Venture Catalyst Space

Supporting founders to start and lead space ventures

Venture Catalyst Space is a globally competitive program which supports founders, entrepreneurs and startups, to develop and grow innovative or disruptive ideas in the space sector.

Delivered by the University of South Australia’s Innovation & Collaboration Centre and supported by the State Government's Space Innovation Fund and the South Australian Space Industry Centre, the program gives founders the support and tools they need to plan and successfully build a scalable and investment ready business.

The one-of-a-kind program delivers tailored support and guidance working with a global pool of industry experts including former NASA astronaut Pam Melroy, the Australian Space Agency, Airbus, Nova Systems, Fleet, Myriota and the Smart Satellite CRC.

Participants will also receive one-to-one mentoring from the ICC's two Entrepreneurs in Residence; Kirk Drage and his company LeapSheep; and serial entrepreneur and founder of Regency Food Services, Regency Staffing and Zen Energy, Richard Turner.

With South Australia home to the Australian Space Agency and a bustling and thriving startup community, especially within the space and defense sectors, apply now and join our growing community of likeminded startups whose shared experience of successes and failures, benefits everyone.

About the ICC

The Innovation & Collaboration Centre is the University of South Australia’s startup incubator. The ICC engages with the community through the delivery of community events, workshops and programs which draw on the research and professional expertise of UniSA and our partners, to support the generation of new startups and the growth of existing companies.

The program includes:

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Workshops

A series of capability workshops designed for founders (two per month).

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Mentoring

One-on-one mentoring and group sessions.

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Workspace

Workspace in a modern co-working environment including access to meeting spaces, kitchen and Wi-Fi at the ICC Adelaide and Regional ICC in Whyalla.

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Funding

A stipend of $10,000 AUD per company. For eligible startups only. Relocation grants available for eligible companies.

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Industry experts

Access to a pool of global industry experts from the space industry.

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Travel

The opportunity to attend an overseas tour to network with relevant space industry primes, investors and other space startups.

What is a space startup?

A space company utilizes space technology or data.

For example:

Using information provided by satellites to monitor drones
Using beacons to help grape growers improve the quality of their fruit by monitoring weather conditions, or
Using satellites to capture images of earth for mining companies.

The term 'space' no longer means the same as it did five years ago.

In the past, space exploration was just that, going out and exploring the galaxy. In 2020, more companies are contributing to the space economy than ever but utilizing existing space technology to solve real-world problems.

These new companies may not appear to be connected to the traditional space industry as they may only use space signals and data in their own products, typically concerning satellite communications, satellite television, geospatial products and location-based services, but this information can benefit many different industries (examples above).

There are also other areas becoming more accessible to smaller companies such as sending items into space for testing, space manufacturing, asteriod mining and even innovative ideas on how to supply fuel to space missions while in space to lengthen their trip.

Space companies can therefore be those who utilise space data, or those who utilise existing space technology to solve a problem on earth - both contribute to the space industry.

Key dates

Applications are currently closed. Stay tuned for 2022 program dates.

Meet the startups who have completed the program

Venture Catalyst Space Startups during their 2019 sponsored US trip to SpaceX in California.

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Local, national and international startups have participated in the Venture Catalyst Space program over the last two years.

From South Australia, New South Wales, Canada and India, many companies who have completed the program have grown, hired more staff, raised significant capital and ticked off goals faster with the support and network of the University. Companies such as Ping Services (South Australia), Tekuma (New South Wales) and Lux Aerobot (Canada). Read more about these companies

Who should apply for this program?

This program is for startups of all stages, from those with a simple but scalable idea to those with early customers. The program is free, taking no equity, to simply provide the support you need at the stage you are specifically at.

Download our Venture Catalyst Space guide

Our Venture Catalyst Space brochure is a great introduction to the the program, including case studies and testimonials from our startups.

Download brochure

What our startups are saying about the program

"As the founder and owner of an established business, I had optimistic but measured expectations for the value I’d glean from a startup program. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at the quality and breadth of support which has really helped us apply our resources more productively and I believe boosted our chances of startup success. The program identifies a number of processes and models for logically approaching our startup rather than leaving it to chance."

Matthew Stead
CEO, Ping Services

"We are fast learning what a rollercoaster journey building a startup can be. The program has provided us with amazingly structured support that has helped us make sense of the chaos and enabled us to push forward with more confidence."

Bez Mohammadi & Kosta Canatselis
Co-Founders, Wright Technologies

"I’m unbelievingly passionate about growing an industry cantered on microgravity research in space. The commercial realities of creating a sustainable business model seems like a nebulous problem too early to tackle. The program has really opened my mind to the approaches I can use to address that risk."

Ravi Duggineni
Founder, ResearchSat

"We have the technical skills to make the product, but we were lacking in the business skills. So we wanted to go into an incubator program that would give us that, which is what this program did."

Vik Minhas
Chief Scientific Officer, ResearchSat

"We are able to come in and speak with like-minded individuals, work with other people who are in relevant fields and industries and really bounce ideas off each other.”

Kosta Canatselis
Co-Founder, Wright Technologies

"We’ve made more progress in the past 2-3 months than we have in 18 months in Sydney.”

Michael Griffin
Co-Founder, Tekuma

"As the founder and owner of an established business, I had optimistic but measured expectations for the value I’d glean from a startup program. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at the quality and breadth of support which has really helped us apply our resources more productively and I believe boosted our chances of startup success. The program identifies a number of processes and models for logically approaching our startup rather than leaving it to chance."

Matthew Stead
CEO, Ping Services

"We are fast learning what a rollercoaster journey building a startup can be. The program has provided us with amazingly structured support that has helped us make sense of the chaos and enabled us to push forward with more confidence."

Bez Mohammadi & Kosta Canatselis
Co-Founders, Wright Technologies

"I’m unbelievingly passionate about growing an industry cantered on microgravity research in space. The commercial realities of creating a sustainable business model seems like a nebulous problem too early to tackle. The program has really opened my mind to the approaches I can use to address that risk."

Ravi Duggineni
Founder, ResearchSat

"We have the technical skills to make the product, but we were lacking in the business skills. So we wanted to go into an incubator program that would give us that, which is what this program did."

Vik Minhas
Chief Scientific Officer, ResearchSat

"We are able to come in and speak with like-minded individuals, work with other people who are in relevant fields and industries and really bounce ideas off each other."

Kosta Canatselis
Co-Founder, Wright Technologies

"If you have a space related product then this program is perfect."

Michael Griffin
Co-Founder, Tekuma

Frequently asked questions

Applications are currently closed for 2021.

If shortlisted, you are likely to be asked to attend a short (45 min) informal interview to expand on your idea and allow the Innovation & Collaboration Centre (ICC) to meet the key members of your team.

Early 2021.

A meet and greet will be planned prior to the program starting. All successful applications, program leaders and industry experts will be invited. If successful applications wish to visit the ICC before the meet and greet, we will arrange this at your request.

We are working through the challenges of COVID-19. If you are interested in the program and live interstate of overseas, please email venturecatalyst@unisa.edu.au

and we will get back to you. There is a stipend and relocation grants for those eligible but we understand the current global crisis.

The stipend of $10,000 AUD can be used for any purpose you choose including towards relocation. Outside of this, there are relocation grants available to eligible companies. The SISA visa is also available. For more information, visit the SISA webpage.

If you application for Venture Catalyst Space is successful, eligible startups will be awarded a $10,000 stipend. We will pay 50% to you when you begin the program and the final 50% once we have assessed whether you have met the terms of your contract.

Email us your enquiry at venturecatalyst@unisa.edu.au

We expect you to commit at least 50% of your time to working on the business concept, work from the ICC in Adelaide if possible, and attend all of the workshops and mentoring sessions that are arranged for you. The ICC will support you at all stages of this process.

There are no restrictions; you may use the stipend however you see fit.

This program is 100% equity free. You retain any and all of your equity as a participant of this program.

As mentioned above, the ICC is part of the Supporting Innovation in South Australia (SISA) pilot program that will issue temporary visas to those that meet all the Department of Home Affairs’ criteria and requirements. Please visit the SISA webpage for more information and to apply. As mentioned above, there are also relocation grants available for eligible companies.

Further questions?

If you have any further questions, please email VentureCatalyst@unisa.edu.au