The Hitchhiker's Guide to SXSW Sydney and Startmate Demo Day

The Hitchhiker's Guide to SXSW Sydney and Startmate Demo Day

Over the last few years, I’ve attended several Startmate Demo Day pitch nights. They promote the event as “the biggest Demo Day ever” every year. 

I always considered it a throwaway away line, but as I look back, Startmate has exceeded my expectations every year. 

Earlier this year, the Startmate Demo Day we bookended a fantastic Blackbird Sunrise Festival. This time, Demo Day will effectively launch SXSW Sydney.

This guide aims to help you better understand the startups and founders pitching at Demo Day and, at the end of the article, serve as a hitchhiker's guide for the frankly overwhelming SXSW festival—which isn’t exactly known for its friendly UX.

Startmate's Winter 2024 Demo Day

Amidst the buzz of SXSW, Startmate's Winter 2024 Demo Day stands out as more than just a pitch night. Every six months, Startmate unearths Australia and New Zealand’s grittiest, hungriest founders—the ones with cosmic dreams and colossal drive. These companies join their Accelerator, receive a $120K investment, and spend 12 weeks laser-focused on their customers, building the best products imaginable and setting the foundations for exponential growth. 

Demo Day is the grand finale—a pitch night, networking event, and, most importantly, a big fat party. Ever seen the movie Project X? Okay, maybe not that big., 

For the investors, previous Startmate Accelerator cohorts have spun out some incredible stories like Upguard, Morse Micro, Heaps Normal, Mindset, Propeller, Great Wrap, 5B, Swoop Aero, Aquila, Happy Co & Bugcrowd.

You won't want to miss it. This will be their biggest event yet at their biggest venue: the NSW State Theatre. 

You'll witness 11 extraordinary companies pitch, connect with the brightest minds in ANZ’s thriving startup ecosystem, and celebrate with drinks and dancing afterwards.

Event Details:

• Date and Time:
  • 6:00 pm: Check-in & Mingling at NSW State Theatre
  • 6:30 pm: Pitches Start
  • 8:00 pm ~ till surprisingly late: After-party at Cargo Bar
• Ticket Pricing:
  • First Release: $25
  • Final Release: $30 (tickets available at the door)

Note: Early bird tickets are sold out, so grab your tickets here ASAP.

Spotlight on Startups

Here are the startups you'll meet at the Demo Day:

1. Borne (Sydney, Australia)
   • Revolutionising maternal healthcare with Australia's first mother-centric postpartum hotel and wellness platform that has already sold out. 
2. Bugster (Sydney, Australia)
   • Bugster accelerates product development cycles by generating tests 80% faster to catch software bugs before users do.
3. Fairgo.AI (Melbourne, Australia)
   • Streamlining recruitment with AI-powered live interviews that reduce hiring time by 50% while minimising unconscious bias.
4. Hurtec (Nerang, Queensland)
   • Making firefighting safer and more effective with advanced electric pumps and integrated software.
5. NE Tech (Christchurch, New Zealand)
   • Producing additive-free oils from mussels to marijuana 85% cheaper with their novel extraction technology.
6. PREVE (Byron Bay, Australia)
   • Improving patient outcomes and clinic operations in the healthcare sector with an AI-assisted membership platform.
7. Recant.ai (Perth, Australia)
   • Combating online abuse and harassment on social media platforms through automated inbox assistant to filter abusive messages.
8. Tendl (Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia)
   • Simplifying the tender and grant application process to improve success rates for businesses. 
9. TOTEX (Melbourne, Australia)
   • Building sustainable heating, cooling, and hot water systems that halve energy costs and emissions for the home. 
10. Trova (Melbourne, Australia)
    • Enabling rapid global expansion for digital health companies by simplifying market entry, and connecting patients, providers, and brands with a single streamlined system. They reduce expansion costs, making global growth easier, faster, and finally possible. Trova is Shopify for mental health services.  
11. Zello (Melbourne, Australia)
    • Reinventing the in-store shopping experience with real-time fitting room data.

Navigating SXSW Sydney

SXSW Sydney is more than just a conference; it's a festival of ideas, innovation, inspiration, and, yes, corporate freebies. Here are some tips to help you make the most of it:

Plan Ahead: SXSW isn’t confined to one building or even one city block. Last year, I attended five days and racked up over 20,000 steps a day, and I still didn't see every official venue. 

Map out the sessions you’d like to attend and make sure you know where they’re being hosted. If you’re trying to find the session location 15 minutes before it starts, it’s probably too late.

Get There Early: SXSW events fill up quickly. The festival loves full rooms and might schedule a popular event in a space that fits just 50-100 people. 

To get in, you may need to be lined up outside the door at least 20 minutes before the event starts.

Side Gigs: Like all festivals and conferences, the best connections are often made between and outside of the official events. There are plenty of side events where beers are drunk and hands are shaken—these are the ones to hit if you want to network. 

Startmate Demo Day and its afterparty are a no-brainer; the Creative House Party, hosted by Linktree, Side Stage Ventures, UNIFIED Music Group, and Leonardo.Ai, looks to be a fun one, too. 

The Grass Is Greener: My biggest regret last year was not attending more non-tech and startup events. The gaming conference received rave reviews, as did a few of the concerts.  

My picks for this year are Understanding the Investor Mindset: A Games Publisher Roundtable on Friday morning and Studio Strategy is a Survival Game. 

A few savvy attendees I spoke to also took some personal time out to watch films being screened—a great way to recharge your social batteries. 

Don’t use the website: The SXSW website is a little… 😬. Thankfully, smarter people than I have come in and saved the day.

Annie Liao of Build Club has created a chatbot for SXSW Sydney that will give you an itinerary of events and opportunities. Check out the ChatGPT bot here or consult with the raw data spreadsheet here. 

I hope this guide was helpful. Please feel free to reach out to will@overnightsuccess.vc if you have any more tips for SXSW Sydney.

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