Season Return

We were privileged to see some of Australia’s best startups apply to our inaugural Seed Program in July last year. Last round we received some 70 plus applications from all over the country whereby we saw 10 present at our Pitch Day. In November, we were proud to announce our investments in two of these companies, Venuemob and 121cast.

Now that the dust has settled, we’re opening up applications again – we’re calling it our “Season 2“.

We’ve kept the Program pretty much the same as last time with only slight changes with the application process:

1. We’ll be using F6S’ online application process rather than having startups submit their investor presentation to our inbox. We think this way we’ll be able to review applications faster and identify those outstanding Australian startups that best suit our Program. We’ve included a questionnaire to be filled in that will help ensure that we get all the information we need upfront.
2. Last time we required startups to seek referrals from our Partners to be eligible to apply. Feedback we received was that it was sometimes hard for startups to find a Partner that had the time to review their application whilst we also recognised the limited time our Partners had to vet and vouch for applications. This time we’re asking startups to provide two referees; referees should be familiar with the startup’s business and also have relevant experience to be able to provide a meaningful reference. Referees that happen to be one of the Program’s Partners are obviously welcome!

Applications open today and close Monday 9pm AEST February 4, 2013 – we’ll be holding a few information sessions for startups next week to outline how the Program works as well as to answer any questions (details are listed further below).

Over the fortnight from February 5, our team will review each of the applications received. In the case that we feel we need more information, we’ll reach out to the startup in question.

On Wednesday February 20, we’ll announce the startups that have been shortlisted – we’re anticipating that there’ll be around 10 to 12 selected with one of them being the 2013 oZAPP winner. These startups will be invited to present to some of Australia’s leading tech investors along with our investment partners from SingTel Innov8 at Optus Campus Sydney on Tuesday 26 February.

The Pitch Day is a half-day event where there will also be an opportunity to network with other startups and tech investors over drinks after startups have all completed their pitches. In the past, we’ve followed up with some of the startups the following day – we understand this might be difficult for startups that are coming in from outside Sydney and in that case, we’re happy to connect up via teleconference.

KEY DATES

16 Jan: Season 2 applications open on F6S.com

23 Jan: Sydney Info Session at Fishburners from 1pm to 2pm AEDST – register via Eventbrite

24 Jan: Brisbane via Google Hangout at River City Labs at 9am to 10am AEST – register via Eventbrite

24 Jan: Adelaide via Google Hangout at the Majoran Distillery at 11am to 12pm ACST – register via Eventbrite

25 Jan: Melbourne Info Session at York Butter Factory from 12:30pm to 1:30pm AEDST – register via Eventbrite

29 Jan: Perth via Google Hangout at Sync Labs from 1pm to 2pm AWST – register via Eventbrite

04 Feb: Applications close 9pm AEDST

20 Feb: Shortlisted startups announced

26 Feb: Pitch Day at Optus Campus Sydney

March – April: Investment negotiations with select startups

Well that’s about all for now. Please check our blog and follow us on Twitter for updates. Good luck and we can’t wait to see some great applications!