Startmate reveals the 11 startups for the new Winter cohort

Accelerator and early-stage investor Startmate has revealed the 11 startups joining the program for its Winter cohort.

They’re an eclectic bunch, spanning problems ranging from ending online abuse to rethinking firefighting, and supporting mothers post-childbirth. They’re also hoping to revolutionise tender processes, fitting rooms, oil extraction, physio-patient journeys, thermal systems, bug-catching software, and global digital health expansion.

The were chosen from among an astonishing 600 applications.

One of the cohort has emerged from Startmate’s Launch Club program, where founders take their first steps on the road to entrepreneurship.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of their 11 are receiving funding for the first time, with Starmate investing more than $1.3 million in the Winter cohort

Startmate invests $120,000 in early-stage startups for an 8% stake at a $1.5 million valuation, and in an era where software is seen as the express lane to big returns, 45% of the cohort are hardware-focused, while just over a third (36%) are AI-driven and 27% are climate-focused.

For once they’re under the own impressive benchmark of backing an average of 43% women co-founded startups over the last five years, with 36% involving  women founders, but given the current debate around men running venture-backed startups focused on women’s health, Borne is a startup where sister is doing it for themselves.

Here’s who you’ll meet at Demo Day later this year.

Borne

Borne’s Avalon Nethery

One liner: Australia’s first mother-centric postpartum hotel and wellness platform ensuring every mother’s health is well-supported, deeply understood and expertly navigated following childbirth.

Borne’s is revolutionising maternal healthcare by making hospitals the place to give birth and Borne the place to recover.

With 24/7 expert care, a comprehensive wellness program and membership platform, Borne is where mothers and their families can stay, recover, and thrive. Borne’s unique care model aims to foster a positive long-term effect on future generations.

Founder: Avalon Nethery

Location: Sydney, NSW

Bugster

Bugster’s Ignacio Solorzano 

One liner: Bugster tests software products automatically, catching bugs before your users do.

What used to take months of manual effort, Bugster can do in seconds and automatically.

Bugster generates end-to-end tests on web products 80% faster, safely and without the need to expand your development team.

With founders blending expertise in software testing, artificial intelligence, and customer experience, Bugster is the unified testing platform for software products.

Founders: Facundo Lopez Scala, Ignacio Solorzano, Bautista Roberts

Location: Sydney, Australia

Fairgo.AI

FairGo.AI’s Julian Bright

One-liner: Live, AI-powered recruitment interviews that cut through noise, eliminate bias, and find the best candidates, faster.

Fairgo.ai is an AI-powered live video interview platform that cuts the hiring time by 50% through automated screening.

Unlike traditional methods, every question and response is not simply captured, but discussed with an AI expert.

Candidate suitability is assessed and summarised, delivering in-depth insights for high-quality, efficient hiring decisions that minimises unconscious bias. With the solo founder’s impressive 20+ years of experience at Amazon and SEEK, Fairgo.AI is well positioned to revolutionise recruitment.

Founder: Julian Bright

Location: Melbourne, Victoria

Hurtec

Hurtec’s Justin Hurcom

One-liner: Hurtec makes firefighting safer and more effective through automated software, powerful electric pumps and data driven decisions.

Hurtec is revolutionising firefighting with advanced electric pumps and integrated software that automates complex operations and provides real-time data for enhanced safety and efficiency.

Founded by experts in firefighting and technology, Hurtec’s innovative system outperforms traditional pumps, improves safety, and seamlessly connects equipment for smarter fire management.

Founders: Justin Hurcom, Jeffery Summers, Andrew Newton

Location: Nerang, Queensland

NE Tech

NE Tech’s Ron Park

One-liner: Food oil extraction technology that produces additive-free oils 85% cheaper.

NE Tech extracts oil from food. It’s 85% cheaper, uses significantly less energy, and removes the traditional drying process completely.

Their technology is driving the future of nutritional oils with cutting edge green technology to produce odourless, tasteless, shelf-stable oils without additives.

What’s most impressive? The founding team combines 50 years of expertise in supplement manufacturing, bioengineering and biochemistry.

Founder: Ron Park

Location: Christchurch, New Zealand

PREVE

PREVE’s Adam Beaupeurt and Caelum Trott

One-liner: Helping physiotherapy clinics deliver the best and most affordable patient treatment programs.

PREVE is the world’s first AI-assisted physio membership platform, bringing clarity, automation and delightfulness to every step of the physio-patient journey.

Through PREVE, patients receive high-quality and affordable treatment leading to better recovery outcomes.

At the same time, clinics thrive through predictable revenue and exceptional customer experience. The founding team combines a decade of clinical experience, clinic ownership and product expertise in preventative health.

This team is poised and ready to revolutionise physio-patient care.

Founders: Adam Beaupeurt, Caelum Trott

Location: Byron Bay, NSW

Recant.ai

Recant’s Cam McMaster

One liner: Recant.ai combats abusive messages and harassment on social media.

Recant.ai is putting an end to online harassment. How? Their technology intercepts abusive messages, introducing disincentives that hold perpetrators accountable.

With a team combining 15 years of AI expertise, and scaling and exiting multiple successful companies, Recant.ai is a company to watch.

Founders: Cam McMaster, Martin Kemka & Chris McLoghlin

Location: Perth, Western Australia

Tendl

Tendl’s Laurie Nicol

One-liner: Respond to tenders and grants faster with Tendl.

Tendl makes it simple to unlock the information in an organisation’s documents.

Starting with tenders and grants, Tendl deep dives into documents and historical responses to help organisations pursue more opportunities, delivering better results while dramatically reducing the stress of submissions.

Tendl runs locally on your computer, eliminating the need to transmit sensitive data. The solo and veteran founder has a decade of experience in software engineering and a deep understanding of the pain point from building businesses in the government sector.

Founder: Laurie Nicol

Location: Toowoomba, Queensland

TOTEX

Totex’s Berlin Rar

One-liner: Next gen sustainable all in one heating, cooling and hot water system that cuts energy cost and emissions in half.

60% of Australians pay over $4,000 on energy bills every year. Totex’s combined heating, cooling and hot water system halves the energy cost and CO2 emissions by seamlessly integrating with solar panels, batteries and the dynamic energy grid.

The founding team is leveraging their 20+ years of building within engineering services to address the impact of heating and cooling on the environment.

Founders: Berlin Raj, Bosco Raj & Mailys Baerg

Location: Melbourne, Victoria

Trova Health

Trova Health’s Dana Allison

One-liner: Trova enables rapid global expansion for digital health companies.

Trova is tackling the high costs and complexity of entering the $105B international market for digital health companies.

Their platform seamlessly integrates into a company’s existing systems, providing localised and compliant healthcare delivery software and a ready-to-use provider network across borders. This allows companies to reduce expansion costs by 75%, accelerate growth, and increase margins.

Led by a team with deep health tech and clinical expertise, Trova is transforming how digital health scales globally.

Founders: Dana Allison, Dr. Truida Botha & Balaji Varanasi

Location: Melbourne, Victoria

Zello

Zello’s Sakina Aliasger and Olyvia Munro

One-liner: Reinventing the way shoppers try on clothes to improve retailers decision making.

Zello is Australia’s first fitting room assistant using real time data to enhance shopper experience and deliver insights to store owners.

Through Zello, retailers can track shopping behaviour inside the fitting room, detecting items, fulfilling requests and suggesting alternative outfits.  In turn, retailers can utilise this data to plan future retail operations, reducing time and costs.

With the founders’ impressive hustle and a user-centric approach, Zello is set to modernise the shopping experience for good.

Founders: Olyvia Munro, Sakina Aliasger

Location: Melbourne, Victoria