Startmate unveils eight start-ups for its class of 2012

Mentor-driven seed fund Startmate has unveiled the participants of its 2012 program, investing in eight tech start-ups that it says are aiming to be “the best in the world.”

The start-up accelerator, now in its second year, has boosted its intake from the five ventures that were chosen in 2011. Applications were also up, with 164 start-up putting their names forward, compared to 86 last year.

The eight start-ups, which will each receive $25,000 in funding for a 7.5% stake, are:

• Clique – an app developer
• Flightfox – a service that has a panel of experts search for cheap flights for users
• Happy Inspector – a property inspection app
• Invc.me – an invoice creation tool
• Ninja Blocks – a hardware device that integrates home electrical appliances
• Scriptrock – an app developer
• Setkick – a movie production tool
• Young Republic – a portal for young Australian designers

The eight start-ups have already taken up residence in Sydney’s Australian Technology Park and will be intensively mentored by Startmate’s panel of experts, including Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, Pollenizer chief Mick Liubinskas and Dean McEvoy, CEO of Spreets.

The ventures will then take part in four ‘demo days’, where they will be exposed to investors in Sydney, Melbourne, Silicon Valley and New York.

Niki Scevak, co-founder of Startmate, says that the program has been validated by the success of its debut-year participants, with each of the five raising extra finance and one, Grabble, acquired by Wal Mart.

“Each one of these start-ups has incredibly talented technical founders and they are keen to build businesses that are the best in the world,” he tells StartupSmart.

“They don’t just want to adopt a US trend, such as Groupon, to Australia. They are ambitious and they want to be on the world stage.”

“I’ve been positively surprised the quality of applicants at every step.”