About Us
StartupWA is a not-for-profit, representative organisation dedicated to promoting and advocating for the startup sector of Western Australia. Since 2015, we have worked with entrepreneurs, investors, universities, corporates, tech hubs, accelerator programs and early-stage scalable businesses to build a vibrant startup ecosystem.
Our Vision
We want Western Australia to be recognised as a global hub for entrepreneurial and tech talent. We envision a future in which the value that startups bring to our economy and society is widely embraced, and where innovation, diversity and opportunity thrive.
Our Mission
To advance the startup industry in Western Australia by:
Increasing the visibility and understanding of the WA startup industry globally; and
Working with government and others, at all levels, to ensure that the interests of the startup industry are represented.
What We Do
Advocacy & Policy Influence - Acting as a unified voice for the WA startup community: engaging with government, industry and institutions to influence both state and national policy around innovation, funding, research commercialisation and more.
We connect stakeholders - startups, investors, research institutions, accelerators and more to foster collaboration and opportunity.
We highlight and support promising ventures, especially those underrepresented or operating in regional and emerging domains.
We disseminate insights and priorities, including our Top 10 Priorities and published reports, to guide the ecosystem’s direction.
Why It Matters
Startups are engines of innovation, jobs and resilience. By strengthening WA's startup sector, we help diversify the economy, capture new opportunities and build a future in which all Western Australians can benefit from technological progress and entrepreneurship.
Top 10 Priorities
These are our strategic recommendations to the WA State Government - areas where action will most empower startups, accelerate growth, and unlock economic value.
Actively and widely promote the successes of WA entrepreneurs and startups to inspire the next generation of founders and attract investment capital to the state.
Promote entrepreneurship as a viable career option by including it in secondary education curricula. 
Renew the New Industries Fund and increase its budget allocation to speed up growth in WA’s innovation ecosystem and create jobs for the future.
Increase support for research commercialisation so that innovations developed in WA's research institutions translate into impactful commercial solutions.
Develop and fund a government-led GovTech initiative to unlock solutions to government issues while creating new businesses in WA.
Increase willingness within government agencies to use startups for small government contracts.
Promote gender equality in the startup and tech sector through a Female Founder Procurement Policy, similar to the existing Aboriginal Procurement Policy, to give preference to companies with gender parity (40-40-20).
Build WA’s brand and visibility as the go-to destination for building a startup in Australia.
Incentivise international talent to migrate and/or return to WA to create new startups and invest in the sector.
Extend the success of the WA Venture Support (WAVES) and WA Venture Capital (WAVC) initiatives to attract an additional $1B of venture capital funding to the state over the next five years.