In 2017, City of Melbourne released the Startup Action Plan for Melbourne, to support more innovative businesses to start, grow and go global from Melbourne.
Over the next four years, we will deliver a range of initiatives that will be relevant to entrepreneurs and startups at all stages of growth.
This is the place to come for regular updates on initiatives, to learn about the great talent in our city, to ask questions and access new networks, and to find out about funding, knowledge, and promotional opportunities on offer.
Melbourne's startup community
Here is a map of Melbourne's startup ecosystem. You can explore each industry by colour. If you're part of a startup and would like to connect, complete the form below.
Startup culture
Updates
Timeline
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Timeline item 1
CEO Round table
December 2015
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Timeline item 2
Startup Community Workshop
February 2016
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Timeline item 3
Internal Workshop
How does the City of Melbourne already support startups?
April 2016
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Timeline item 4
Student Workshop
How can City of Melbourne support entrepreneurial students?
April 2016
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Timeline item 5
MindHive Survey
May 2016
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Timeline item 6
Startup Ecosystem Report completed
June 2016
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Timeline item 7
Community consultation
Community consultation commences with Inspire9, ACMI-X, BlueChilli, General Assembly, Laneway Labs, RMIT, MAP from 15 to 20 September 2016.
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Timeline item 8
Startup Action Plan endorsed by Council
City of Melbourne Startup Action Plan is endorsed by council on 30 June 2017.
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Timeline item 9
Melbourne Innovation District Launch
The Melbourne Innovation District launches in July 2017.
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Timeline item 10
Startup Celebration event
The City of Melbourne Startup Celebration event, thanking the startup community for their involvement in the development of the Action Plan, is held on 26 October 2017.
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Timeline item 11
Startup Photo Library released
The City of Melbourne Startup Photo Library is released on 26 October 2017.
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Timeline item 12
Startup ecosystem data collection commences
March 2018
Co-working spaces
Links
FAQs
- What is this all about?
Melbourne has a thriving startup ecosystem, and is a great place to start an entrepreneurial business The City of Melbourne is committed to supporting more entrepreneurs and innovative businesses to start, grow and go global from Melbourne through a range of activities and initiatives detailed in the Startup Action Plan for Melbourne (2017-2021).
This Participate Melbourne project page has been created to centralise resources and opportunities available to Melbourne startups, and to help Council better understand, connect and communicate with the local startup community.
To do this, we ask you to share some information about your business, the purpose of gathering this information is to:
- Showcase startup success stories and build the profile of Melbourne’s startup community.
- Identify leading startup industries in Melbourne.
- Create a two-way communication tool for the City of Melbourne to engage startups for business, support and marketing opportunities.
- Consolidate startup resources and map the location of startup businesses.
- What is a startup?
There are many ways to define a startup – City of Melbourne goes by the definition of Launch Vic that a startup is a ‘business with high impact potential that uses disruptive innovation and/or addresses scalable markets’. They are businesses in the early stages of formation, developing an idea into a functioning business that meets market needs and is able to grow.
For more information about the support for Startups in Victoria visit Launch Vic.
- Is my privacy protected?
Yes. Your privacy is absolutely protected. The City of Melbourne will only use your email to invite you to participate in startup related projects and update you on existing projects. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose. More information is available in our Privacy Policy.
We also ask you to share some information about your business to make available on a publically accessible map – this is so we can map the Melbourne startup ecosystem across the city and understand the sectors Melbourne startups operate in better.
Contact us
Have questions or want to learn more about Startup Melbourne, contact us:
Image: Lewis White (Aptus Personnel), Mei Chan (Startup Victoria), Jose Maturana (Best Friends Forever), Miranda Unnerstall – (Best Friends Forever), Charles Schwartz (Startup Victoria) and Georgia Beattie (Startup Victoria / Gravity). Photographer: Wren Steiner. Credit: City of Melbourne / That Startup Show.