Starts at 60 wins Australian final of Startup World Cup
Publisher and e-commerce business Starts at 60 has won the Australian regional championship of the Startup World Cup.
The win will take them to San Francisco to compete against ventures from around the world.
The announcement:
Starts at 60, Australia’s top media site and e-commerce platform specifically for Baby Boomers, is taking its start-up smarts global, after winning the Australian regional championship of the Startup World Cup.
The Brisbane-based company, which also owns online/offline travel agency Travel at 60, will now compete as Australia’s representative against the world’s most promising ventures at the Startup World Cup grand finale in San Francisco on May 15-17.
Tony Wheeler, the founder of Imagine X, who was instrumental in bringing the Startup World Cup to Australia, praised the Australian startup ecosystem and local, state and federal government for supporting the event.
“Congratulations to Starts at 60 on winning the competition,” he said. “Starts at 60 is an incredible Australian fast-moving company with a proven track record of connecting with its niche target audience, ready now to go global.”
Starts at 60 founder and CEO Rebecca Wilson will match her formidable pitching skills against 40 of the smartest founders from around the world at a three-day event that attracts the cream of the venture capital world. Speakers at the finale include Terry Jones, the founding chairman of Kayak, Tim Westergren, the founder and former CEO of Pandora, and Netflix’s former veteran chief product officer Neil Hunt.
At stake is a grand prize of US$1 million (A$1.39 million) in investment funding from Fenox VC, the global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley.
Rebecca’s pitch to a 300-strong crowd, plus a judging panel that included entrepreneur and Shark Tank star Steve Baxter, in Brisbane on Wednesday night was livestreamed worldwide, before the panel named Starts at 60 the winner.
“We’re thrilled to have won the Australian regional final and can’t wait to represent the country at the Startup World Cup in San Francisco next month,” Rebecca said. “Our team benefits greatly from the support of the Queensland startup ecosystem; it’s a great place to run a fast-growing business!”
“Winning the Startup World Cup Australian Regional Final and going on to pitch at the Startup World Cup finals in San Francisco is a powerful opportunity for Starts at 60 and it comes at what feels like a great time in our growth and scale-up,” Rebecca said.
Starts at 60 recently completed the second round of funding in its six-year history, with the aim of supporting the rapid growth of Travel at 60.
The A$2.7 million fund-raising saw the addition of key investors, Queensland Business Development Fund (BDF), Hollard Insurance, QUT Bluebox and private investors, joining follow-on investment from Seven West Media, their existing shareholder.
“We are so excited and proud of Starts at 60!” QIC’s Eden Lawrence said. “As a recent BDF investor, we not only see profits returning to the Queensland ecosystem but see an inspiring innovation path for others to follow. We see huge potential in this market and via our strengths of global relationships at QIC, we look forward to promoting the Starts at 60 way of life to the world!”
Source: Starts at 60 media release
