Press release: Early stage startups secure fresh investment through muru-D

Eight out of the nine startups in muru-D’s inaugural accelerator program have a clear path for funding thanks to an injection of initial seed capital, training and mentoring from the Telstra-backed muru-D accelerator program.

With six months of intensive training under their belt, the startups are now ready to graduate. For the startup community at large, this means for the next four weeks muru-D is open for applications for the second round.

Ann Parker, Co-founder of muru-D, said that each of the nine finalists had grown tremendously throughout the experience. “Success is many things – customer numbers, revenue, number of employees, international growth – I’m delighted to say that every team can point towards these growth metrics.

“Our key measure for muru-D is growing the digital startup scene in Australia and I believe we have made a great start with every team in the first class graduating,” Parker added.

As one of the companies to have secured second round funding for its wireless agricultural monitoring technology, FarmBot Director Craig Hendricks shares what his business has learnt.

“FarmBot is an idea which I have been working on for more than 10 years. Looking at how far we’ve come and what we’ve achieved in the past six months is quite astonishing. As a mature startup, we have learnt so much from all of our fellow muru-D comrades, who are all at different stages in their own journey but most importantly we have taken away a renewed level of confidence. Not only in our technology but in ourselves and our ability to sell our vision and the solution to the right audiences – audiences we would have never have had access to, without the program,” said Hendricks.

Telstra Executive Director and Co-Founder of muru-D, Charlotte Yarkoni, said: “Telstra is very passionate about nurturing the country’s best entrepreneurial talent through muru-D. We have a critical part to play in fostering local technology innovation.

“There are some great ideas and some great people that need the right environment to flourish and prosper. It’s an exciting time for the start-up community and Telstra is proud to support it.”

muru-D is the place for technology startups to access investment opportunities and business assistance in their crucial acceleration phase. The program provides a unique opportunity for startups to receive ongoing business support, mentoring and coaching to bring their ideas to life, in addition to a $40,000 seed capital investment from muru-D, backed by Telstra, in return for a six per cent stake in the company.

For more information and to lodge your application for round two of the muru-D accelerator program visit the muru-D website.

Please respect the confidentiality around the start-ups and direct all interview requests to the below.

Media contact: Catherine Harris, 0477 747 176, media@team.telstra.com

Reference Number: 153/2014