LaunchVic supports founders through accelerator programs, direct grants and investment funds, to open up more seed funding opportunities for startups.
We define a founder as an entrepreneur working on a technology-based startup idea. The founder is the person who conceives the original idea for a product or service and launches it to customers. They retain their title and role regardless of the company’s outcome and where there are multiple founders, they are known as co-founders.
Bring your startup idea to life in Victoria
LaunchVic currently offers equity-free funding to startups as part of our CivVic Labs program.
| Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources | Funding and incentives |
| Australian Government | Grants & Programs |
| Australian Government | R&D Tax Incentive |
| Business Victoria | Grants & Programs |
| City of Melbourne | Grants and Scholarships |
| CSIRO | CSIRO Kick-Start |
| Victorian State Government | Grants schemes |
Our programs cater to every stage of the startup entrepreneur journey:
LaunchVic funds the establishment of new angel networks, venture debt funds and Venture Capital Funds as part of its overaching strategy to increase the flow of funding for early-stage startups in Victoria. These different groups provide seed funding to startups raising capital. We also co-invest in startups through the Alice Anderson Fund and Hugh Victor McKay Fund, which we run in-house.
Angel groups are made up of early-stage investors looking to back aspiring, pre-seed and seed stage founders.
To unlock more capital for founders, LaunchVic has funded the establishment of ten new angel groups in Victoria since 2020.
Take a look at the full list and reach out.
Victoria is poised to receive a substantial boost in venture capital with the arrival of eight new VC funds collectively aiming to raise over $300 million, thanks to new backing from LaunchVic, the state’s startup agency.
Australian Medical Angels, Ecotone Partners, Era VC, Flying Fox Ventures, Mandalay Funds Management, Pacific Channel Ventures, SBE Australia, and Synthesis Capital will each secure a $300,000 grant under LaunchVic’s VC Support Program.
Between 2018-2021 only 4% of Australian VC funding went to women-founded startups. LaunchVic is working to change things with the $10 million Alice Anderson Fund, a sidecar fund that co-invests in women-led startups with private sector investors.
The Hugh Victor McKay Fund is a new sidecar fund for Victorian AgTech startups run by LaunchVic with funding from Agriculture Victoria.
The fund will co-invest between $100,000-$200,000 into at least five early-stage AgTech startups over the next 12 months.
LaunchVic has invested $300,000 in Tractor Ventures to establish Victoria’s first dedicated revenue-based fund targeted at early-stage, revenue positive startups.
The new Fund is a revenue-based alternative to traditional venture capital for startups that either do not want to, or are not able to attract VC funding.
LaunchVic’s Ask an Angel series explores common challenges and misconceptions founders face in raising their first investment. We speak with some of Victoria’s most active angels about what makes a memorable pitch, the qualities they’re looking for in a founder right now and navigating the investor/founder relationship.
