Venture Scholarships Roadshows Pitch Competition Festival

The Study Melbourne Future Founders Program, brought to you by Study Melbourne and StartSpace is Australia’s largest entrepreneurial program aimed at international students and aspiring new founders.

Through the annual year-long program including Roadshows, a Festival, Pitch Competition and Scholarships you will learn practical skills and hear from inspiring former international student and migrant founders about their own journeys.  You’ll also have the chance to connect with other students and network with people across the Victorian startup community.

Venture Scholarships

The Study Melbourne Future Founders Venture Scholarships offer current and former international students (up to 5 years post-graduation) who are leading new business ventures with startup funding, a StartSpace Loft membership and one-on-one coaching and mentoring opportunities.

Applications are now closed.

The scholarship program runs for 12 weeks from April to June 2024 and provides:

  • AUD$ 10,000 seed funding for your business venture
  • StartSpace Loft memberships for the duration of the program
  • Six 1 hour 1:1 mentoring sessions with a business mentor
  • Facilitated fortnightly cohort catch-ups at StartSpace
  • Venture Crawl – a day visiting key startups and ecosystem supports in Melbourne.

Meet the 2024 Venture Scholars

Roadshows

Join us at our upcoming Roadshows (September 2024) to hear stories from experienced migrant founders and find out more about entrepreneurship as a career option.

The Roadshows include a skills-based workshop and founder panel discussion. It’s free to participate, the Roadshows are designed to inspire you in your career journey.

Sign up for future updates about the program

Pitch Competition

Submit your best 3-minute business pitch for a chance to win up to $5,000 AUD in the Study Melbourne Future Founders Pitch Competition.

Open to current and former international students (up to 5 years post-graduation), we want to hear your inspiring ideas for solving the challenges in the world, both big and small.

The competition applications open in October with the final held at the Future Founders Festival in November.

Sign up for future updates on the program

Festival

The annual Study Melbourne Future Founders Festival (22 November 2024), is free to attend and includes a full day and evening of inspiring founder talks, panel sessions, interactive workshops, an evening party with networking and features the final of the pitch competition. Come along to have fun, make new connections and explore entrepreneurship as a career path.

Sign up for future updates about the program

Delivered by StartSpace

StartSpace is a business support service and community for people starting out on their business development journey. Membership is free and gives you access to a coworking space, free programs and events to support your business development and a like-minded community.