Victoria’s $60 million startup body LaunchVic appoints Kate Cornick as its new CEO

Rision managing director Kate Cornick has been appointed the new CEO of Victoria’s $60 million startup fund and independent body.

LaunchVic was created at the end of last year to oversee the implementation of the state’s $60 million innovation fund and this week announced the first 18 startup projects it would be funding with $6.5 million dished out in total.

Cornick will be replacing Pradeep Philip, who served as interim CEO of the body since its inception.

With the organisation now off and running, LaunchVic chair Ahmed Fahour says there needs to be someone from the startup community leading it.

“With LaunchVic now firmly established, the time is right for a CEO who comes from within the startup sector to lead the entity into its next phase,” Fahour says.

Cornick has been the managing director of ASX-listed workforce software startup Rision Limited since September 2014 and previously served as the director of industry engagement and innovation at the University of Melbourne.

It’s not the first government position she has held, with Cornick also working as the deputy chief of staff to the minister for broadband, communications and the digital economy from 2007 to 2009.

She currently sits on the Victorian government’s innovation expert panel which she will continue to do alongside her role at LaunchVic.

LaunchVic is aiming to make Victoria the “destination of choice for startups worldwide” and will be providing funding to various projects that help to grow the ecosystem.

The initial funding winners include regional accelerators, makerspaces, a national fintech conference and a new “world-class tech hub” in Abbotsford Convent.

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