QUT Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA) recently announced that applications are now open for creative startups seeking early-stage funding to pitch to angel investors at Creative3 Pitch on 22 September 2016 – Australia’s only event designed to connect creative entrepreneurs with investors.
Launched in 2013, Creative3 Pitch aims to increase the number of investor-ready creative ventures in Australia, with a focus on improving collaboration and transparency between creative businesses and the investment community. One founder from the winning team will go on to represent Australia in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the global initiative for creative entrepreneurship and innovation, the Creative Business Cup.
CEO of QUT CEA, Anna Rooke, said: “Creative3 Pitch is the only event in Australia dedicated to building a strong foundation between the creative startup community and early-stage investors. We are very much looking forward to being part of this facilitation process for the fourth year running.
“The Creative3 Pitch is all about unlocking the enormous potential of creative industries ventures that are already showing strong growth trajectory – we really want to encourage creative entrepreneurs from all around Australia to apply,” Ms Rooke added.
How will this year’s Creative3 go?
Applications for Creative3 Pitch close on 20 June 2016, and businesses must submit a 90-second pitch video.
The pre-event program includes workshops and coaching by QUT CEA to ensure businesses are ready to pitch to investors. An expert panel will select eight businesses to present at the Pitch audition in July, with four businesses progressing to Creative3 Pitch on 22 September.
The winner of the Creative3 Pitch will receive flights and accommodation for the Creative Business Cup but all four finalists will have the opportunity to qualify for the globally renowned event, where they will get the chance to network with some of the biggest venture capitalists in Europe.
Ms Rooke continued: “We want to continue to project our homegrown startups onto the world stage and encourage them to be thinking global from day one – so to be part of the Creative Business Cup in Denmark, an international leader in the creative tech field, is an opportunity of a lifetime for the four finalists.
“For three year’s running now, CEA’s own Startup Fund has invested in one of the Creative3 Pitch finalist companies. We expect this year will be no exception as the high quality applications continue to roll in and set even greater standards,” Ms Rooke said.
What is the Creative3 experience like?
Previous Creative3 Pitch semi-finalists include Bluethumb, Handkrafted, HireHive and Like-A-Photon.
“Creative3 Pitch coincided for us around the time we were beginning our investor pitch, so it was very valuable for us in refining our message and presentation. I think winning gave our investors added confidence in us. It was only a couple of days after the competition when we secured funding,” Bluethumb co-founder, Edward Hartley, told Anthill about his experience at last year’s Creative3 experience.
“Travelling to Denmark to compete in the Creative Business Cup with CEA’s CEO, Anna Rooke, was also fantastic. We were impressed by her knowledge, the fact she’d founded a successful startup in the UK previously, and her genuine desire to help creative startups as much as humanly possible.”
Online art platform Bluethumb qualified to compete at the international Creative Business Cup through QUT Creative Enterprise Australia’s Creative3 Pitch on September 17 in Brisbane. The winner of the Creative3 Pitch received flights and accommodation for a founder to represent Australia at the Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark where they pitched to some of the biggest venture capitalists in Europe during Global Entrepreneurship Week and competed for a prize pool of over USD $35,000.
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