Aussie Startup, Inspace XR, ranks top 10 at Techsauce Global Summit

Aussie start-up puts Australia in the top 10 global start-ups for the first time at Techsauce Global Summit 2018.

For the first time an Australian start-up has ranked in the top 10 global start-ups at one of the world’s biggest VC events in Southeast Asia, Techsauce Global Summit 2018, peaking interest from Southeast Asian VC’s.

Earlier this year InSpace XR won the right to represent Australia at the Techsauce Global Summit 2018 as part of a national pitch competition held by early stage investment group Investible. InSpace XR pitched on the Techsauce stage to over 300 investors from over 30 countries. Competing with start-ups from 20 other countries in growth phase looking to raise seed capital, InSpace XR’s pitch ranked Australia in the top 10 for the first time.The judging panel included Chinese VC William Bao Bean, along with six other Southeast Asian VC’s. With one of the entry criteria being an interest in expanding to Southeast Asia, InSpace XR is starting to shift the way VC’s perceive Aussie start-ups.

Founded by Eric Fear & Justin Liang, InSpace XR pitched a new VR technology that translates CAD design into immersive Virtual Reality in one click. The technology transforms the way architects showcase design, giving clients the opportunity to experience the space prior to construction.

So what’s Justin’s secret to the perfect pitch?

“Don’t execute a cold and recited ‘pitch’. Have a real conversation from the heart with your audience about your company’s vision and purpose. Get people to feel, energy is contagious.” Says Justin.

The opportunity to attend the Techsauce 2018 global accelerator masterclass, provided InSpace XR founder Justin Liang with the opportunity to learn from over 1,000 other start-ups, mentors and industry experts and connect with 300 investors from around the globe.

For Justin, the masterclasses opened up a whole new world of possibilities, with three key insights emerging that he hopes will help other Aussie start-ups consider Southeast Asia as part of their product development and growth strategies:

• The same strategy may not work across all of Southeast Asia.

Contrary to what many Australians may think, South East Asia isn’t one market (like the US), Singapore is different to Thailand is different to Indonesia. In most cases, deploying the same strategy across the board will not work.

• Value needs to be demonstrated through pilot programs.

There is a growing number of active CVC funds ready to provide a significant advantage to startups they back. First however, they want to see value validated through pilot projects before even talking about investing.

• Thailand presents many unique opportunities but the cost of entry needs to be considered.

Thailand today presents many opportunities  for foreign start-ups with growing capital investment from corporates, VCs and Government to solve problems for a large population that is rapidly adopting tech. However, many of these problems to solve are unique to Thailand, so solutions need to be localised and teams committed to the region. Foreign startups need to anticipate time and cost to research and set up.

InSpace XR is not the first time Investible have identified and backed early stage start-up talent. With early investment in Canva, Ipsy and Car Next Door, Investible has developed a rigorous methodology involving 250 data points to identify start-ups with the greatest potential. The methodology that was extrapolated for the Techsauce judging criteria uses 16 criteria to assess potential including and judging criteria for the Techsauce pitch competition uses 16 criteria that include team chemistry, market size and disruption, business model, future business projections, and importantly the resilience with which the teams execute and deliver on strategy.

Investible expanded its operations to Asia in late 2017 to capitalise on the strong growth potential identified in the neighbouring region. “There’s often too much tunnel vision focused on Silicon Valley or Tel Aviv. Investors sometimes forget that these Asian nations are just one flight away from Australia, the USA and the UK, and have economies that are uniquely placed to nurture high-growth start-ups.” Says Investible cofounder Creel Price.

Sponsoring the Techsauce and OTEC pitch competitions is an important initiative for Investibleto help Australian start-ups gain visibility in the Southeast Asian and Chinese markets.

In early August this year, AgUnity, the other winner of Investible’s pitch competition, will join InSpace XR to represent Australia at Overseas Talent Entrepreneurship Conference (OTEC) 2018 in Beijing China.

InSpace XR

InSpace XR develops immersive technologies to improve the way buildings are designed, built, sold and maintained. The first product to market – River Fox – translates CAD design into immersive Virtual Reality in one click. The technology transforms the way architects showcase design, giving clients the opportunity to experience the space prior to construction.

Sydney based founders Eric Fear and Justin Liang believe immersive technologies will bring a new standard in cross-disciple communication that they hope will enable faster decision making, selling from afar, eliminate miscommunication, and mitigate risk.

In 2017, InSpace XR was awarded a Minimum Viable Product grant from the NSW Government and won the Australian and New Zealand division of Alibaba Cloud’s pitch competition.

Investible

Investible is an early stage investment group that provides high potential founders the financial, human and intellectual capital needed to scale.

Founded by former Blueprint Management Group entrepreneurs Creel Price and Trevor Folsom in 2014, Investible’s mission is to de-risk angel investment on a global scale.

Already reporting an unrealised compound return of 66.2 per cent per annum based on its investments in start-ups such as Canva, Ipsy and Car Next Door, Investible continues to expand its global footprint, having already entered into the U.S., South East Asian and China. The success to date has been largely attributed to Investible’s team comprehensive methodology led by General Manager (Asia) Annie Luu to source, screen, secure and support the best early stage tech companies.

AgUnity

AgUnity is a philanthropic venture that helps small farmers harness the power of Blockchain for the greater good.

With a vision to improve the lives of small farmers in developing countries, AgUnity helps farmers retain a greater share of their crop value by putting a simple distributed crypotoledger mobile app into the hands of small farmers. The transparent digital process levels the playing field for framers, replacing existing verbal and paper agreements, and creating a circle of trust for small farm co-operatives to track the 50% of crop value that is estimated by the UN to disappear between harvest and point of sale.

Founded by Brisbane based FAC Global Agripreneur of the Year David Davies, AgUnity has already been recognised by major NGO’s and won a range of AgTech awards with product pilots already underway in Africa, Latin America, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

‍