Get elevated: KPMG and Advance want to see Aussie startups go global

KPMG and not-for-profit Advance want to see a world where more startups grow globally from Australia, so they’ve launched elevate61 to help them do it.

The program will take 25 startups operating in agriculture, energy and natural resources, financial services, healthcare, telecommunications and media, and infrastructure industries, and provide them with workshops and training to help them tackle the challenges thrown up when trying to scale globally. Those include raising capital, validating a business model, honing pitches and how to set up in the US. The program will have a particular focus on the US market. The 25 startups will also be introduced to KPMG and Advance’s network of investors US market experts, on a trip to San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.

Advance’s mission is to help Australian entrepreneurs make an impact around the world, and chief executive officer Serafina Maiorano says that makes KPMG the perfect partner.

“We want to help shape the future of Australia into a bolder and more progressive country. We very much have a shared vision around that,” she says.

The program is geared towards later stage enterprise startups. The program lead of elevate61, Amanda Price, says that means they’re after startups that are post-seed funding, with minimum revenue of $500,000 and are “running pretty hard and fast” in the Australian market.

“They’ll be startups, just starting to look up, and realising after 18 months or so that Australia is too small, and they’re ready to go to a bigger market,” she says.

“They’ll have made sure they’ve got the product right and have a proven business model, not only through revenue, but the clients they’ve signed up.”

Startups will be able to apply for the program in late January 2015. The selection process will involve an online application, interviews with in-market experts, and then a face-to-face selection panel interview. Successful startups will be required to pay a fee of around $3000 to participate.

“A good business can become a great business with the right connections and advice,” Maiorano says.

“elevate61 has been designed to leverage the strengths of Advance and KPMG to help participants achieve rapid traction and growth in Australia and the US through access to global corporations, US based networks of advisers and the investor community.”

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