MELBOURNE: The Minns Labor Government is delivering on its commitment to build a more inclusive and dynamic innovation economy, with four additional providers announced under the second round of the Diversity Pre-Accelerator Program.
The Diversity Pre-Accelerator Program provides training, mentoring and early-stage support to help founders refine ideas, build capability and take the first steps towards commercialisation.
The new providers will support more founders from under-represented groups to turn their innovative ideas into growth-ready businesses across NSW.
The organisations will deliver tailored programs for First Nations founders, people with disability and culturally and linguistically diverse communities across NSW.
The additional four organisations that will deliver targeted support across 2025/26 and 2026/27 are:
Barayamal – an Indigenous-led organisation, dedicated to supporting First Nations entrepreneurs, will deliver a pre-accelerator supporting up to 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander founders, including support such as micro-grants to reduce barriers to participation.
First Nations Economics – a First Nations-led charity, will deliver a culturally safe program supporting up to 60 First Nations women through a combination of mentoring, business capability development, and connections to strengthen confidence, enterprise readiness, and pathways into innovation and entrepreneurship.
Catalysr – a national startup accelerator, focused on supporting migrant and refugee entrepreneurs, will deliver targeted support for up to 100 culturally and linguistically diverse participants through two program streams, including an eight-week ideation fellowship and a 12-week growth-focused accelerator.
Remarkable (Cerebral Palsy Alliance) – a global accelerator for disability tech, will support up to 20 NSW founders with disability through its 12-week ‘Launcher’ pre-accelerator, supporting early-stage founders to test, validate and refine their ideas.
This builds on the Minns Labor Government’s April announcement of the University of Newcastle and the University of NSW as program partners, who will support more than 200 women entrepreneurs.
Delivering on a key action of the NSW Innovation Blueprint, the Diversity Pre-Accelerator Program is helping build a stronger pipeline of diverse founders by expanding access to early-stage support across NSW.
For more information on the Diversity Pre-Accelerator Program visit: https://www.nsw.gov.au/business-and-economy/innovation/grants-and-programs/diversitypreaccelerator