Category Archives: Pitching

Startup Vic’s SportsTech Pitch Night

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Last month’s Startup Vic’s Pitch Night featured SportsTech, one of the semi-regular topics in Startup Vic’s themed pitch nights. Hosted by LaunchVic at the Victorian Innovation Hub, supported by the Sports Geek podcast and Track, Victoria University’s sports partnership institute.

In a new partnership between Startup Vic and LaunchVic, upcoming pitch nights will feature EdTech, Diversity and HealthTech. Meanwhile, back to the sport. The competing pitches were (links in the names):

Benchvote

Describing itself as a Sports Fan Engagement Platform, Benchvote has a tag line of “the Canva of creating high performing digital campaigns for sport”. Covering marketing, sponsorship and commercial, the platform claims to achieve 50%+ conversion rates on campaigns, partly achieved through a gamification aspect to appeal to fans.

The platform offers campaign templates, drives social media traffic to users’ own websites,
thereby converting that traffic into firm leads. It also has the potential to support other related verticals – including entertainment, media and betting. The proprietary nature of the solution is the combination of a SaaS model plus insights algorithms.

Asked by the judges about customisation versus scaling, we were told that it is a totally white label solution. Although the platform can support agencies as well as product providers with creative content and digital assets, the preference is to let clients do their own (given the business origins as an agency turned software company).

In terms of the competitor landscape, it’s between agency solutions and software services on one hand, and integrated platforms and single solutions on the other.

Potentially integrating ticketing data, the team are also looking at international expansion, and are in the middle of a raise.

MarineVerse

This is a VR sailing platform, that claims to be “Democratising sailing by enable people to sail in VR”. A big call.

Already running a VR Regatta competition, the team is building a community of clubs, members, and daily races. There’s also a VR sailing classroom, with the MarineVerse Cup – a two-week event – to come. Competition exists in the form of Virtual Regatta, which is actually a non-VR, e-sports platform.

Offering a $10 per month subscription model, MarineVerse is banking on the new
Oculus Crest device to boost adoption. The business has been bootstrapped for three years, and is experiencing 8% monthly growth.

Targeting a demographic of 30-55 year olds who are cashed-up and time rich, the team are also developing multiplayer races. The judges asked if there was potential to support high-performance training and use player data for predictive performance or behaviour.

Unite

A platform for sports club and team administration, Unite developed by Eastwood sports tech offers apps such as training calendars, fixtures management, media engagements, sponsor obligations and travel planning. Designed to help manage “Commitments to the team and individual level”, Unite offers a B2B subscription module (individual team players are the actual users) for professional, semi-professional, e-sport and collegiate teams.

Although TeamWorks is a major competitor, in fact there is much more competition at the grass-roots level, because peak bodies and administrators want to own the data. Currently at the working prototype stage, with an MVP. The service is designed to manage and approve player activities and such as media commitments, sponsorship and endorsements. It is built as a hosted SaaS using AWS security features, sitting behind the  club’s own fire wall.

Wedge Pro

As the name suggests, this device is all about “The Art of Wedge Play”, designed to reduce player handicap, and help with short game training, especially lifted wedge shots. According to the pitch, many amateur players suffer from poor technique, poor distance control, and lack confidence.

Apparently, there is a $2 billion global market for golf accessories, such as this physical attachment which launches a monitor linked to an app.

A 2017 winner at the La Trobe Accelerator Program, the team is looking for an app developer for data capture. While offering post-sales service and device re-calibration (for adjustments according to player height, the cord length matrix and player handicap), judges wondered if there was also the opportunity for VR applications as well as the kinaesthetic experience. Asked about distribution, the team mentioned getting the product into golf shops and pro shops (without providing any specifics), while building a brand for a suite of golf tech products.

After all the cotes were counted, the People’s Choice was Unite while MarineVerse was the Judge’s favourite.

Next week: FinTech Fund Raising

Pitch X

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Organised by Academy Xi in conjunction with Melbourne Silicon Beach, the latest edition of Pitch X was hosted at YBF Ventures last week. The event sponsorship, prizes and judging panel came from Everest Engineering, Luna, Shiftiez, Lander & Rogers, LaunchLink and YBF Ventures itself.

Image sourced from Pitch X Eventbrite page

Each each start-up was given 90 seconds to pitch, followed by a one-minute Q&A with the judges. The best three presentations were then shortlisted and invited back on stage to make a 5-minute pitch, followed by a 2 minute Q&A.

Some of the pitches were really only ideas, a few had reached MVP status, and a couple were in advanced beta with actual customers. And most of the projects still at the drawing board lacked key tech skills and resources to execute on their ideas. So there was a bit of an imbalance across the initial presentations. It’s not for nothing that most successful hackathon teams comprise a hacker, a hipster and a hustler…

In order of presentation the pitches were (website links where available are embedded in the startup names):

Backyarda – “the spontaneous experience curator”, promoting unsold event inventory via Facebook Messenger. Needs a co-founder and development skills as well as seed funding. Takes a 30% sales commission, and is at MVP stage, targeting 18-35 year olds.

Virtual Amputee Experience – providing training to prosthetic users and raising empathy and public awareness. Positioned as a research tool and data acquisition model. Seeking funding for software and hardware development. It’s a spin-off from an academic research project. Judges asked about the revenue modelling and the data privacy issues.

Betabot – by Beta Launch – “Empowering teammates, Supercharging augmented teams”. Designed as a Slack plug-in. The solution is in fact a time-zone calendar management tool. (But as the MC noted, it’s also the name of a computer virus…)

The Neighbourhood Effect – “your local green living guide”. Making it easier (and financially positive) to be green. Employs gamification and behavioral science, for example a User Questionnaire model. Free version plus white label solution for local governments, and product providers. IP resides in the data mapping. Has had success in ACT via a rapid local campaign model.

The Good Bite – “providing financial independence to women who are suffering domestic violence”. A social enterprise for corporate catering, offering training and employment opportunities.

Young Adult Grief Space – “online counselling service”. Based on a P2P experience via shared narratives. Very much an idea at this stage, judges asked how sessions would be moderated, and how professional counsellors would be involved.

Pearlii – “dental checkups via selfie”. Aimed at early detection and prevention.
Uses a smart phone app to take 5 photos, then applies a diagnostic algorithm via ML and image processing. Freemium model – a basic account plus a premium profile management solution. Building their own tech/IP from scratch, and see future applications in tele-medicine, removing reliance on experts, placing trust in AI, image processing and analysis.

Inside Outcomes – “better communications between psychologists and their patients between sessions”. An app to chart personal outcomes etc. Judges asked how it integrates with existing patient management systems? Currently much of the work is done manually.

Abadog – “behavioural advice for dog owners”. Consultation via observed data and individual report delivered online. 20% of dogs have anxiety disorder. There is a lack of certification or legislated standards for best practice for dog trainers and behaviouralists. Aiming for a subscription model.

The Social Agenda – “Efficacy and Integrity in Government”. Talked about three different modules for public policy design, deliberation and decision-making. Goal is “Policy Certainty”. Wasn’t clear what the actual project involves, so hard to evaluate the concept.

Winners were:

1st prize –  Neighbourhood Effect

2nd prize – Pearlii

3rd prize – Abadog

Next week – Startup Vic’s SportsTech Pitch Night

Startup Vic’s FinTech Pitch Night

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This month’s Startup VIC pitch night on FinTech was a curtain raiser for the annual Intersekt conference. Sponsored by Square and FinTech Australia, it was hosted at the Victorian Innovation Hub, and MC’d by Finch’s Shahirah Gardner and Melissa Mack, Head of Community at MoneyPlace and a Director of FinTech Australia.

As usual, the startups are mentioned here in the order they pitched:

i=Change

i=Change allows retailers and brands to “give back” to the causes their customers care about. Offering a “plug’n’play” solution for their clients, i=Change claims to have 60 brands on board already. It’s fair to say the target audience is fashion-conscience women, with an emphasis on charities, campaigns and causes that are primarily supporting the lives of women and children. Which is all good. But would it be churlish to suggest that many of the brands and products (and their associated imagery) might not be accessible to women in many of the countries where these projects operate? So, there is a potential disconnect between products and causes….

Nevertheless, as well as the feel-good factor for consumers, i=Change also claims to be reducing the retailers’ problem of abandoned online shopping carts, as the prospect of being able to donate to one of the selected causes leads to greater sales conversion and completion.

i=Change applies a fixed transaction fee on top of the customer donation, with a 30% tax rebate available to participating brands. After 5 years, i=Change is generating $8k per month in transaction fees, and is currently seeking a capital raise of $1m.

The judges were keen to understand the level of transparency under which i=Change operates, and whether in-store options are available (not just on-line retail).

For me, I can’t help thinking that this is an attempt to salve the conscience of certain parts of the fashion industry. I would also be interested to understand how much screening there is of both retailers and causes, against CSR measures or other relevant criteria.

Lucidity

Under the product brands of tradeDOX and xpertDOX, Lucidity is digitizing trade finance operations, particularly for import/export commodities transactions.

Offering a pay-per-transaction model, a subscription service, or a custom solution, Lucidity is still pre-revenue, having raised $50k in seed funding. Claiming to be streamlining and automating much of the paper document and manual processes still in use in much of the trade finance industry, it was not clear what technology they are using, nor the average transaction size they are processing. I also couldn’t help thinking that Blockchain solutions for supply chain, logistics and export/import financing will likely render Lucidity redundant.

CoinBot

CoinBot is an algo trading solution for cryptocurrencies that tokenizes individual trading strategies designed by the platform users, and fuelled by native SIT coins (Strategy Instance Tokens). The coins are used to pay for “prospecting” (i.e., scanning for unique trading signals), strategy (devising trading models) and exchange fees (to cover the cost of execution).

Currently seeking to raise $3m for 14% equity (plus SIT tokens), CoinBot supports strategy back-testing written to the Blockchain, and essentially allows users to avoid things like slippage by spreading the timing of instances over a defined trading period.

Personifi

Personifi is a data-driven marketplace for personal loans. It matches consumers with the most suitable lenders (across 30 brands on their platform).

What is supposed to make Personifi different to traditional brokers, lenders and comparison sites is the level of personalised advice, and its credit decision criteria.

With accreditation for the new open banking data regime and the new comprehensive credit reporting system. Personifi can offer improved interest rate options. It has to be noted that some of the loan providers on their platform may once have been considered “lenders of last resort” – not pay-day lenders, but certainly providers who service borrowers who have been turned down by banks and other primary lenders. So, the quality of the loan origination and the standards for lending will no doubt be critical to success.

Previously known as compeer.com.au, Personifi continues to test the broker market, and is bringing more transparency on its fees and loan T&C’s. Current revenue model is based on a 2% commission for referrals. Having pivoted from P2P lending, Personifi is targeting millennials who lack either a long or a strong credit history.

On the night, i=Change took out both the Judges’ prize, and the People’s choice.

A few observations about these pitch nights. First, I miss the audience Q&A that used to be an integral part of proceedings – if part of Startup VIC’s remit (and I am a long-standing, paid-up member) is to foster better founders, there is a missed learning opportunity for prospective and current founders if there are no questions from the audience. Second, I wish they could fix the PA problems – I had thought this had been sorted by using this new(ish), state of the art venue? Finally, it seems the pitch rules have changed, as one of tonight’s teams managed to sneak in a live product demo during their pitch – I just hope that every contestant was afforded the same opportunity, and if this is going to become a regular feature, then the organisers need to be more observant of the time limits…

Next week: Intersekt Festival 2018

 

Startup Vic’s Impact Pitch Night

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Due to my personal travel commitments in recent months, it’s been a while since I attended one of Startup Vic‘s regular pitch nights – so I was pleasantly surprised to see that these monthly events continue to draw a solid crowd. As with last year’s impact investing pitch night,  this event was co-sponsored by Giant Leap VC (part of the Impact Investing Group), with support from LaunchVic, who played hosts at the Victorian Innovation Hub.

As usual, the startups pitching appear in the order they presented:

Vollie

This is an on-line platform or market place for helping charities to find skilled volunteers for project-based assignments, mostly involving digital, marketing, technical, professional and advisory services that can be delivered remotely (rather than on-site or in-field).

The founders described the benefits to corporate clients in meeting their CSR goals. These companies either “sponsor” their employees’ time and/or donate money – to be honest, it was not entirely clear how this part worked. And of course, being a two-sided market place, Vollie also charges charities on a per project basis.

According to the presenters, there are 56,000 charities in Australia, and so far the platform has generated $360,000 in “value”.

However, Vollie only assists the charities with project on-boarding, whereas the NFPs themselves are responsible for actual project delivery.

While acknowledging the appeal to Gen Y/Z volunteers, the judges were interested to know how much personalisation the platform offers, and how QA/QC issues were handled. Having served on the board of a NFP myself, I appreciate how much more complicated it is to manage volunteers – from police checks to insurance, from training to risk management.

Cyber Clinic

Claiming to provide easier access (and a better user experience) to therapeutic clinic services, Cyber Clinic enables people to find a professional therapeutic counsellor or psychologist that matches their needs. Essentially an on-line directory for mental health care (part of the growing number of telehealth providers), the service matches clients and counsellors, connects them for sessions that can be delivered remotely and at times that suit the recipient, and measures the results.

Partly developed in response to the high incidents of mental health issues presenting to GPs, delivery of counselling services is via secure video conferencing and consultation, backed up by a dedicated app. The service is designed to run on even low-bandwidth connectivity, making it accessible to regional and country users.

The guiding principles are cost, access and trust (service providers are vetted before being admitted to the platform).

The judges were interested to understand the founder’s patient acquisition strategy, which involves connecting with government agencies, healthcare providers and corporates (e.g., as part of their EAP services) – so it’s clearly designed as a B2B model, plus a direct to market, public-facing website. The judges also wondered about customer retention when measured against outcomes.

STEMSparX

With the declining levels of STEM participation in high schools, STEMSparX is designed to engage younger students by bringing STEM education direct to their doorstep.

The service combines an AI-assisted on-line learning interface with practical DIY kits. Designed around the Arduino Open Source Ecosystem, the business model is based on a B2C subscription service. The founder is a participant in Melbourne University’s MAP programme, and has been running pilot project workshops and developing an engineering curriculum.

The judges wondered how STEMSparX would compete with the likes of Code Academy, and how effective a direct-to-consumer model is, unless it was combined with a channel strategy involving communication with parents, schools and public libraries? Plus, how does a service like this compete with other distractions such as online games, video streaming and social media?

Amber Electric

This alternative electricity seller is offering retail customers access to real-time wholesale prices. By only charging customers a $10 monthly service fee, Amber claims it can pass on the true wholesale price, based on 30-minute price resets (reflecting actual market supply and demand), rather than the fixed rates and price bands that traditional electricity retailers charge.

A key aspect of Amber’s business is the availability of renewable inputs (Australia has the largest % of renewables in the national grid – excluding WA which is not part of the grid…). For example, the increase of solar-generated energy from domestic sources (household rooftop panels) that can be fed into the grid can have an impact on the average unit cost of electricity from non-solar sources, and some resulting market distortion.

The judges were keen to know if Amber applies price loading to take account of passive consumption, and whether their revenue model allows for feedback funding into additional renewables? Another question was whether Amber customers will experience considerable price spikes during the summer spikes?

Currently, Amber is only available to people living in the Sydney metropolitan area, and who do NOT have solar panels (due to the issues of feed-in tariffs?). So, very limited access at present – but clearly a disruptive model that threatens to undermine the highly regulated retail market.

It’s fair to say that Amber ticked the box for most people in the audience, as it won both the Judges’ prize, and the people’s choice.

Next week: Startup Vic’s FinTech Pitch Night