Optus, the Australia-based subsidiary of telecommunications company Sing-Tel, has made its first two investments in startups spun out from the University of Melbourne (UoM).
The two firms, 121cast and Venuemob, are alumni of the Melbourne Accelerator Programme. The initiative was launched by Melbourne School of Engineering, part of UoM, to support the spinout firms of the university’s alumni and staff.
121cast, which specialises in turning information into spoken word, raised AUS$250k ($261k) in a round led by Innov8, Sing-Tel’s venturing unit.
Venuemob, which provides a service that allows people to book any venue online, raised AUS$450k ($470k) in a round also led by Innov8. Both Melbourne-based firms plan to use the funds to spread their services nationwide through Australia.
David Wei, co-founder of Venuemob said, “The investment will allow us to catalyse our expansion strategy into other cities, so that we can offer function venues in Sydney and other major cities across Australia. It also opens the door to strategic partnership opportunities with Optus and SingTel Group. The support from the Optus-Innov8 Seed Program certainly reflects the fast-growing nature of the Australian entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Long Zheng, co-founder of 121cast, added, “The Optus-Innov8 Seed Program is a significant new opportunity for early- stage Australian startups and we’re very excited to have both SingTel Innov8 as the investment partner and Optus as a strategic partner. With their technology expertise and business network, we believe the support from SingTel Innov8 and Optus will strengthen our product and business development.”