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Startmate and Boundless Earth, the philanthropic venture of Mike Cannon-Brookes, are excited to announce their partnership to recruit and upskill 300 new founders and operators into climate tech startups over the next 18 months. 

Startmate, the leading startup accelerator in Australia and New Zealand, launched its inaugural Climate Tech Fellowship last week. 

Startmate will run the 8-week virtual program in partnership with Boundless every six months by recruiting cohorts of 100 ambitious people across Australia and New Zealand with a diverse range of skills and experience, and supporting them to move into the climate tech sector. 

“We’re excited to see a surge of exceptional talent enter the climate tech sector,” said Julia West, Startmate Program Manager. 

“We know people in Australia and New Zealand have the skills and drive to make a difference. We want to help them transition from caring deeply about climate change to actively working to solve climate problems.” 

Six months ago, Boundless Earth CEO Eytan Lenko announced the launch of Startmate’s Climate Tech Fellowship during Blackbird’s Sunrise Festival. Since then, Startmate has received more than 1200 Expressions of Interest to participate in the program. 

Mr Lenko gave an opening address to participants last week. “By being part of the Climate Tech Fellowship, you are changing the story,” he said. 

“We need hundreds of thousands of Australians working in climate jobs in the next few years. But we need to provide pathways for people to join this industry, and we need to change the assumption that climate jobs are only someone hammering in solar panels in a field or building a wind turbine. Everyone can have a climate job - a software engineer, an accountant, a factory worker.

The diversity of the participants in this fellowship is a great example of this. These are all skills we need as we transition to a zero emissions future.”

During the program, participants learn from leading climate tech founders, operators and investors across AU & NZ, building a strong network of like-minded peers and expert advisors dedicated to solving the climate crisis.

The first cohort includes speakers and advisors from Climate Salad, Grok Ventures, Wedgetail, Artesian, Vow, Goterra, Great Wrap, Brighte, Fleet Space, ReGen Ventures, Tenacious Ventures, Xylo Systems, Loam Bio, Emmi, HydGene Renewables, Gridmo and Pollination. 

“I think, 10 years ago, being in a climate job felt a bit lonely. But today, it’s a different story. The number of people that applied for the fellowship gives me a huge amount of hope,” said Mr Lenko.

“It’s all about harnessing the passion around climate to get things done quickly. When people work under the assumption that change will happen and they build businesses and make decisions in companies with this in mind, then change actually does happen.”

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Media

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“Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes recruiting climate tech army in partnership with Startmate, The Australian, 3 May 2023” link to the article

“Mike Cannon-Brookes is ramping up the climate tech founder pipeline with Startmate, Startup Daily, 4 May 2023” link to the article