The Lead South Australia

News leads from South Australia

Get The Lead in your inbox. Subscribe

Techstars looks for defence and security startups

Defence

Applications are open for the 2018 Techstars accelerator to bring new technology to the defence and security sectors.

Print article Republish Notify me

Key Contacts

Sign up to receive notifications about new stories in this category.

Thank you for subscribing to story notifications.

Techstars has launched its second intake of startups looking to join its Asia Pacific program in Adelaide, South Australia, after a successful first year of the global accelerator program.

Techstars’ global accelerator portfolio includes more than 1000 companies with a market cap of $9.6 billion and the Adelaide program supports startups building innovative applications in IoT, big data, sensors, and robotics, with the potential to commercialise technologies in the defence and security sectors.

Managing Director of Techstars Adelaide, Terry Gold, said that last year the startup accelerator received applications from more than 49 countries before settling on 10 companies from Australia, India, Israel, Italy, New Zealand and the United States.

“Last year we proved just how exciting the growth potential of the innovative defence and security sector really is,” Gold said.

“Techstars Adelaide gives startups the opportunity to base themselves in a global centre of excellence for defence and security, to work directly with some of the world’s leading defence organisations and within the broader network of international companies.”

Adelaide is a global centre of excellence for the defence sector with more than AU$100 billion worth of major industry projects in the pipeline, including a five-decade long AU$50 billion commitment to build 12 submarines.

Recent investment in innovation in South Australia includes an AU$230m Centre for Defence Industry Capability backed by the Australian Federal Government and the South Australian Space Industry Centre to drive innovation, research and entrepreneurial development.

The Techstars Asia Pacific accelerator is backed by global defence industry giants Boeing Defence Australia, Saab Australia, Thales and Codan Defence Electronics.

“With $100 billion of defence projects in the pipeline in South Australia, and Adelaide emerging as a regional hub for startup development, we could not be more excited to be inviting the world’s best startups to participate in what is fast becoming the world’s leading defence accelerator,” Gold said.

Teamgage, a startup from the inaugural intake that developed a platform to enable large organisations to manage change, has grown its user base by over 200 per cent since July 2017.

Noelle Smit, Teamgage’s Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, said Techstars Adelaide opened up a global network for the company that helped them grow.

“Working alongside companies like Boeing and Thales has given us access to powerful mentoring and business opportunities. We’ve since signed Thales on as a Teamgage client, and are set to roll out our platform across the organisations’ 3500 team members nationwide,” she said.

Techstars Adelaide will also be connected to the South Australian GigCity Network, as one of 14 precincts across Adelaide to be linked with ultra-fast broadband.

This is a Creative Commons story from The Lead South Australia, a news service providing stories about innovation in South Australia. Please feel free to use the story in any form of media. The story sources are linked in with the copy and all contacts are willing to talk further about the story. Copied to Clipboard

More Defence stories

Loading next article