UTS Startups Growth Funding

Australia’s most founder-friendly early investment program

The UTS Startups Growth Funding program provides a quarterly opportunity for 20 eligible startups to receive mentorship, gain access to valuable resources and compete for the chance to pitch for $100,000.

Application
Applications are open

Program duration
Five weeks

Delivery mode
Face-to-face and online

Contact
startups@uts.edu.au

Apply now

Investment partner

The investors funding this program are currently from MA Financial.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the UTS Startups Growth Funding Program, startups must be ‘Investment Ready’ and meet the following criteria.

Eligibility criteria checklist

Company	Incorporated as an Australian “Pty Ltd”
Employment	Founders have employment agreements
Cap table	Established cap table for “Pty Ltd”
Business plan	Business plan in place
Financial plan	High-level financial forecast/model
Revenue	Initial customer base or paid customer trials Must have a minimum of $20,000 in revenue or customer MoUs in the last year.
Intellectual Property	IP is owned by the “Pty Ltd”
Related Parties	Related party arrangements are arm-length and properly documented
Sector exclusions	Research projects, biotech
UTS	Must become a member of UTS Startups upon success
UTS	Must be able to commit to the ‘Key Mandatory Dates’ in person

Program overview

UTS Startups offers year-round support for startups interested in growing their business. Pitch development program may coincide with this opportunity and may be offered to startups seeking to improve their pitch prior to the qualifier and final events.

Workshops

The workshops are designed to be hands-on to bring all participants together to work on key aspects of the pitch, slide deck, and pitch delivery. While the workshops are optional, we highly recommend that you attend, especially for those who are new to pitching.

Drop-in pitch review sessions

These are informal non-compulsory online sessions. They are highly recommended and past participants have said that these sessions have been among the most valuable within the program. You will get direct feedback on your pitch in a group environment.

This program consists of two key pitch events.

#1 Pitch Qualifier

Startups who wish to pitch to MA will have five minutes to pitch to the judging panel with 10 minutes of Q&A. The top pitching startups will proceed to the Pitch Final.

#2 Pitch Final

Finalists will pitch to an MA Financial selected assessment panel and pitch for the $100k SAFE note investment.

Week 1: Defining your problem and solution

The first half of the session will begin with a pitch from last year’s winner. Followed by a quick Q&A on his experience of the program.

In the second half of the session, startups will work in a peer-to-peer workshop-style program where each startup will deep dive into their problem space and describe their problem to each other. The peer-to-peer feedback element of this workshop will assist in understanding how well other people understand the description of the problem, the solution and the value proposition.

Finally, participants will learn how to put everything together into a well-crafted story. Startups will learn how to tell a great story and how to position their startup for investment.

Week 2: Presentation skills & handling Q&A

This session is designed to help startups learn pitching techniques to amplify their pitches, including tips on how to handle the Q&A.

Week 3: Pitching makes perfect

Startups will practice their pitches to mentors and will be provided with feedback and time to refine their pitch. Each startup will pitch for five minutes in groups of five startups to their respective mentor. The mentor will ask questions as if they were investing in the startup. The mentor will provide feedback on the pitches and help refine the pitch over the two hours.

Week 4: The Qualifier

Startups who wish to pitch to MA will have five minutes to pitch to the judging panel with 10 minutes of Q&A.

Week 5: Pitch for $100,000

The six successful startups will pitch for $100,000 in the final week.