At a pumpingly good Freo Startup Fest event last week, the (5th) annual Startups News awards were handed out, based on community voting.
Dan Jovevski’s WeMoney won Most Admired Startup of the year, serial entrepreneur (Foody Bags, Everythere, Apps People, Profound…) Stuart Kidd won Most Admired Startup Person/Founder and West Tech Fest’s very own co-founder and director Paula Taylor won the Most Admired Startup Supporter for her 10 years of organising the best tech festival this side of the Mississippi.
Snackr won the most read Startup News article of the year (but they have since moved to London so were not present to collect), and Nicole Gazey and Rebecca Loftus from IDEA picked up the the most listened to Startup West podcast award.
In its fifth year, the awards again attracted way more voters and nominees than ever. The awards were announced as part of the Freo Startup Fest, a now iconic fixture in the annual West Tech Fest, which shifted locations to the Maritime Museum in Fremantle, before repairing next door to Gage Roads.
Spacecubed’s Golden Ticket Pitch event took place earlier in the afternoon, with Matilda winning the chance to go straight into the Plus Eight bootcamp in 2022, and plus flights and accommodation to the UK for next year’s London Tech Week, courtesy of the UK Government, Department of International Trade.
Matilda is a place where people with endometriosis can get timely access to expert holistic care from the comfort of their own home, with the encouragement of the ‘Tilly Tribe’, Matilda’s supportive peer community. Matilda is a cohort-based online program that empowers people with endometriosis to take control of their health and implement positive evidence-based behaviours to improve their symptoms before or after laparoscopic surgery.
GOLDEN TICKET WINNER: ‘Matilda’
MOST READ Startup News article
Startup News published 271 articles in 2022, the 5 most read were:
- Liberty takes over Co-Lab with $3.2m investment
- Snackr raises $915K seed
- Humm closes down in California
- VGW now 6th largest Aus private co by revenue
- Zipline raises $6M
The award was presented by Danelle Cross, from Curtin University to…
MOST READ ARTICLE: ‘Snackr raises $915K seed’, Snackr funding launch story
Earlier this year, Snackr moved to the UK; but they will be back in Perth in the New Year, and we’ll give them their trophy then.
MOST LISTENED TO Startup West podcast
Startup West published 20 podcast episodes this year. The 5 most popular podcast episodes in 2021 were:
- Freo Startup Fest Founders Panel – Julian Ilich, Mel Bainbridge, Glen McIvor
- James Flanagan – HoverIT
- Nicole Gazey and Rebecca Loftus – IDEA Academy
- Mihailo Bozic – Envited
- Prof Peter Klinken – Chief Scientist
Sam Brook from RSM presented the award …
MOST LISTENED TO EPISODE: Nicole Gazey and Rebecca Loftus, IDEA Academy (episode 77)
The following 3 awards were voted by the startup community of WA…
Startup SUPPORTER(S) of the Year
37 different supporters, advisers, mentors, investors were voted for in this category
In no particular order, the following 7 were right up there in the vote tally:
- Chandra Sundareswaran, Spacecubed
- Paula Taylor, West Tech Fest
- Tash Teakle, Innovation Cluster
- Sheryl Frame, VentureX HQ
- Greg Riebe, Entrepreneurs Program
- Scott Glew, Perth Morning Startup
- Jason Balchand, Startup WA
Brodie from Spacecubed presented the award to…
MOST ADMIRED SUPPORTER: Paula Taylor, West Tech Fest
Startup PERSON of the Year
47 different people were voted for in this award category; they could be a founder, staff member, developer, leader…who works in and for a WA startup.
This was a hotly contested category. It was extremely close. In no particular order, these 8 startup founders and CEOs were right up there in the vote tally, so well done them…
- Dan Jovevski, We Money
- Stuart Kidd, Foody Bags, Everythere, AppPeople
- Dean Philips, XSights
- Matthew Ikin, WeMoney
- Lucy Cooke, Spacedraft
- Zach Nielsen, Ascend, Luddi
- Jess Gough, Tease Industries
- Steve Wildesden, XSights
The Award was announced by a very fine startup founder himself and supporter of Startup News and Startup West, Chris Tistrand from Dinner Twist:
MOST ADMIRED PERSON: Stuart Kidd, founder & CEO, Apps People, Foody Bag, Profound, Everythere
STARTUP of the Year
42 different companies were voted for in this award category. To qualify, the business had to be an early-stage WA-based innovative venture, with a scalable business model.
In no particular order, the 7 startups with most votes were:
- Xsights
- Luddi
- Arkahna
- Spacedraft
- WeMoney
- Foody Bag
- Tease Industries
Patrick Green from Startup News and Tekkon announced the winner:
MOST ADMIRED STARTUP: WEMONEY, Dan Jovevski, CEO and founder
CONGRATS to all the winners, and top finalists; and thanks for another great year in startup land. Live long and prosper!
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City of Perth were also a sponsor of the awards, but could not attend on the night. Thanks to all supporters, finalists, winners, voters, sponsors and participants in another fantastic Freo Startup Fest, and the Startups News awards.
All photos – Lewis Williamson.
