

Optus Innov8 Seed Program Announces their Winter 2012 shortlist - shimms
http://optusinnov8seed.com.au/announcing-our-winter-2012-shortlist/

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pedalpete
In my very quick review of these companies, it seems most have already been or
are currently part of an incubator program Pollenizer[Flikgift,WooBoard],
StartMate[ YoungRepublic], AngelCube - Lexim.

I don't know if this is a good sign for the Australian ecosystem or not. It
would seem the goal of most incubators is to have companies funded after the
program ends, not to enter another seed stage program.

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shimms
I'm one of the founders of Lexim - an AngelCube company. The Optus Innov8 Seed
program isn't another accelerator/incubator in the same sense as
AngelCube/StartMate etc, but rather a pre-series-A fund, filling the void in
Australia of post seed/pre-VC funding.

I can't speak for the other shortlisted companies, but AngelCube put us
exactly where you suggested an accelerator-graduate company should be. We've
raised a seed round post the AngelCube program, and picked up traction. The
Innov8 fund is a great way to get a pre-series-A size investment, access to
great resources and specified, targeted mentoring.

Unlike an accelerator/incubator it is not a structured program, nor do they
prefer co-location of the teams.

