Being a part of Venture Catalyst Space has allowed Digantara to gain access to Australia's space market and ecosystem far more quickly than we could have done on our own. It was a watershed moment in our company's development; thanks to excellent mentors, speakers and the support from the ICC, we were able to develop a plan for running a business in this sector and gain new skills as young entrepreneurs. It was created particularly for startups in the space industry like us to have simple access to the market and hit milestones fast. 

Our company has grown immensely through the program. We’re glad to say that in the space of six months, we’ve hired our first employee, tested our first minimum viable product and closed our first clients. We’re now a team of give employees and are expected to double the team in the coming year.

The Venture Catalyst Space program has provided Satsearch with a great framework for future scalable growth. In particular, the regular workshops and 1:1 mentoring have been invaluable towards deep diving on seminal aspects of our business. We're now in a solid position across the different parts of our setup to target milestones that will aid us in achieving our overarching mission to democratize access to the global space marketplace.

The ICC program has been instrumental for us to build connections within the Australian ecosystem. There are active conversations which have been enabled by the ICC program. They deserve full credit to be able to run an international program with startups represented from multiple countries. To do this virtually in a remote set up due to Covid was no mean feat. I would recommend the program for startups wanting to enter the Australian market. 

Supporting space startups and mentoring deep tech entrepreneurs, the Venture Catalyst Space Program has assisted SPACELIS to climb the ladder in our space venture with the precise, unique guidance to launch our business. Our innovative ideas have been reinforced to fit the emerging space and clean energy markets and our company has gained valuable knowledge to assist in exploring significant businesses and technology opportunities for SPACELIS to be its very best. We are proud and devoted to follow the leadership and advice that the Venture Catalyst Space program has provided us. Our team strongly recommends the program offered at the Innovation & Collaboration Centre to those following their entrepreneurial passions for being part of the SA space industry and connecting with the global space community!

As a US based company having been selected for the ICC’s Venture Catalyst Space Startups program, it has been an enormous help in establishing our foothold in the growing space industry in Australia. Their substantial networking resources and ecosystem helped us to identify and connect with industry and university collaborating partners. With ICC’s help these partnerships rapidly evolved into space projects we are jointly developing with potential for creating jobs and hiring local talent for our Australian operations.

The program identifies a number of processes and models for logically approaching our startup, rather than leaving it to chance. Plus, it’s provided a dedicated space to focus on our business – this has been invaluable and we’ve had significant developments over the six months.

My favourite parts of the program has been the one-on-one coaching and the group setting. Having other companies around discussing their business or hearing about what they're facing with their current customers or their go-to market strategy. The group setting is also helpful in terms of hearing what challenges and solutions the other companies are going through. So that's been also valuable.

I think the program's been excellent in terms of the structure and the concepts that you get exposed to. Essentially, it's a guide you can follow through and reflect how that applies in your business. So you're really fast tracking not just your product development, but your customer journey, because this is most important...

...At the end of the day, you want customers, and it's really important to know what would make it valuable for the customers, how to approach customers, how would you support customers eventually, what's the process that you need to put in place so that customers more easily purchase your product or get access to your support. So, all these elements are quite often not looked at early in the journey which is what this program really puts that at the forefront and makes you aware so you're not just building the product, but you are actually focusing on the customer. So, I think all these elements together make it a really fantastic program.

Since the start of the program, we’ve started building a prototype and have been introduced to nearly the entire space community in Australia which is fantastic. I’ve been able to meet with some of the people I’ve looked up to most of my life. This program turns what you have as an idea, into something tangible and real. It is novel and different, providing the support and clear steps needed to have something tangible for investors with an unbelievable support network. Having the camaraderie under the one roof is inspiring and motivating to keep going. You don’t find that easily.