15 November 2019
RiverPitch, Australia’s leading bi-annual pitching event for startups, held its 18th event at Lightspace in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley on Thursday night with eight exciting Queensland based startups presenting to a group of high-powered investors for Series A investment funding.
Among the startups pitching to the audience were a real time pest control tool, a platform to help electricians stay safe onsite and a marketplace for chefs.
The latest RiverPitch was the 18th held since the event’s first outing in 2012.
Founder Steve Baxter said of the latest round: “All the teams did a fantastic job. It’s gratifying, surprising and wonderful to see how far it’s come.
“I think we had a good mix of wide-eyed dreamers and practical businesses as we always get and I don’t quite know who’s who.”
CEO and Co-founder of Cairns-based Gathar, Jodie Mlikota, explained her reasons for presenting at RiverPitch were about connecting with investors and partners: “For me it’s all about spreading the Gathar word. We’re live in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, across ten locations Australia-wide.
“So we’re really ramping up our marketing and exposure so we’re really looking to let as many people know about us as possible, connect with future investors and look for partnerships to enable our growth nationally and globally.
“We raised an angel pre-seed round early in the year and we’re currently going through our seed round at the moment. We’re currently in talks with some investors so the timing is perfect.”
Megan Avard, Founder and CEO of project management platform, SurePact, added: “We’re opening a round for investment and this was one of the platforms that has had good success nationally in different states.
“I think it’s a well-organised event and they curate the investors coming in and they curate the pitches. So it’s in an environment where I know there’s been some due diligence done.”
Hosted by River City Labs and generously supported by sponsor McCullough Robertson, RiverPitch brings pre-screened startups together with Australia’s leading investors.
Backed by ACS, the professional association for Australia’s technology sector, the event places Brisbane at the forefront of the Australian technology boom and has produced over 81 Alumni companies since its 2012 launch.
Social Status Founder and CEO, Tim Hill, said: “It’s a great opportunity to get in front of the who’s who in the Brisbane investment community. We’ve been around for a few years and so our pitch was why we’re investment ready.”
Investors participating this year include Transition Level Investments, Black Sheep Capital, PieLAB Venture Partners, Mawson Ventures, Full Circle VC and many more.
Past alumni of RiverPitch include Audeara, the ‘world’s first full fidelity headphones, designed by doctors and engineers’ and SiteSee, which uses drone footage and artificial intelligence to map, manage and analyse critical infrastructure projects.
ACS Director, Scale-Ups & Innovation Labs, Siobhan Casey, said of the evening: “RiverPitch Live 2019 demonstrated that entrepreneurship is more than simply a great idea. It’s the ability to bring that idea to life. To set up a business, to build and inspire a team and to deal with all the difficult circumstances that come along”.
“It is inspiring to work in a team that has assisted eight great businesses showcase their ideas to the market”.
-ENDS-
Further information
Troy Steer
Australian Computer Society
Director of Corporate Affairs and Public Policy
M – 0417 173 740
E – troy.steer@acs.org.au
About RiverPitch
RiverPitch is an investment series run by ACS Labs (River City Labs, Harbour City Labs, Bay City Labs) that provides a great platform for Entrepreneurs to present their business opportunities to a group of registered investors in order to help raise capital for their company. RiverPitch aims to provide a different approach to capital funding and de-formalise the search for the next investment.
About River City Labs
River City Labs fosters the growth of startup companies wanting to solve big problems. We provide resources to empower, support and connect entrepreneurs. Central to everything we do is a focus on collaboration and connection.
Since 2012 over 700 entrepreneurs have called RCL home. Through our events program we have welcomed more than 29,000 guests into our community by hosting over 1000 events aimed at supporting founders on their entrepreneurship journey.
River City Labs was acquired by the Australian Computer Society in September 2018.
About ACS
ACS is the professional association for Australia's technology sector. More than 45,000 ACS members work in business, education, government and the community. ACS exists to create the environment and provide the opportunities for members and partners to succeed. ACS strives technology professionals to be recognised as drivers of innovation in our society, relevant across all sectors, and to promote the formulation of effective policies on technology and related matters. Visit www.acs.org.au for more information.
The full list of startups presenting at Thursday’s Riverpitch:
Company |
Business description |
Social Status |
Social media report automation and analytics platform for marketers and advertisers. |
Gathar |
Gathar is the marketplace to book private chefs, passionate cooks and grazing stylists. We shop, cook, serve and clean up - so you can enjoy your easy and amazing dining experience at home! |
Cogniom |
Cogniom's TANDM Suite is a research toolset that helps discover problems in the workplace and calculate the net benefit ROI of its solution. |
SurePact |
SurePact is a risk identification and mitigation solution for the delivery of projects & contracts with improved procurement & compliance outcomes. |
RapidAIM Pty Ltd |
RapidAIM takes the guesswork out of pest management. Delivered as a service, RapidAIM provides high-resolution, real-time pest surveillance for targeted control and validation that management is working. |
Cake |
Cake helps private companies, and investors manage their cap tables, valuations, investments, and employee share plans. |
Quick Safety Pty Ltd |
Quick Safety ensures EVERY electrical job is safe, provide predicative and proactive measures against power failures and deliver ALL safety alerts directly to every electrician for FREE! |
Mindhive |
Mindhive is the world’s first crowdsourcing platform enabling you to convene, engage and understand your audience at scale and in real-time. |