Mick Liubinskas, co-founder of Pollenizer, says accelerators throughout the world – but particularly in Australia – are very young, so it’s difficult to predict what the future will hold.
“They haven’t been through a lifecycle yet,” Liubinskas says.
“The main thing for accelerators is going to come down to results. If they keep getting results, they will keep getting business.”
Liubinskas says while there is already “some good differentiation happening” in Australia, more can be done.
“I really, really hope there is a female-only accelerator started in the next three months,” he says.
Andrew Stead, director of business development at ATP Innovations and co-founder of Sydney Angels, agrees differentiation is already occurring.
Earlier this year, ATP Innovations launched Ignition Labs, an accelerator program inspired by Startmate, but aimed solely at clean tech companies.
According to Stead, Ignition Labs is “at the forefront” of an emerging trend of niche accelerators, joining the likes of Greenstart in San Francisco and SURGE in Houston.
The accelerator is aimed at enabling technologies that are software-based or low-cost hardware, rather than infrastructure-intensive solar panels, wind farms or wave energy machines.
In addition to being highly specialised, Ignition Labs differentiates itself by helping participants create “an absolute focus” for their business.
“The challenge of all start-ups is that there are lots of opportunities and places they could go, but this is about focusing them on one goal for the program,” Stead told StartupSmart.
