Government brings Silicon Valley to Sydney for startups to pitch

The NSW Government has brought Silicon Valley to Sydney for the 2019 Sydney Launch Festival to give NSW startups a chance to pitch to a global audience and learn from the world’s top startup founders and investors.

Minister for Jobs Stuart Ayres said Launch Festival, hosted by the event’s San Francisco founder and CEO Jason Calacanis, was a great opportunity for NSW startups to hear from the best experts on how to grow globally.

“Sydney is Australia’s leading destination for international startup investment with the $35 million Sydney Startup Hub and our development of the Sydney Innovation and Technology Precinct taking the industry to the next level,” Mr Ayres said.

“The Launch Festival exposes our sector to valuable international connections and will see 20 of our best startups pitch to a global audience for a chance to win $100,000 investment and an invitation to the Launch Accelerator in San Francisco.

“The Launch Accelerator has so far invested in 200 startups – seven of which have gone on to achieve ‘unicorn’ status with valuations over a billion dollars – so this is a huge opportunity for our startups.

“Last year Launch invested $100,000 in three Australian startups – Takeoffs, Ampjar and EatSee – following its first Sydney event. Since then Ampjar has raised $1.5 million and Takeoffs will soon announce a significant investment.”

Key speakers at the Sydney Launch Festival include TechSquare Labs co-founder Paul Judge, Superhuman founder Rahul Vohra, Blackbird Ventures Partner Samantha Wong and early stage investor Monique Woodard.

Launch founder and CEO Jason Calacanis said he was excited to bring Silicon Valley’s largest startup conference to Sydney to help forge global opportunities.

“The ambition of the founders we’ve met in Sydney and the three we’ve invested in is inspiring. Great startup founders can come from anywhere and Sydney is crushing it,” Mr Calacanis said.  

“Investing in startups is the most useful thing a city can do to build economic vibrance because you only need one startup to reach scale to have a huge win in terms of jobs and investment. One Canva or Atlassian is a quick recipe to becoming a global player in the technology space.” 

Launch Festival is sponsored by Jobs for NSW and runs from 17-20 June.

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