Facilitating Victorian AI Boom: Meet Scaleup Investment Program Boab

Boab is a Melbourne-based scaleup investment program investing in artificial intelligence (AI) scaleups in Victoria and around the world. Named after the ‘boab’ or tree of life, Boab supports founders wanting to take their startups to the next level by providing capital, connections, and ongoing support. Boab is backed by Australia’s largest venture capital firm - Artesian Venture Partners who provided an initial $8 million in capital. The Victorian Government’s startup agency – LaunchVic has also contributed $1.5 million to the AI program. AI is a growing industry and is projected to be worth $315 billion to Australia’s economy by 2028.

After their launch in 2021, the AI accelerator has been boosting Australia’s AI ecosystem and will continue to do so with the program set to support 32 mature AI scaleups over four years. The AI program offers scaleups with a net investment of $300,000 in capital as well as support services, with the possibility of $5 million in follow-up funding. Boab has helped scale AI startups: PI.EXCHANGE, Strong Room, Remi, Ferret, Seer Data & Analytics, Daitum and many others through their tailored programs.

Boab is run by managing director Andrew Lai, alongside a team of other directors like Dr Catriona Wallace, Roslyn Hames, Tim Heasley and Matthew Clunies-Ross. Using their expertise, capital and connections, the founders are helping to position Victoria and Australia as an AI hub within the Asia Pacific region, attracting both talent and investment. Currently there are over 300 AI startups in Australia – including 65 startups and scaleups in Victoria. 

Boab’s Program

Boab delivers personalised programs designed to help AI scaleups who are ready to go to market. Spanning six months the scaleup program fosters partnerships, investment opportunities and offers direct assistance and advisory to founders. The program is specifically tailored to AI startups and scaleups with existing traction and who are wanting to expand into new markets, increase their sales pipeline, and ‘investability’.

Boab AI is industry agnostic and look for companies that utilise AI as the main element of their product . Previous Boab funding recipients have been involved in anything from AI machine learning, robotics, computer vision to natural language processing. The team at Boab are committed to supporting AI scaleups to unlock their next stage of growth. To apply for Boab’s AI program, you can select the link.

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At Allied Legal we are connected to a wide range of networks from founders, investors to accelerators. So, we know how to grow your startup by connecting you with the right resources and contacts. If you want to contact one of our startup lawyers or learn more about how we can help, give us a call on 03 8691 3111 or send us an email at hello@alliedlegal.com.au.