Techstars

Techstars Central LLC, founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, operates as a startup accelerator and venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage technology-oriented companies. It specializes in a mentorship-driven accelerator program, selecting ten startups each summer to participate in a three-month incubation period, offering funding of $120,000 in exchange for equity. Techstars invests primarily in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, and IoT, while avoiding investments in medical devices, healthcare technology, and local service-oriented businesses. In addition to its primary accelerator, Techstars has various specialized programs, including those focused on music, retail, mobility, and social impact, with global reach extending to regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The firm prefers taking minority stakes, typically between six and ten percent, without seeking board representation or investor rights. Techstars has built a robust network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and corporate partners to foster innovation and growth within its portfolio, which includes over 1,000 companies with a significant collective market capitalization.

Ethan Austin

MD of the Techstars Western Union Accelerator

Max Kelly

Managing Director of Techstars London

Lesa Mitchell

Managing Director

Vijay Tirathrai

Managing Director

Mark Tortorella

Advisor

Nathanial Zola

MD

Past deals in Australia

Blink

Series A in 2021
Blink is the digital backbone of companies who run the real world and don’t sit behind a computer. It’s for the millions of essential nurses, bus drivers, construction workers or supply chain operators that run the economy. In just a year, Blink has already been adopted by more than 60,000 people across over 100 companies in the UK, US and Australia who open the Blink app more than 15 times per day. 70% of the workforce today are frontline workers. But they have been underinvested in for far too long. Too often they suffer from low morale because they feel unappreciated at work. It's time for change. In our customers so far, we have reduced staff turnover by 26%, doubled employee satisfaction and delivered an ROI in under 3 months. Most importantly, 100% of frontline workers would recommend Blink to a colleague. We empower, we protect and we equip frontline workers with an all-in-one app that digitises the frontline and put everything your people need at their fingertips. Come join us on our mission.

TuCann Medical

Pre Seed Round in 2021
TuCann Medical is a MedTech startup that develops a novel cannula to minimize hospital-acquired infections, increase the efficiency of the cannulating procedure, and provide a better experience for healthcare workers. The company's vision is to eliminate the unnecessary, unseen risks in healthcare.

Immuto

Pre Seed Round in 2020
Immuto

SaltyCloud

Pre Seed Round in 2020
SaltyCloud is a public benefit corporation on a mission to cultivate cyber-secure ecosystems. Our DNA is rooted in the philosphy that the best solutions derive from understanding the real and acute pain points affecting information security and risk teams today. This is why our initial core technology came direct from the trenches at The University of Texas at Austin and Georgia Institute of Technology. And as we continue our mission, we hope to also continue working with more security teams to grow our unique portfolio. As a public benefit corporation, we believe business solutions can make a positive difference in society. We lead our mission with our social mandate which holds us accountable to make an impact in the information security space through partnerships and education. To date we’ve began to fulfill our mission with over 1000 global institutions across the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia and we are ready to work with the next 1000.

ELANATION

Seed Round in 2020
A mobile SaaS start-up revolutionising sports education for youth, globally. Problem worth solving: Fifty percent of children can no longer access extra-curricular sport on a regular basis. The modern family is juggling between double working parents, increased sport fees, travel time and more. This growing health problem is costing families $600B in health expenses per year. Solution: Democratised access to extra-curricular sports content and skills. We unite kids, coaches and content on a daily basis using the latest in mobile, IoT and Ai technology. Our north star: Give 1 billion children access to 1 million skills. Awards: - No.1 Founder in Asia Pacific, 2018 - Winner, People's Choice Wild Card TechCrunch Disrupt, San Francisco 2017, USA - Winner, People's Choice, National Internet of Things Summit, October 2016, Australia - Winner, StarUP, National Internet of Things Summit, October 2016, Australia - Winner, Best Lifestyle Consumer Technology, Overseas Talent and Entrepreneurship, Beijing 2016 - Winner, Australian Best Startup, Overseas Talent and Entrepreneurship Conference, APAC, July 2016 - Winner, Start Up China, Winner of Chengdu Innovate, Chengdu China, 2016

Section

Series A in 2020
Section is a technology company that provides an advanced content delivery platform, enabling engineers to efficiently manage and deliver workloads from any location. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with additional offices in Sydney, Australia, Section specializes in edge computing solutions underpinned by modern DevOps principles. Its platform supports a variety of functionalities, including a web application firewall for security, an HTTP accelerator to enhance performance, and a flexible ecommerce solution. Section's architecture is container-based, utilizing Docker and Kubernetes, allowing for extensive customization and deployment of edge compute modules. The company operates independently of hosting providers, catering to diverse deployment environments, including cloud and on-premise solutions. Section has garnered backing from notable venture capital firms and employs a diverse team skilled in engineering, marketing, and product development.

Yellowbox

Pre Seed Round in 2020
Yellowbox is a network of smart lockers that users can hire on demand using a mobile app. Its mission is to increase the utility of the built environment so that people can use technology to interact with it intuitively. Yellowbox strives to empower customers to explore the world without physical burdens by putting the right tools in their hands.

ParaSpace

Pre Seed Round in 2020
ParaSpace develops VR simulations for high risk construction and mining activities. The company works with companies to create softwares that solve industry problems using AR, VR, and 360 Video. ParaSpace focuses on the Workplace Health & Safety (WHS) industry and develops a collection of VR and AR safety modules called SafetyAugment, designed to supplement existing high risk work courses such as working from heights, confined space, asbestos, and dogger training. These modules will enable trainers to repeatedly place students in high risk environments in a repeatable, measurable manner, without placing them in any physical danger.

Delta AI

Pre Seed Round in 2020
Delta AI Pty Ltd is an Australian company based in Brisbane that specializes in developing artificial intelligence-driven software as a service (SaaS) platforms. Founded in 2020, Delta AI offers solutions to help enterprises identify, monitor, and respond to deep fake content, thereby protecting brand identity and intellectual property for media companies. Additionally, the company utilizes computer vision technology to analyze social media, enabling brands to track product trends and gather insights on product usage worldwide. This dual focus allows brands to create and launch new products and marketing strategies more effectively and responsively in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

Replica Studios

Seed Round in 2019
Replica Studios creates naturally expressive voice-overs and performances through an AI that can replicate the human voice. It captures unique speech patterns, pronunciation, and emotional range to create a realistic Replica Voice. It was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland.

RealAR

Seed Round in 2019
RealAR is an augment real estate app that allows seeing a property before it's built. Realar is an augmented real estate app that helps people buy and build better by solving the problem of being able to visualise property off the plan. By using AR for spatial visualization customers using our product today are able to get a life-size understanding of the single biggest investment they are likely to make. Volume home builders and real estate sales also see this problem so were are now scaling to enterprise sales and profitability. The bigger opportunity is meeting consumer demand at scale with the overall goal of a global marketplace.

tagSpace

Pre Seed Round in 2019
tagSpace Pty Ltd develops tagStorm, a software platform that provides mixed reality, social media, and marketing services for tourism, corporate team building, and events. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Byron Bay, Australia.

Climasens

Pre Seed Round in 2019
SensCity is an integrated decision support platform (SaaS) that provides urban climate intelligence, to the property, construction, financial, insurance and government sectors. SensCity utilizes a variety of environmental and climatic data sources, from IoT, Satellite Imagery, and open/proprietary data to monitor, analyze and visualize climate changes risks, impacts and to monitor the performance of climate-resilient infrastructure. We can provide monitoring and analysis in real-time at a hyper-local scale from IoT sensors all the way to precinct and regional resolutions through ongoing satellite monitoring. Our software helps ensure communities, businesses, researchers and government decision-makers have access to the best available information and tools to understand how climate change may impact them and how resilient their investments are into the future. We work collaboratively with research and industry partners to deliver robust climate change analysis and compelling data visualizations to enable greater insights into planning, designing, insuring and preparing for climate change in our cities.

Tomahawk Robotics

Seed Round in 2019
Tomahawk Robotics, Inc. is a Melbourne, Florida-based company founded in 2018 that specializes in designing and building various robotic systems. Its product offerings encompass assistive, security and defense, energy and infrastructure, and home automation robotics. The company's solutions are characterized by user-centric design and intuitive control technologies, allowing robots to operate safely alongside people in unstructured environments. By leveraging advanced electro-mechanical technology, Tomahawk Robotics creates systems that effectively manipulate real-world spaces and objects, serving as extensions of the user while prioritizing safety and cost-effectiveness.

VAUX

Pre Seed Round in 2019
VAUX is an artificial intelligence company.

Splash

Seed Round in 2018
Popgun is using Deep Learning to develop an Artificial Intelligence that can create awesome original pop songs.

Sitata

Pre Seed Round in 2018
Sitata Inc. is a technology provider based in Kitchener, Canada, with an additional office in Sydney, Australia, specializing in travel health and safety services for organizations. Founded in 2012, the company utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor various information sources, including news and social media, for potential travel disruptions such as disease outbreaks and civil unrest. Sitata delivers critical real-time information to travelers, ensuring their safety while abroad. The company caters to both the leisure travel market and corporate clients, offering its services through an online platform and a mobile application. Additionally, Sitata provides a white-label solution that allows other brands, such as travel insurers and airlines, to integrate its capabilities into their offerings.

Soundcharts

Seed Round in 2018
SOUNDCHARTS S.A.S. develops an online platform that aggregates online music consumption data and enables users to track social networks, charts, playlists, and airplay data. It offers real-time notifications; and daily reports that include airplays stats, progress on all social networks, and positions in the charts and on playlists. The company’s platform monitors radios from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, and Italy. It serves the music industry. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in Paris, France.

Nimis Cybersecurity

Seed Round in 2017
Techstars backed cybersecurity company using artificial intelligence to provide real time penetration testing

Iridium Dynamics

Seed Round in 2017
Iridium Dynamics is an Australian drone manufacturer with offices in Brisbane, Australia and Toulouse, France. They offer high performance fixed-wing UAVs for commercial markets, and supply a range of accessories for fixed-wing UAVs. Iridium Dynamics was founded in Sydney in 2015 by Ian Conway Lamb, and is now headquartered in Brisbane. The company was accelerated by the Techstars Adelaide accelerator in 2017, and the Airbus Bizlab accelerator in 2018. They use advanced technologies to develop aircraft, ground-based robotics, batteries, and avionics which outperform existing solutions in the fixed-wing UAV market. Their products take the greatest advantage of the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft to squeeze out every last bit of performance.

Teamgage

Seed Round in 2017
Teamgage is a software-led solution that creates a culture of continuous improvement at every level of an organisation. It fosters an environment of iterative improvement, and motivates team members to own the improvement process and to push ideas from the bottom-up. Most importantly, it has a bias towards action.

Daitum

Seed Round in 2017
Daitum is an Australian company based in Adelaide that specializes in developing cloud-based software for decision analytics, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. The firm focuses on creating accessible and user-friendly solutions for various applications, including supply chain planning, asset management, production planning, and workforce management. With a combined experience of over 25 years in designing enterprise AI solutions, Daitum aims to help businesses unlock the true value of their data through grounded and practical approaches. The company is supported by a team of accomplished computer scientists and is backed by the Techstars accelerator program.

Omnio

Pre Seed Round in 2017
Omnio, Inc. is a financial services provider that caters to banks, credit unions, airlines, and retailers with a range of digital solutions. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in London, the company specializes in banking-as-a-service offerings, including digital banking, managed services, digital payments, and application solutions. Notably, Omnio incorporates Domec's loyalty platform and Sercle, a prominent credit union platform in the UK that supports over 130 small financial institutions. The company's cloud-based digital platform enables businesses to deliver reliable banking and payment services tailored to meet the evolving needs of their customers. With a presence in Europe, Australia, North America, and Africa, Omnio collaborates with various global enterprises and government organizations to provide innovative financial products.

Iridium Dynamics

Convertible Note in 2017
Iridium Dynamics is an Australian drone manufacturer with offices in Brisbane, Australia and Toulouse, France. They offer high performance fixed-wing UAVs for commercial markets, and supply a range of accessories for fixed-wing UAVs. Iridium Dynamics was founded in Sydney in 2015 by Ian Conway Lamb, and is now headquartered in Brisbane. The company was accelerated by the Techstars Adelaide accelerator in 2017, and the Airbus Bizlab accelerator in 2018. They use advanced technologies to develop aircraft, ground-based robotics, batteries, and avionics which outperform existing solutions in the fixed-wing UAV market. Their products take the greatest advantage of the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft to squeeze out every last bit of performance.

Section

Seed Round in 2017
Section is a technology company that provides an advanced content delivery platform, enabling engineers to efficiently manage and deliver workloads from any location. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with additional offices in Sydney, Australia, Section specializes in edge computing solutions underpinned by modern DevOps principles. Its platform supports a variety of functionalities, including a web application firewall for security, an HTTP accelerator to enhance performance, and a flexible ecommerce solution. Section's architecture is container-based, utilizing Docker and Kubernetes, allowing for extensive customization and deployment of edge compute modules. The company operates independently of hosting providers, catering to diverse deployment environments, including cloud and on-premise solutions. Section has garnered backing from notable venture capital firms and employs a diverse team skilled in engineering, marketing, and product development.

Splash

Seed Round in 2017
Popgun is using Deep Learning to develop an Artificial Intelligence that can create awesome original pop songs.

Splash

Seed Round in 2017
Popgun is using Deep Learning to develop an Artificial Intelligence that can create awesome original pop songs.

inKind

Venture Round in 2016
inKind Cards, Inc. is a Certified B Corporation based in Austin, Texas, that specializes in financing restaurants by purchasing substantial amounts of food and beverage credits upfront. Founded in 2014, the company sells these credits to consumers through its House Account application, a restaurant-loyalty platform designed to enhance customer loyalty and relationships. By offering financing options that range from $10,000 to $1.5 million, inKind has collaborated with over 350 restaurants across the United States and Australia. The company’s innovative approach has demonstrated significant results, with customers reportedly spending 400% more annually after acquiring House Accounts, thanks to increased visit frequency and higher spending per visit. In addition to its financing services, inKind has established itself as a leader in loyalty programs within the restaurant industry.

Pantreeco

Seed Round in 2016
Pantreeco removes the friction of B2B commerce in hospitality. The e-commerce killer.

Ella Biomedical

Seed Round in 2016
Ella Biomedical, Inc. is a company that focuses on helping individuals manage chronic pain through digital mindfulness programs. Founded in 2016 and based in Los Angeles, California, with operations in Fortitude Valley, Australia, the company offers a mobile-based healthcare platform that trains the brain to process pain differently. Its app-based program is designed specifically for chronic pain patients, aiming to reduce healthcare costs while improving patients' pain levels, functional status, and mental well-being. The program includes multi-week sessions that feature real-life coaching and self-directed resources, addressing not only pain management but also associated issues such as depression and anxiety.

inKind

Venture Round in 2016
inKind Cards, Inc. is a Certified B Corporation based in Austin, Texas, that specializes in financing restaurants by purchasing substantial amounts of food and beverage credits upfront. Founded in 2014, the company sells these credits to consumers through its House Account application, a restaurant-loyalty platform designed to enhance customer loyalty and relationships. By offering financing options that range from $10,000 to $1.5 million, inKind has collaborated with over 350 restaurants across the United States and Australia. The company’s innovative approach has demonstrated significant results, with customers reportedly spending 400% more annually after acquiring House Accounts, thanks to increased visit frequency and higher spending per visit. In addition to its financing services, inKind has established itself as a leader in loyalty programs within the restaurant industry.

Section

Pre Seed Round in 2016
Section is a technology company that provides an advanced content delivery platform, enabling engineers to efficiently manage and deliver workloads from any location. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with additional offices in Sydney, Australia, Section specializes in edge computing solutions underpinned by modern DevOps principles. Its platform supports a variety of functionalities, including a web application firewall for security, an HTTP accelerator to enhance performance, and a flexible ecommerce solution. Section's architecture is container-based, utilizing Docker and Kubernetes, allowing for extensive customization and deployment of edge compute modules. The company operates independently of hosting providers, catering to diverse deployment environments, including cloud and on-premise solutions. Section has garnered backing from notable venture capital firms and employs a diverse team skilled in engineering, marketing, and product development.

General Atomics

Seed Round in 2015
General Atomics develops technology solutions for defense, energy, and transportation applications worldwide. The company’s defense solutions comprise aircraft launch and recovery systems; energy solutions include nuclear energy, nuclear fuel, and alternative energy; transportation solutions comprise magnetic levitation (maglev) systems, including urban maglev systems, electromagnetic cargo conveyors, and high-speed maglev systems as well as linear motor systems for civil transportation applications. General Atomics also offers unmanned aircraft systems and sensors as well as training and support services. In addition, the company offers various commercial products, including capacitors, terminal automation products, radiation monitoring systems, deicing products, diagnostic enzymes, electrostatic oil separator systems, nirvana storage products, fusion technology products, research reactor control systems, products for cleanroom services, and algae for aquaculture as well as integrated drive systems, power inverters, and permanent magnet motors. Further, it offers education outreach programs, which include elements that support fusion energy research and development as well as general science education. General Atomics was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in San Diego, California with additional offices in Newport News, Virginia; Lakehurst, New Jersey; and Washington, D.C. It also has operations in Berlin and Dresden, Germany; Adelaide, Australia; Denver, Colorado; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Tupelo, Mississippi; Ogden, Utah; and Washington, District of Columbia.

Blink

Convertible Note in 2014
Blink is the digital backbone of companies who run the real world and don’t sit behind a computer. It’s for the millions of essential nurses, bus drivers, construction workers or supply chain operators that run the economy. In just a year, Blink has already been adopted by more than 60,000 people across over 100 companies in the UK, US and Australia who open the Blink app more than 15 times per day. 70% of the workforce today are frontline workers. But they have been underinvested in for far too long. Too often they suffer from low morale because they feel unappreciated at work. It's time for change. In our customers so far, we have reduced staff turnover by 26%, doubled employee satisfaction and delivered an ROI in under 3 months. Most importantly, 100% of frontline workers would recommend Blink to a colleague. We empower, we protect and we equip frontline workers with an all-in-one app that digitises the frontline and put everything your people need at their fingertips. Come join us on our mission.

inKind

Venture Round in 2014
inKind Cards, Inc. is a Certified B Corporation based in Austin, Texas, that specializes in financing restaurants by purchasing substantial amounts of food and beverage credits upfront. Founded in 2014, the company sells these credits to consumers through its House Account application, a restaurant-loyalty platform designed to enhance customer loyalty and relationships. By offering financing options that range from $10,000 to $1.5 million, inKind has collaborated with over 350 restaurants across the United States and Australia. The company’s innovative approach has demonstrated significant results, with customers reportedly spending 400% more annually after acquiring House Accounts, thanks to increased visit frequency and higher spending per visit. In addition to its financing services, inKind has established itself as a leader in loyalty programs within the restaurant industry.

Blink

Seed Round in 2014
Blink is the digital backbone of companies who run the real world and don’t sit behind a computer. It’s for the millions of essential nurses, bus drivers, construction workers or supply chain operators that run the economy. In just a year, Blink has already been adopted by more than 60,000 people across over 100 companies in the UK, US and Australia who open the Blink app more than 15 times per day. 70% of the workforce today are frontline workers. But they have been underinvested in for far too long. Too often they suffer from low morale because they feel unappreciated at work. It's time for change. In our customers so far, we have reduced staff turnover by 26%, doubled employee satisfaction and delivered an ROI in under 3 months. Most importantly, 100% of frontline workers would recommend Blink to a colleague. We empower, we protect and we equip frontline workers with an all-in-one app that digitises the frontline and put everything your people need at their fingertips. Come join us on our mission.

Voxon Photonics

Seed Round in 2012
Voxon Photonics are creators of the Voxon VX1 – the world’s most advanced three-dimensional (3D) volumetric display. Incorporated in 2013, we have teams based in Australia and the US that have been developing the 3D volumetric technology for more than nine years. Our 3D volumetric technology brings digital content to life and helps empower people to visualise, communicate, learn and have fun in a collaborative manner with no barrier to the 3D experience, and no glasses required. Our 3D Volumetric technology is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. In literal terms, we have created a futuristic display technology capable of producing truly 3D digital images that can render animated or static imagery as genuinely three-dimensional holograms – high definition, infinitely complex and manipulable, and viewable with the naked eye from any angle. No illusions. No special glasses. The volumetric science is absolutely cutting-edge. But emotionally, it couldn’t be simpler. When people see it in action for the first time, regardless of their age, interests or background, they are mesmerised. There, right in front of their eyes, is science fiction – magic – made real. With the Voxon Photonic Engine, the Voxon VX1, we haven’t just taken 3D holographic display to another level, we’ve launched it into a whole new dimension.

MiniMonos

Pre Seed Round in 2011
MiniMonos.com is a virtual world for children who love to play and love the planet. On the site, kids create monkey avatars, make friends, decorate their treehouses, and play games. MiniMonos is “fun first” and kids join to play, not to learn – but the site has core messages of sustainability, generosity and community embedded throughout. Every purchase on MiniMonos supplies clean water to kids in India (over 14,000 days to date); we’ve adopted orangutans and supported wild tigers, and kids get in-world rewards for real-world eco-actions. The site, which launched out of beta April 1, 2011, has been growing by more than 20% per month for the past nine months and now has more than 300,000 registered members; it is generating revenue through subscriptions and microtransactions from its target market of 8-12-year-old boys. The top four countries for registrations are the US, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand; memberships are being driven through natural traffic (word of mouth), Google Adwords, the Miniclip games aggregator site, and PR, primarily kids’ television. The company has just launched TV commercials in the UK and will be launching branded prepaid cards in Sainsbury's nationwide in October. MiniMonos has been going for two years and is led by a solid and committed team of startup veterans; the CEO, Melissa Clark-Reynolds, has more than 20 years of experience as a successful entrepreneur. MiniMonos raised initial capital in New Zealand and is also incorporated in the US and the UK.