Campbell Walshe has returned to Melbourne Accelerator Program as director, having co-founded a participant and been an entrepreneur-in-residence.
University of Melbourne has hired Campbell Walshe to be director of its Melbourne Accelerator Program (Map), which operates a five-month initiative that backs the university’s spinouts and alumni startups.
Walshe has previous experience with the accelerator, having taken part in 2016 as the co-founder of antidepressant prescription services provider CNSDose, and later in a year-long stint as an entrepreneur-in-residence that finished in November 2017.
Map was founded in 2012 and is open to any business with at least one Melbourne student, alumnus or member of staff on its founding team. It has so far progressed 44 companies that have attracted more than $30m in combined funding
The scheme accepts 10 participants in each cohort which are eligible for A$20,000 ($14,800) in equity-free capital plus access to mentoring, office space and global networking opportunities.
Walshe has been a partner at startup investment studio Pitchblak since September 2017, and was chief entrepreneur for regional accelerator Runway Geelong between November 2017 and this month.
Walshe replaces Paul Jensen, deputy dean of Melbourne’s Faculty of Business and Economics, who took the director role on an interim basis.
Jensen told The Australian: “[Walshe] has shown he has a deep affinity for Map – having been a participant in the accelerator a few years back – and has demonstrated that he has a clear vision of the potential of the program moving forward, which gives us great confidence.”
– Photo of Campbell Walshe courtesy of Pitchblak.
