The newly redesigned GRIFFIN Accelerator accepted 7 budding startups to participate in this 3-month intensive program, led by experienced mentors. As part of the new look program the ACT Government, through their COVID relief package provided $150,000 towards fast-tracking high growth potential companies.

“While 2020 has been a tough year for Australian businesses, the quality and diversity of the teams who have applied and been accepted into the GRIFFIN Accelerator this year show that the Canberra innovation community is not just surviving but thriving.” – Arthur Pappas, Growth Programs

Meet the teams

AirGeoX: this team is building and using drones fitted with a magnetometer to search for mineral deposits. They have developed special algorithms which make the images taken with the drones clearer than what is typical of the industry, allowing for more precise readings and better outcomes for companies looking to exploit underground mineral deposits.

Clinic Room: led by a practicing GP who scored the highest in Australia in the FRACGP exams, he has realised that access to his notes and research are highly sought after from other GPs in training. The demand in his materials has led to the development of a wordpress site that sells access to his peers for $700 per download.

Contraco: sub- contractors can often be left out of pocket because there wasn’t a complete understanding in the contractual obligations for the construction job. Contraco is a SaaS platform which helps sub-contractors in the construction industry manage their contractual obligations more easily, avoiding any potentially nasty mistakes.

PPB Technology: through a 29-year tenure at CSIRO a biochemist has developed the CYBERTONGUE technology that can rapidly test food for certain proteins, such as lactose, much more quickly than is typical in the industry. This can help those people who have serious allergies to things like lactose, and risky food is often shipped before it can be tested.

Prism Neuro: two technologies have been merged to create a diagnostic tool which can be used to help in sports talent identification, performance monitoring, concussion diagnosis and return to play decisions.

SIHQ: SIHQ is a video conferencing and booking platform for the providers of mental health support and legal services.

ZaliaFlow: we help organisation’s choose and deploy the right kind of distributed confidential computing technology for their needs. Confidential computing lets organisation’s train AI on sensitive data without seeing what’s in it, so that we can build more accurate models on more valuable data with less privacy and security risks.

“We started our company when we were fresh out of university, without an understanding of our industry and how to sell our product. Our greatest challenge was generating traction and finding mentors that could help us through our journey. GRIFFIN has provided us with invaluable connections, lessons to accelerate our progress and a mentor that cares about our work. We were very lucky to be accepted into the program, and we see GRIFFIN as our launchpad to growing our company across Australia and beyond.” – Samantha Lengyel, ZaliaFlow

Over the course of 3 months, the teams will work intensively with an assigned lead mentor and the Canberra Innovation Network growth team to: refine their value offerings, find and engage early customers, and further develop their products. In early December, the teams will pitch to the GRIFFIN mentors try and secure further investment.

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