Telstra's muru-D class #2 lines up a handful of startups from the digital services space. Under the muru-D program, Telstra will provide a seed capital of $40,000 for each company in return for a 6% equity in the business. muru-D, a business and an entrepreneurship accelerator program selects promising startups from all over the world across various sectors and provides them 6 months of facilitation in terms of business support, collaborative workspace, mentoring and coaching support. The class #2 follows the first muru-D class launched in 2013. Some of the startups from the 2013 class went on to secure new funding to expand their businesses.
The companies listed for the class #2 of the muru-D are mostly focused on developing web-based digital services - either digital marketplaces, online sharing platforms and crowdsourcing platforms. Among the companies selected are FanFuel, a sponsorship marketplace where brands search, measure and secure their sponsorship deal, FreightExchange, a digital marketplace for freight transporters to sell their unused capacity to businesses that need to ship goods, VClass, the first ever hybrid education platform that combines the power of Internet, VoIP and traditional pen and paper to create an online teaching experience like face to face, CrowdSourceHire, a pre-hire assessments marketplace platform that crowdsources industry experts to assist with assessment of jobs for companies and SoccerBrain, an application that makes it easy for anyone to coach a team, providing tailored, interactive training sessions week-by-week for coaches and players. Other companies on the list are Wattblock, Distrupt Surfing, You Chews, TripALocal, Peep Digital and Instrument Works.
Ann Parker, muru-D Co-founder
Yet again, we’ve been able to uncover world class entrepreneurial talent and are delighted with the quality of applicants coming into the academy. We’ve seen just how significant this experience has been for our first round graduates and we can’t wait to get class #2 underway.....We were bowled over to see some of the applicants from round one actively take on board our feedback and return again with a stronger offer. From a personal perspective, I’m thrilled to see such a strong representation of women in technology coming through the muru-D doors. It’s refreshing and such a positive message to send to the wider business community.
Charlotte Yarkoni, Executive Director, Telstra Software Group and muru-D Co-founder
Nurturing innovation within Australia is critical to ensure we’re continuing to fuel our economy with exciting and disruptive technology companies. If we don’t innovate, we risk becoming irrelevant. It’s a priority for Telstra and we’re starting to see it become a priority for more and more organisations, which is very exciting for everyone involved in the business. Telstra is fully committed to supporting and growing entrepreneurial talent and giving those founders the platform they need to develop their ideas and better their chance of growth and success both in Australia and on the international stage. muru-D is going from strength to strength and we’re confident many of the businesses going through the program will be part of a bright future.
