What an incredible year 2019 has been! We’ve seen a ton of growth and experimented a lot with the best way to further our mission of helping founders along their journey from idea to IPO, and beyond.

Late last month, we hosted a community breakfast in Melbourne featuring Adam Milgrom, Venture Partner at Giant Leap Fund, Australia’s first venture capital fund that is 100% dedicated to investing in impact startups. Adam interviewed Chris Thompson, Cofounder and CEO of Amber Electric, one of Giant Leap’s portfolio companies revolutionising the energy industry.

At Innovation Bay our mission is to create more connectivity within the tech industry, create greater inclusion, and drive change when it’s needed. That’s why we are so passionate about this initiative, in collaboration with Reinventure, to help more women take the next seat at the table, and play a role in the continued growth of Australia’s startup ecosystem.

Last week the Innovation Bay team ‘ventured’ across the Tasman to New Zealand to host our annual conference for the VC community, Venture Downunder. We love this event and its mission — to build better relationships within the VC community, and create a place to share the triumphs and tribulations of working in venture — because we believe it will lead to better outcomes and more opportunities for startups.

This year marked the 15th anniversary of when Phaedon and I co-founded Innovation Bay. We started it with the sole purpose of helping other founders be successful and to build a strong startup ecosystem in Australia.