The University of New South Wales this week announced 8 winners in its inaugural UNSW Founders Awards, recognizing founders, startups and mentors for their outstanding contribution to innovation and the startup ecosystem.
Virtual work simulation platform Enter was named Startup of the Year, with Frances Atkinsco-founder of Giveable named Founder of the Year.
The presentation at The Ivy Ballroom attracted more than 300 guests, among others Dr. Wong Fong Fui, whose donation enabled the creation of the UNSW Founders flagship 10x Accelerator.
Dimitry Tran, co-founder of Harrison.ai, delivered the keynote address, acknowledging that of its key investors — the medtech startup has raised about $160,000 in venture capital funding — many have strong ties to UNSW.
David Burt UNSW Founders Director of Entrepreneurship said as the university’s startup ecosystem continued to thrive, it was time to honor those who made outstanding contributions to its success.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for UNSW, having been named as Australia’s most entrepreneurial universityto recognize UNSW-born startups, founders and mentors for their hard work, dedication and excellence,” he said.
“The award winners are further proof of the vital role that entrepreneurship will play in delivering benefits to the Australian economy, now and in the future.”
Prior to the awards, UNSW invested $320,000 in Seed funding, in addition to mentoring and tailored support for 18 startups in healthcare, synthetic biology and other industries, as part of its annual 10x Demo Day.
But said this year’s cohort is the most successful in UNSW history, with Psycho, recently raised $5 million as part of its launch mid-program.
“In just five years, 80 accelerator portfolio companies have raised more than $89 million and are worth a total of $350 million,” said Burt.
“One such company, Forage, which helps Fortune 500 companies train students before they even hire them, won the UNSW Founders Startup of the Year Award.”
Indonesian-born co-founder Pasha Raya began his entrepreneurial journey as a student at UNSW. While Raya is now globally successful, year after year he finds time to return to UNSW’s Michael Crouch Innovation Center to educate, coach and mentor emerging founders.
“We were lucky when we co-founded Forage in the early days to participate in the Founders 10x program,” said Raya, Forage’s CTO.
“And it was in that program that we really started to feel like we could be a high-impact company and dream a little bit bigger. We’ve been able to raise more than $50 million from some of Silicon Valley and the world’s top venture capitalists, and we’re really starting to see some of the seeds we’ve planted in social impact really starting to bear fruit, ‘
The full list of winners is:
Startup of the year: feed, a virtual talent job simulation platform produced by and for the world’s top companies.
Founder of the Year: Frances Atkins – co-founder of Giveable that help companies achieve their sustainability and ESG goals faster.
Mentor of the Year: Leah Frickein front of ssupporting founders to be strong so they can be compassionate, talented so they can be humble, passionate so they can be rational, and focused so they can be successful.
Best New Idea: Nanoscale Pharmacythat offers ppersonal drug delivery at the right time in the right dose.
Research Making Impact Award: LLEAFwhich created a material that can modify film to increase food productivity
Positive Impact Award: 4 eyes vision, which makes eyewear on the spot in underserved communities, to make better vision accessible to everyone.
Health Innovation Award, presented in association with The George Institute of Global Health: CardioBionic – a technology platform offering multiple wearable heart failure devices.
The Audience Award: JDoodleaone online software programming platform for learning, teaching, recruiting and hosting.
A full list of finalists in the UNSW Founders Awards is here.
* Startup Daily sponsored the UNSW Founders Awards
