The Sydney Founder Institute, the local chapter of the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, is proud to announce the newest Alumni from the Sydney Virtual Autumn 2021 program.
Over 180 people applied to the program, and after an intense four months of aggressive business-building sprints and constant evaluation and feedback from investors and mentors, just six companies were able to make it through.
Each of these Founders have demonstrated a high level of perseverance and creativity, and their businesses have been thoroughly vetted and supported by a panel of Sydney's top startup experts and investors.
Without further ado, we proudly present the newest portfolio Alumni of the FI Sydney program:
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TheCryptoPlayground
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Equaliser
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Food Markies
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GimmeNow
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Leen
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SkyThanks
The Sydney Virtual Autumn 2021 program would not have been possible without help, because it truly takes a city to raise a startup. We would first like to thank the Local Leaders of the Sydney Founder Institute: Benjamin Chong, Charlotte Connell, Cheryl Mack, Chris Clark, Paul Krajewski, and Phoebe Zhang. Our Local Leaders play an incredibly important role in building the local Founder Institute program, and creating an environment and network in Sydney that is conducive to building to great companies.
In addition, the Sydney Virtual Autumn 2021 program was supported by some of Sydney's top technology organizations, including:

Some of Sydney’s top startup mentors helped our founders in the program, including:
- Adam Long: CEO, TheEthicalCEO.com
- Adrian Whitehead: Leadership Coach, Adrian Whitehead Coaching
- Alejandro Patterson: Managing Director, Treble Strategic
- Alex Samson: Head of Tech, Finagra
- Alex Sy: Managing Director, ATLAS Business Consulting and Mentoring Services
- Alex Xu: Co-Founder & Idea Builder, 100 Bad Ideas
- Allan Lalic: Founder, Kebloom
- Amit Verma: Senior Manager, Listings, ASX
- Anne Marie Elias: chief disrupter, Founder, PrimeLife Partners, innovating longevity & care
- Ant Moorehouse: CEO and Co-Founder, EarthTech
- Arcui Usoara: Global Board Advisor and Brand Strategist, Founder, Iaculus
- Ash Ma: Product Manager, Zip Co.
- Ashton Bishop: CEO, Step Change hellostepchange.com
- Ati Aziz: Growth Marketer, ClearCalcs
- Barney Chunn: Director, Mutu https://mutu.co.nz
- Ben Pecotich: Design & Innovation Director/Founder, Dynamic4
- Ben Richards: Founder & CEO, Pooltrackr acquired by Fluidra
- Benjamin Ranck: Principal, MacroReactor
- Benjamin Chong: Partner, Right Click Capital
- Bill Trestrail: Venture Partner, Black Nova Venture Capital
- Bjorn Halfmann: Experience Design Director, Co-Founder, australiancoffeeculture.com
- Brenda Nguyen: Head of ESG and Sustainable Development, Jardine Cycle & Carriage
- Brendan Yell: Former Director, Twilio Startups
- Carl Maiorana: Founder, Business Growth & Change Consultant, 5Y
- Caroline Lepron: CEO & Founder, Skoutli
- Chris Clark: Serial Entrepreneur , Teem
- Chris Clark: Chris Clark, Teem / GeoSnapShot
- Christopher Krainer: Co-founder, rk-collective.com
- Claudia Capelo: Head of Product Marketing, CMC Markets ANZ
- Dane Eldridge: Founder & CEO, StackUp www.stackup.tech
- David Kenney: Founder, Epic Execution Pty Ltd
- Dennis Kibirev: Marketing Exec | Venture Growth Strategist, Top 1% Rated Startup Mentor
- Dmitri Voronenko: Technology Leader | Advisor | Mentor, virtualintegrity.com.au
- Dylan Mc Donnell: CEO, Foodini
- Elizabeth Kaelin: Principal, Partnerships, Mums & Co. Formerly UTS Business School
- Erwin Van Der Koogh: Founder/CEO, Linc
- Franziska Iseli: Founder, Basic Bananas
- Garry Visontay: General Partner, Right Click Capital
- Gerry Tucker: Director of Sales Large Entreprise , Sprinklr
- Giang Trinh: Country Director, Founder Institute Vietnam
- GRAEME OGILVIE: Independent Advisor, Fractional Executive, Angel Investor , Who says I can't - Senior Partner
- Graham Christie: Driving venture growth&ecosystem impact across ANZ/Asia/UK&EU, Founder|NED|Investor|Award-winning Wiley Author
- Greg Campbell: entrepreneur, former Ops Director, information security specialist, Current Head of InfoSec and Compliance
- Hendrik Remigereau: Venture Partner, NZVC
- Hugh Treseder: Founder, Floatspace
- Jack Qi: Director, William Buck
- Jakomi Mathews: CEO, goto.health
- James Moody: CPO Chief Product Officer, FAST Group, CEO of Sendle until Aug-2025
- Jason Atkins: Building TORUS & Co-Founder, Cake cakeequity.com
- Jason Tan: Fractional Chief AI Officer, Ascendnce
- Jeffrey Ling: Ex-Programme Director, Ministry of Awesome
- Jo Ann Suchard: Angel investor, Sydney Angels
- Joanne Jacobs: Co-CEO, Disruptor's Handbook
- Jonathan Greechan: Co-Founder & CIO, Founder Institute, GP Founder Capital
- Jonathon Wilkinson: Co-founder, Equitise
- Julian Luca: Founder, Founders Edge
- Katherine Gokavi Whaley: Founder, SheLeads Coaching
- Keith Forbes: Executive Leadership & Advisory, from Streem to Cision
- Kevin Whitmore: CEO & Founder, www.getcashbucket.com
- Leila Alem: Chief Innovation Officer, ArcSense
- Lisa Askwith: CEO, Apex BRS
- Lisa Cotton: Founder and Principal, Human in the Loop Leadership
- Magdalena Reith: Startup&Business Consultant magdalena-reith.de, Magdalena Reith Pitch Decks pitchbird.de
- Mark Glikson: CEO, Methodbridge / Genascent
- Matthew Browne: Co-Founder @Upflowy upflowy.com, @Donesafe donesafe.com, @Whispli, Investor @Black Nova Group etc
- Maxine Lee: COO & Investment Director, Skalata Ventures
- Michael Taus: Founder / CMO / TechStars Mentor, Rent.com, CrowdStreet, Rentable, ApartmentIQ, Amplion, FoundersPad
- Michelle Gilmore: CEO, heyjuno.co
- Milka Wenas: Director, Kudo Innov8
- Nathan Evans: Founder | Angel Investor | Advisor , AURIS Investment
- Neil Smith DUPLICATE PROFILE: CTO, Simple KYC
- Neil Smith: Co-founder, CSO, Simple KYC
- Nhat Nguyen: CEO, Otrafy
- Oliver Ranck: Co-Founder | CMO | Exec Director, Future Neutral | MYSALE | Octomedia
- Paul Wenck: Chair, Co-Founder Checkbox
- Paul Grimes: CTO & Founder, OK200
- Pete Cooper: Former CIO, KBZ Bank
- Peter Browne: Owner, Intangible Communications
- Peter Mc William: Fractional CFO, Former CFO, jayride.com
- Prashant Gami: CEO & Founder, x•enabler
- Rachel White: CFO, Part time CFO / fractional CFO
- Rae Wang: Head of Product, Enterprise, Atlassian
- Rajeev Gupta: Managing Partner, Alium Capital
- Rebecca Dooley: Partner, Addisons
- Roger Do: CEO, Co-Founder, Watchdog Cyber Defense
- Romain Bonjean: Founder, CEO, RoseRx
- Roman Kovalenko: Chief Data Officer, Reserve Bank of Australia
- Romane Delvallee: Business Development Associate, Gandel Invest
- Ron Hill: Managing Director, sunramp.co
- Ryan Cross: Sr Prototyping Engagement Manager, ANZ, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Ryan Ahamer: Founder, LokaLingo
- Sameer Babbar: Director, SVB Group
- Scott Crowe: Fractional Recruitment, People Operations, Startup Advisor, Mentor, Board Member & Investor, Ex- Canva & Atlassian. Head of Growth, Empathix
- Scott Dommett: Former Investor, Rampersand
- Sean Geoghegan: Cofounder and former-CTO, Sendle, Tech and People Leader, Iconoclast.
- Shaun Edlin: CEO, Dotterel Technologies
- Shreya Gupta: Co-Founder, Australian Coffee Culture. Growth, GTM, Vision australiancoffeeculture.com
- Simon Litchfield: CTO, and serial Founder
- Sorrel Kesby: Founder/Co-CEO, EvenBetter.ai
- Stella Xu: Founder, Lucky Lock
- Tal Rotbart: Former Chief Technology Officer, Marketplacer (until Oct-‘23)
- Tim Freestone: Founder, Alooba
- Tomaj Bayat: Non-Executive Director: Documentary Australia, Previous founder. Previous Growth beforepay.com.au
- Vanessa Ronan Pearce: Founder & Growth Strategist, Artikulait & Sound Voices
- Will Davies: CEO, Car Next Door
- Will Ericksson: Director, Trainer/Mentor, Momentum Academy / Momentumgroup.tech
- William Wang: Exited Founder/CEO, Scale Tribe
- William Mc Cahey: Partner, Think & Grow, and Growth Advisor
- Yash Varma: Founder & General Partner, Empress Capital
In the Founder Institute's pre-seed accelerator program, early-stage entrepreneurs and teams build their business alongside a critical support network of local startup experts that share equity in their success, and through a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped alumni raise over 2BN.
After Graduation, the new Sydney Founder Institute Portfolio Companies now have a fast-growing company that has been fully validated by experienced startup founders, with access to the Founder Institute's global network and post-graduate support programs to continue building their business.
Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, building a co-founding team, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200+ cities and 100+ countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to Globalize Silicon Valley and empower talented and motivated entrepreneurs to build companies that will create one million new jobs.
The next local Founder Institute program, the Australia + New Zealand Virtual Spring 2021 accelerator cohort, will be announced shortly. If you are interested in learning more or applying, visit FI.co/apply/sydney.
Alumni of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over 2BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.
