VC Niki Scevak started Australia’s leading accelerator in 2011, receiving initial funding from Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar. These are the 20 most valuable startups to come out of the program in the 13 years since. Thirteen years ago, legendary Australian VC Niki Scevak started a seed fund to inject cash and mentorship into Aussie startups.
Scevak rallied alumni from the tech ecosystem, including Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, and put together a $200,000 micro-fund. Today, the portfolio of companies Startmate has invested in is worth more than $3.5 billion.
The accelerator wrote 49 cheques last year, making it the most active seed investor in Australia. Over the last 5 years, 43% of Startmate’s investments have been in companies with female co-founders. Startmate has raised $20 million since that initial fund in 2011 and attracted capital from the biggest names in Australia business: Twiggy Forrest’s Tattarang , the founders of Canva , Culture Amp and Adore Beauty , as well as further funding from Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar.
Startmate’s Top 20 most valuable startups Startups that are chosen to go through the Startmate accelerator receive $120,000 at a $1.5 million (post-money) valuation. The two companies that have progressed the farthest since receiving a cash injection an mentorship from the program, are cybersecurity firms Upguard and Bugcrowd .
Upguard was a part of the 2012 Startmate cohort. Its most re.