Corporate Giants Back New Brisbane Business Ideas With Startup Program

Coworking community River City Labs and Bank of Queensland (BOQ) have launched a program aimed at helping entrepreneurs get their startup ideas out of their garage and onto the global market.

The ‘Sponsored Entrepreneur’ program will see corporations offer free resources and mentorship to Brisbane-based startup teams, with a three-month full time membership of River City Labs.

Entrepreneurs will receive desk space at the Fortitude Valley startup hub, access to River City Labs training and networking events, and specialist mentorship to help them get their ideas off the ground.

BOQ is the first to back the program, and will offer five sponsorships over the next six months. River City Labs will roll out this program and get more of big businesses supporting new startups in the coming months

Steve Baxter, founder of River City Labs and a serial entrepreneur, said the program could help stimulate the Queensland economy to the tune of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.

“We are excited to have a visionary corporates such as BOQ recognises the opportunity to grow our local business economy. Queensland has the ability to become Australia’s leading Startup State in the coming decade. If we take positive control of the growth of our entrepreneurial community, the returns to Queensland and Australia could be enormous.

“The recent Crossroads Report by StartupAUS identified that high-growth tech startups could account for $US109 billion and 540,000 new jobs by 2033 – and we want to see Queensland attracting as many of these jobs as we can.”

River City Labs is calling on any interested entrepreneurs to apply for a corporate sponsored membership for their startup here.

The offer includes full-time desk membership, structured mentoring, and partnership and publicity opportunities for the startup for three months, fully paid.

Greg Pink, head of SME and commercial broker at BOQ, added: “We understand that the early stages of starting out is not financially viable for everyone, and we wanted to make it possible for those who have a great business idea but don’t yet have the funds to get going. By providing them with access to Brisbane’s premier co-working community, we will give them a great opportunity to working alongside like-minded people and receive guidance and support from top quality mentors. We’re keeping our eye out for founders who are 100% committed and want to give their Startup the best chance to develop and succeed.”

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