Rethinking concussion management through to disrupting the live music industry: Meet the first MAP Velocity cohort for 2021, backed by LaunchVic.

Software that will radically improve concussion management in community sport, and an app that democratises access to live independent music are part of the 21-strong cohort of teams accepted into the first MAP Velocity program of 2021. From 200 expressions of interest, the impressive group of founders were selected to join the increasingly popular pre-accelerator program, powered by the University of Melbourne.

Velocity is a 10-week program for early-stage founders, focused on customer discovery and market validation. With the support of LaunchVic, MAP is running two Velocity programs in 2021, with the first kicking off at the beginning of April. The digital-only first cohort allows founders to participate in the program wherever they might be located in Victoria.

The Velocity program will be managed by the talented Adelide Mutinda, who joins MAP as the Velocity Program Manager from ygap. Adelide brings a decade of professional experience initiating, leading, managing and delivering innovative social impact solutions, projects and initiatives across Asia, Africa, North America and Australia and has previously worked with organisations like the Foundation for Young Australians and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

“We are very excited to welcome a new cohort of fantastic founders to our first Velocity Program this year. It is doubly exciting because, thanks to support from LaunchVic, this is going to be one of the largest cohorts we have ever had, and the startups are high calibre! Despite some very challenging and uncertain times, we are incredibly inspired to see exciting innovations emerging in health, education and e-commerce.

“The first 2021 Velocity cohort represents bold and courageous founders who have risen to the challenge in these uncertain times and are using entrepreneurial creativity and resourcefulness to build businesses and solve some big problems. There has been a lot of talk about the kind of world we want to build and live in on the other side of the pandemic — a better world — and we are excited to work alongside founders who are charting the path towards that brave new world.”

MAP received LaunchVic funding to deliver the Velocity Program over the next two years, allowing MAP to support two cohorts each year, focusing on supporting early-stage technology-based startup entrepreneurs. The funding has allowed Velocity to be adapted for online delivery for the first time, enabling MAP to support up to 120 founders from across Victoria over 2021–22.

In addition, we are also thrilled to announce that thanks to the generous support of the Cameron Foundation, and in line with our commitment to enhance diversity while also driving impact on a social and global scale, we are able to provide more support to founders from under-represented communities. MAP has awarded three scholarships to cover the $500 Velocity program fee to Divya Gupta, co-founder of Enkore, Wayne Nyamana from Vleet and Huijun Lao from AIBUILD. At the end of the program, one outstanding social impact startup will also be awarded a $5,000 Cameron Fellowship Award grant.

Meet the first 2021 MAP Velocity cohort

3 Steps Away

Three Steps Away (3SA) is developing a new online platform that is part online course and part online community that provides a 3-step thought process to help students tackle solving the world’s most pressing problems.

AIBUILD

AIBUILD has developed an innovative machine-learning fall prevention system which can be used to effectively predict, detect and reduce patient falls in both aged-care facilities and hospitals. The invented fall prevention system allows the system to extract human body skeleton data to track human movements in the camera’s field of vision. With the extracted real-time data, the developed machine learning method is able to successfully detect patient falls with an accuracy of at least 90%.

Collabor8 ThinkSpace

Collabor8 ThinkSpace is creating a facilitation app that uses structured design thinking frameworks to increase the productivity of virtual meetings.

Disruptive Publications

Disruptive Publications enables rapid publishing of the latest research, reviews and opinions across a variety of academic areas by providing genuine peer-review through its online journal Research Reviews and Opinion.

Enkore Tribe

Enkore Tribe is a platform that disrupts the live music industry by connecting independent musicians with micro audiences and democratising places where live entertainment can be experienced.

Fan Tipper

Fan Tipper is a digital gratuity service that allows people to leave a digital tip, a message of support, and share their positive experience via social media. It facilitates a return to the customer-led initiative of leaving a gratuity.

GirlsTrade

GirlsTrade is revolutionising the fashion industry by building a marketplace and community for women to trade clothing. This platform enables women to hire, buy or sell pre-loved fashion at a fraction of the retail price by tapping into the community’s existing wardrobes. This sharing economy breaks down the barriers of access, cost and fast fashion whilst reducing the effects of fast fashion.

Infestation Tracking Systems

Giving you early warning of active termite activity near your home so you can proactively protect it.

InTouch

Keeping patients and families connected during hospital procedures through integrated, automated messaging solutions, freeing up doctors and nurses for improved patient care, improving CX and reducing operational cost for hospitals.

LERERO

A SaaS-based learning and development system enhancement solution centred on driving long term knowledge retention through learning behavioural change and assessment backed by extensive research on memory and brain science.

Linkmate

A social enterprise devoted to mental wellness by connecting people with peers and community services for empathetic and personalised support.

Mindful Milk

Tap out of plastic waste and into the circular economy.

Moon Mama

Bespoke maternity concierge founded to empower women to nurture themselves first in their pregnancy journey and transition to motherhood. We deliver evidence-based workshops, virtual assistant support to book appointments, recommend holistic health specialists, cleaners, babysitting services they require, deliver their baby shopping they require, plan their baby shopping and meal planning. We recognise that no two pregnancies and babies are alike, so our service will always be one-on-one.

Nextround

Nextround is the digital prepaid voucher platform that connects customers’ corporate and personal budget to local hospitality businesses — you can now send a thank you with a coffee from a local cafe.

Our Pantry

An online platform for selling homemade food products to the community.

Ruby

A browser extension that connects consumers with online stores and the best product prices across Australia.

talkingbirth

An accessible maternity tool supporting women to partner with care providers for shared decision making throughout pregnancy, birth and early parenting.

toto

toto aims to raise the standard of concussion management by providing amateur football clubs with a SaaS solution that is intuitive, affordable, and implements best-practice guidelines to support the wellbeing of players from match-day, to return-to-play, and beyond.

Vleet

Pioneering simple, no wait, self-service car rental.

World Doctors United

Providing online/offline preventative healthcare services and education to Developing Countries via telehealth.

Yabi Medical

An innovative, accurate and automated method for monitoring and escalating surgical drain output.

If you’re keen to apply for the next cohort of Velocity or learn more about MAP, check out our website or shoot us an email.