River City Labs and muru-D introduce Class #1

Brisbane, 31 August 2015: Startup hub & coworking community, River City Labs, and global startup accelerator, muru-D, today unveiled the five tech startups that make up Class #1 of the inaugural ‘River City Labs Accelerator’ program.

The final selection was made by an independent panel of technology executives, funding experts and successful entrepreneurs. The companies were selected based on the strength of their team, product and global scalability – plus a passion for success!

Outbound, a social network for travellers to connect, and Parkfit, a discovery tool for outdoor fitness, are just two of the successful ideas.

Powered by muru-D, the River City Labs Accelerator provides each startup with $20,000 seed capital along with three months of co-working space, business development support and introductions to global mentors, customers and investors. Backed by Telstra, muru-D will also assist in unlocking Telstra’s extensive network of partners, suppliers and customers.

General Manager of River City Labs, Peta Ellis, said: “The rigorous process of the bootcamp weekend really put the teams through their paces and highlighted the entrepreneurs who are capable of taking their startup to the next level. We look forward to showcasing the teams’ progress at Demo Day in December.”

Entrepreneur in Residence at muru-D, Mick Liubinskas, added: “Our ambition is global, and tools are digital, but startups are still primarily about working closely with a group of people sitting next to you. The community around River City Labs has really caught fire to quickly attract such a quality group of companies and I can’t wait to see how far they go.”

The five start-ups selected for the first intake of the River City Labs Accelerator are:

  • Otheyos – Software­as­a­service that takes all the anxiety and time out of your minutes, motions and meetings for School Parent Bodies and Incorporated Associations.
  • GreenSocks – The easiest way to get your lawn mowed by people who want to make money, mowing lawns.
  • Outbound – Provides a simple, efficient and safe social network for travellers to connect.
  • ParkFit – The mobile app that helps you discover nearby crowd-sourced and publicly available workout structures, making it easy to workout outdoors for free.
  • Puntaa – A peer-to-peer social betting platform, allowing custom bets between friends on anything, social sharing of those bets, and bets to be paid out, all on mobile.

CEO and Co-founder of ParkFit, Jacob Turner, commented: “The program offers an introduction to a priceless network, generally inaccessible to a business at such an early stage. Our aim is to be the preferred fitness app for anyone looking to workout outdoors, and through this program we believe we can tap this global market at an accelerated pace.”

Co-Founder of GreenSocks, Andrea Martins, commented: “I’m still pinching myself that I get to be a part of such a high calibre accelerator program in Queensland. The mentor network of Telstra muru-D and River City Labs is absolutely mind-blowing and I know this will be an amazing opportunity for our company.”

Accelerator Program Key Dates

Program commences: 14 September 2015

Program concludes: 18 December 2015

For more information head to:http://accelerator.rivercitylabs.net/

Media Contact

Laura Blue, Launch Group

E: laurab@launchgroup.com.au | M: + 61 416 699 925| T: +612 9492 1000.

About River City Labs

River City Labs is Brisbane’s premier co-working community and central clubhouse for tech startups. They are a not-for-profit organisation aimed at fostering Queensland’s startup ecosystem.

Current membership sits at over 100 members ranging from early stage startups and founders to established startups and entrepreneurs who have successfully raised capital in the last 18 months.

River City Labs focuses on providing the right environment for entrepreneurs to make valuable contacts while learning from peers, mentors and industry experts helping them to connect, work and grow.

About muru-D

muru-D is the startup accelerator backed by Telstra, which aims to support the very best tech entrepreneurial talent that the Asian Pacific region has to offer. Through providing mentoring, tailored acceleration services and investment to early stage technology companies, muru-D’s goal is to help Australia and South East Asia become a centre for digital business.