supply innovative tools for the construction industry (namely the painting industry) to streamline manual labour tasks, Taking the ‘pain’ out of ‘painting’, and reducing time and waste on the job!
- RapidGraphite: A world-first solution for graphite manufacturers, helping them turn carbon into battery-grade graphite, an essential material used in the making of lithium-ion batteries, in a matter of seconds rather than days or weeks, reducing the R&D process from years to weeks.
- ANI Research: An intuitive web app to empower small business owners to conduct their own market research and extract insights.
- TECHT: An innovative, world-first solution for the gold mining industry in the form of a corrosion real-time monitoring and protection system that extends the life of components of aggressive mining processing tanks.
- Health and Spice: Providing high protein, allergen-free, additive-free, nutritious, plant based Tiger nut milk using innovative scientific processing technology alongside other value-add whole food products.
- SpaceSync: A digital platform that connects leasing teams with quality retailers for short-term lease agreements to reduce vacancies, increase efficiency and streamline the onboarding process.
- DASH: A customisable web platform for managing life administration.
- COMPAS-S: A digital suicide screening tool that uses a predictive algorithm to proactively reduce suicidal behaviour in students and workers.
- Brightstride: To support local governments to meet community demand for climate action, Brightstride have developed Bright Bonds, a fixed income financing instrument to raise the necessary capital to fund projects that can tackle climate change.
- Spectrum Wear: Everyday street wear with inbuilt tactile experiences that allow wearers with neurodivergent or sensory issues to discretely self-regulate when needed.
- Aruma Home: An innovative company that designs solutions that not only tackles the increasing demand for affordable homes across Australia but delivers a much-needed solution for social housing in remote Aboriginal communities.
- Camplus: An all-in-one student experience app addressing the fragmented access to information students need and care about on a daily basis.
If you are interested in more information about the Curtin Accelerate program, please see https://www.curtin.edu.au/engage/entrepreneurs/accelerate/
Like Curtin Ignition, it is a terrific path for early stage entrepreneurs to accelerate their businesses and the quality of businesses going through the program is ever increasing.
