We chat with Matt Vitale, Founder and CEO of ⁠Birchal⁠ — Australia's largest Crowd-Sourced Funding (CSF) platform. We talk about WA being one of their leading markets and what makes a strong CSF campaign.

This episode is an insightful listen for anybody who's considering raising capital through a CSF campaign or just interested in the story of Birchal.

Startup West is recorded at Riff Studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, and brought to you thanks to support from Spacecubed, Curtin University, RSM, the City of Perth, and Tekkon.

On this episode, we're joined by Sean Williams, founder of AutogenAI. We talk about the world of generative AI and how he's using it to help companies write better proposals, faster.

Sean is a serial entrepreneur and exited his previous company, Corndel Ltd, in November 2020 in a reported £40m+ sale. After a two week holiday, Sean founded AutogenAI which now operates with offices in UK, US, and Australia.

He was in Perth for a few days so we thought we'd have a conversation with him to dive into the world of AI.

Co-hosts: Jason Balchand and Adam Barrell.

Startup West is recorded at Riff Studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, and brought to you thanks to support from Spacecubed, Curtin University, RSM, the City of Perth, and Tekkon.

For the final episode of 2023, Startup West recorded a founders' panel in front of a live audience of more than 400 at Freo Startup Fest, which is part of the annual West Tech Fest, Australia's longest-running tech festival.

Host Charlie Gunningham chats with Dr Julia Reisser (Uluu), Amy Carter-James (Raaise) and Jonathan Lilley (Electro Ventures). Each company is heavily involved in developing and funding cleaner, climate-friendly products.

Having raised $8.6M, Uluu is commercialising the production of red seaweed as an alternative source of plastics, to change fashion and other industries. Meanwhile, Raaise is a platform connecting investors with climate tech startups, and Electro Ventures has raised $20M and funded 13 EV-related boat, plane and vehicle companies.

Julia, Amy and Jonathan talk about their challenges and successes in 2023, the climate tech sector generally, and their plans for 2024 and beyond.

For more:

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Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Startup West is recorded at Riff studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, edited by Carmen Yee Kai Wen and brought to you thanks to support from Spacecubed, Curtin University, RSM, the City of Perth and Tekkon.

Startup West will return in 2024.

Danelle Cross (Curtin Uni) and Chris Tan (Spacecubed) talk with Dan Dawson, founder and director of edtech startup Paperly.

Originally from New Zealand, Dan saw the need to reduce paper-based bureaucratic systems in schools. Coding 7 hours a night while holding down a full-time job, he was selected to join the Plus Eight Tech Accelerator in Perth in 2022.

This year, the newly established early-stage VC fund Purpose Ventures invested in the business, and his goal is to get Paperly into 10,000 schools.

“…It’s one thing starting a company. It’s another thing starting a company with a partner, or wife. It’s next level again, once you’ve got kids…” ~ Dan Dawson

For more: https://www.paperly.io

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Startup West is recorded at Riff studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, edited by Carmen Yee Kai Wen and brought to you thanks to support from Spacecubed, Curtin University, RSM, the City of Perth and Tekkon.

Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

We talk with Jemma Iles, who has been working in, and promoting, innovation across various industries including local and state government for the past 20 years.

Jemma is also one of the people bringing the new ‘Australian Innovation Management Institute’ (AIMI) to Australia.

How can governments and corporates best innovate? What can they learn from startups? How can governments and corporates best assist startups and the local innovation ecosystem?

“I’d love to see more public sector officers in the startup ecosystem. I think there’s lots to learn, and probably one of the biggest things I learnt in my roles in government was spending listening to the challenges that startups face, and being able to find a pathway to help them to access grants and funding, or just support, to bring their businesses to life.” ~ Jemma Iles

For more: https://aiminstitute.org.au and https://thelightboxgroup.com.au

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Co-hosts: Danelle Cross (Curtin University) and Chris Tan (Spacecubed).

Startup West is recorded at Riff studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, edited by Carmen Yee Kai Wen and brought to you thanks to support from Spacecubed, Curtin University, RSM, the City of Perth and Tekkon.

Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Australia’s number 1 startup podcast talks with Intan Oldakowska, co-founder and CEO of medtech startup Earflo.

She and her team are developing a non-invasive device that drains the middle ear fluid in children with chronic ear infections, avoiding developmental delay and the need for surgery.

From an idea first borne over at Stanford University, California, the company was recently awarded $500,000 in WA government funding, which will help them commercialise their solution over the next few years.

Originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, Intan moved to Perth during high school, wanted to be a ballerina at WAAPA, then switched to engineering, and later a PhD.

“…Startup is a tough road. Don’t go into it because you want to get famous or something. Because it’s totally not worth it. The pain is not worth that, right? So you want to be in it for the right reason. Be ready for it to be a long journey, with lots of setbacks.” ~ Intan Oldakowska

For more: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earflo/

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Startup West is recorded at Riff studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, edited by Carmen Yee Kai Wen and brought to you thanks to support from Spacecubed, Curtin University, RSM, the City of Perth and Tekkon.

Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Australia’s number 1 startup podcast (1) talks with serial app entrepreneur, award-winning founder and all-round nice guy Stuart Kidd.

When one startup is not enough, how about four or five? Originally from the UK, Stuart arrived in Australia aged 10, then went back to work there after school, developing his eye for design, tech and online businesses. Back in Perth, he set up Apps People, an app development business, and has launched multiple app businesses over the past few years (Everythere, Foody Bag, Blezz, Familia and others).

Last year, he was voted Startup News Most Admired Startup Founder, and in this episode he shares a lot from his journey and multiple startups.

“… Sometimes you have to say to yourself ‘Hey, this stuff I can do by myself, this stuff I can’t do at all, I need people on board’. It’s not just about collaborating, it’s about understanding your business better, and understanding where your skills are, and where your skills can be better focussed.” ~ Stuart Kidd.

For more: https://foodybag.com.au, https://www.blezz.co, https://www.familia.app, http://www.everythere.com.au.

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Startup West is recorded at Riff studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, edited by Carmen Yee Kai Wen and brought to you thanks to support from Spacecubed, Curtin University, RSM, the City of Perth and Tekkon.

Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Australia’s number 1 startup podcast talks with Simon Anderson, CEO and founder of Notis (student engagement platform for schools) and Swayz (prompts friends and family to share video content for you).

With Notis, established in 2013 in Perth, Simon has raised US$1M over 10 years and is aiming to have a thousand US schools on board in 2023. Simon raised his first $5K thanks to Curtin Accelerate in Perth, then US$350K in an angel round, sold up in Australia everything, moved to Canada, while his kids were young. He’s now back in Perth.

Meanwhile, his new startup baby is Swayz, a social media engagement app, which was launched a few months ago.

“… If you realise that you have time on your side, regarding that it’s going to take a long time. You’ve got time, you’re young, so do something every day… do that one thing, and it will add up.” ~ Simon Anderson.

For more: https://notis.com and https://www.swayz.app

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Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Australia’s number 1 startup podcast (1) talks with the CEO of tech recruiting firm Valrose and co-Chair of Women in Tech WA (WiTWA), Tina Ambrose.

Growing up in south London, she took on various jobs, found herself homeless at one stage, then later made “the best decision in [her] life” to move to Perth, Western Australia. Working in recruitment, she devised and then set up her own company, and also champions women in technology through her work with WiTWA.

“ If I knew then what I know now, would I have started?! There’s a lot of challenges you face. And the answer is yes, absolutely …” ~ Tina Ambrose.

For more: https://valrose.com.au/

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Startup West is recorded at Riff studios in beautiful downtown Perth, Western Australia; produced by Startup News, edited by Carmen Yee Kai Wen and brought to you thanks to support from Spacecubed, Curtin University, RSM, the City of Perth and Tekkon.

Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

(1) Feedspot Ranking of Australian Startup podcasts: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/australian_startup_podcasts/

Australia’s number 1 startup podcast (1) talks with Ingrid Rodriguez, founder of Eikonic, a dental hygiene product looking to help a billion mouths over the next ten years.

Born in Chile, and growing up in Perth, Ingrid studied oral hygiene and after years of practice, saw a need to develop a revolutionary product that would assist the 3 billion people that suffer from one type of oral disease or another.

“ Do whatever it takes to be you own best friend. That was another great piece of advice, and a quote that I’ve taken with me and my journey. Sometimes as a sole founder it can be very lonely…” Ingrid Rodriguez ~

For more: https://www.eikonic.org

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Startup West acknowledges the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, traditional owners of the lands and waters of Perth, where this podcast was recorded, and pays respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

(1) Feedspot Ranking of Australian Startup podcasts: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/australian_startup_podcasts/