Slingshot, an incubator in Newcastle, Australia, is working with the Newcastle University to make the Australian coal town an attractive destination for start-ups.
The incubator, founded in 2012 to fill a gap in the accelerator market in the area, announced its second intake of start-ups, which include potential firms led by Newcastle students. Its third intake is due to coincide with Newcastle students’ summer holidays.
Participants in the incubator are eligible to seed funding from an AU$10m early-stage venture fund set up by venture firm Artesian Venture Firms, which also funded the Sydney-based accelerator BlueChilli. Slingshot’s first eight start-ups received between $30,000 and $60,000 in return for 10% equity, split between Artesian and Slingshot.
Craig Lambert, co-founder of Slingshot, said there were plenty of advantages to entrepreneurs looking to set up outside of Australia’s larger cities. He said: “You can live on the beach, there’s not much traffic, the airport’s easy or Sydney’s 90 minutes down the road if you need it. Regional centres are also parochial – they like to get behind local initiatives so you get a lot of momentum behind you.”