Starting a company is hard. Doing it alone is even harder. This fact is one of the reasons accelerators like muru-D are such a valuable asset.

After six months of hard work, Monday 30 July was the night for our muru-D startups to pitch their companies to the who’s who of the startup community. Our most diverse cohort yet, the companies are working on a range of challenging global problems, from solving deforestation to building the aircraft that will change how we move around our cities.

The SYD5 cohort started their journey in February. As part of the program they gained seed funding, access to a purpose-built co-working space, a global network of mentors, alumni, investors and partners, and a trip to Silicon Valley.

It’s been a humbling and personally rewarding experience working with this cohort who are developing and growing incredibly diverse businesses. Our founders are making their mark in the Australian and global startup ecosystem while helping people and the world to be greener, healthier, happier, more independent and more financially secure.

SYD5 cohort stats:

• 70% of teams have a female founder or co-founder
• The average age of the founders is mid-late 30s
• 60% of the founders are parents and of those parents, most have more than one child
• 100% of them have shown incredible growth and learning

muru-D stats:

• 128 companies currently in, or have completed one of, our programs since 2013
• 200+ founders and co-founders in the muru-D alumni network
• 89% of teams still have active businesses
• We have supported 15 cohorts across five programs
• Dozens of companies have done $1m+ raises
• Half of the SYD4 cohort have now had $1m+ raises

Thank you Telstra for having the initiative and foresight for investing in this kind of innovation and disruption. Congratulations to the 10 companies who are now part of the global muru-D alumni family.