Announcement: Inspire9 Footscray is closing. Fab9 remains and Inspire9 Richmond’s future is bright.
Inspire9 Footscray Closure
It’s with sadness that we announce that Inspire9’s tenure at our Footscray location will be ending on August 14th 2018.
When we started our venture in Footscray about 2 years ago, we had great optimism that we could play a valuable role in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in Melbourne’s inner west, and in the time since then, we’ve made huge investments as we attempted to bring that to fruition.
However, several factors have worked against us — some relating to the building and its location, some relating to general market conditions, and some relating to internal challenges at Inspire9. As a result, that chapter must now come to a close.
All Inspire9 Footscray residents have been invited to relocate to Inspire9’s Richmond location, and have been offered a free trial month.
Some residents are negotiating direct leases with building management in order to remain at that location.
The FAB9 makerspace, which is being constructed on the ground floor of the Footscray building, is unaffected by the Inspire9 departure, and is still expected to open in 2018.
We’d like to send a huge thanks to all the members, businesses, organisations, government groups, and partners who have supported us during our time in Footscray. And most of all, our awesome residents and super community team for all their effort and energy.
If you’d like to be a part of the FAB9 maker community, please visit fab9.com.au
Inspire9 remains committed to Richmond, and our future here is bright
Inspire9’s history began in Cremorne, in the heart of the technology and commerce hub now referred to as “Digital Richmond”.
As the digital economy in Richmond continues to grow, there is an ever-increasing need for a flexible space that welcomes early-stage startups, freelancers, and creatives, that fosters collaboration and cross-pollination between innovators, and that hosts events and workshops to inspire and educate the next generation of entrepreneurs and employers.
This has been the role Inspire9 has fulfilled since it established its current location in the AKM building in Stewart Street in 2011, and is what has helped such companies as CultureAmp, Rome2Rio and Volantio (formerly Adioso) successfully navigate the journey from being tiny teams with experimental prototypes to being the thriving global companies they are today.
In the past two years, as Inspire9’s management and staff has had to split its focus between Richmond and Footscray, it hasn’t always been possible to give Richmond the attention and investment that it once had, but that it always deserved.
Inspire9’s community in Richmond remains strong, and has seen solid growth in 2018, both in our community and in our staff. But we know we can do better.
With the closure of Footscray, Inspire9 will now be able to redouble our efforts to keep our Richmond location as the premier innovation space for Digital Richmond and for the wider Melbourne entrepreneurial community.
We thank all our community members and partners for the support you’ve shown us thus far, and we look forward to serving you with increased energy and focus into the future.
