SOUTHSTART

29/10/2026

“It isn’t about having a problem that needs to be solved, but having the right solution for that particular time.”

Allys Todd learned that the long way, from palaeontology to leading the Conservation Council SA.

In 2020 she promised herself to say yes to life. VALAI came out of that promise, and today it provides the data behind CommBank’s home energy upgrade program and REA’s Home Energy Score.

SOUTHSTART was one of those early yeses. It’s where Allys first dipped a toe into being an entrepreneur, and it’s been part of her annual rhythm ever since. We’re proud to be part of her story.

Read Allys’ full story on https://southstart.co/stories/allys-todd/

19/10/2026

What started as a 20-year-old building custom computers in Melbourne has turned into XENON Systems.

One of Australia’s leading high-performance computing specialists, and NVIDIA’s Enterprise Partner of the Year for the past three years running.

Troy Smithells helps enterprise and government cut through the noise on AI, separating what’s actually useful from what’s just hype, and made sure he brought that thinking to SOUTHSTART 2026.

Behind every technology conversation is a room full of people actually talking to each other, not just talking about AI. That’s exactly why XENON partners with us.

If you’re interested in partnering with SOUTHSTART in 2027, let us know: https://southstart.co/eoi/

16/10/2026

“It’s the only job I have ever loved. Nothing compares to building your own company.” Edward Hartley has now done it three times.

Back in Adelaide after a few years working in the Middle East, he found the career he wanted didnt exist at home. So in 2012, he started Bluethumb with his brother George Hartley☄️and their friend Philip Slusarski, bootstrapping it on nights and weekends. It grew into Australia’s largest online art marketplace, with more than 20,000 artists and over $50 million paid out to them.

Alongside it, they built SmartrMail, which sent around twelve billion emails before Relay Commerce acquired it in 2022, and taught them how to grow faster with less.

Now there’s Nitrosend, an AI-native email marketing platform built with George and Kam Low. The idea came in February, the MVP in March, a A$700,000 seed round led by Eastend Ventures by the end of April, and a global launch in June. Raising that round in Adelaide shows how far the ecosystem has come.

SOUTHSTART backed Bluethumb when it won our pitch competition in 2016, at a time when there was almost no venture capital in Adelaide and every dollar counted. Ten years on, we’re proud to be one of Nitrosend’s early users.

Read Ed’s full story on southstart.co/stories/ed-hartley/

11/10/2026

Something we love about Australia’s startup community is its willingness to collaborate.

That’s why we’ve joined forces with West Tech Fest, in partnership with Radium Capital, to bring SOUTHSTART’s dinner series, The Table, to Perth.

Next Thursday, 15 October, we’re bringing the community together at The Heritage, Bobeche Room, 129–131 St Georges Terrace, Perth, from 6:30pm.

Since launching The Table, we’ve received some fantastic feedback. At its heart, the series is about bringing people together, creating space for good conversation and strengthening the connections that make our startup community what it is.

And what better way to do that than around a table with some of WA’s startup community?

Confirm your seat here: southstart.co/the-table/

08/10/2026

Silvia Silva CPHR noticed something in a rerun of Friends that most leadership platforms still get wrong.

Its the scene where Monica is thrilled to be in class while everyone else counts down the minutes. Twenty plus years into working alongside leaders, it captured what shed been circling for a while, that what engages one person doesn’t necessarily engage everyone else, especially with five generations now working side by side.

That question became Leadwell & Succeed® and LEAD24, a self managed leadership platform where people decide what to focus on, how, and when.

She found SOUTHSTART two years into building it, and a chance coffee conversation turned into an ongoing friendship with another founder asking the same questions, proof to her that work life integration matters more than work life balance.

Her advice for first timers: go in with a mindset of connection and helping others.

Read Silvia’s full story at https://lnkd.in/gFizkdDk

02/10/2026

“I actually came here for love, physics, and the weather.” Eleven years later, Dr Milad Dakka still calls Adelaide home.

He built a PhD in physics here, then taught university maths and statistics, until a deep learning textbook changed course: he read it “like it was English,” and nothing felt like work again.

An AI engineering role at the startup behind Life Whisperer led to Polydatum, his own venture, and then Sketch Deck AI, built almost by accident for a former student and now running multi million dollar ARR.

Across it all, he kept hitting the same problem: the real inefficiency in any organisation lives in the handoffs between teams. That thesis became Colabyr, an end to end AI driven software platform, built with co-founder Lenny.

Two SOUTHSTART presentation slots later led to Colabyr’s biggest enterprise opportunity yet. “To that directly, I would thank SOUTHSTART,” he says.

Read Milad’s full story on https://southstart.co/stories/milad-dakka/

28/09/2026

Last week, we spent some time in the City of Onkaparinga scouting locations for next year’s events.

We discovered some beautiful venues, but more importantly, the time gave us space to think deeper about what SOUTHSTART 2027 should look and feel like.

Every year, we shape the festival around the climate, the conversations, the feedback and, most importantly, what our community is looking for. This has never been more true than with the festival we’re currently building.

SOUTHSTART 2027 is taking shape, and we’d love you to be part of it.

If you’re interested, let us know!

28/09/2026

One borrowed van.

That’s how Ronni Kahn AO started OzHarvest in 2004, after 25 years running one of Australia’s biggest events companies and watching too much good food get thrown out after every function.

She found out donating that food was against the law. So instead of adding to the problem, she helped change it.

22 years on, OzHarvest rescues food across Australia every day, and Ronni still leads with the same instinct: see the gap, build the fix, sort out the rules after.

That’s the same energy she brought to SOUTHSTART earlier this year as festival charity partner, because behind every good idea is a person who noticed a problem and decided to sit with someone else until they’d fixed it together.

We’re looking for more partners who think the same way for 2027.

Register your interest in partnering with SOUTHSTART 2027. Link in bio.

07/09/2026

AI has never been more relevant.

Most of us interact with it every day, whether we’re scrolling social media, searching for a recipe or asking it to solve a problem.

And while the conversation around AI isn’t always a comfortable one, there’s one sentiment that has continued to shine through our dinner series:

“The pleasure of good food, great company, and human conversation is something AI can’t touch.” The Table Edition 01 Attendee

So tomorrow, we’re setting The Table again in Sydney to continue the human conversation.

Wednesday 9th September
6.30pm – 9.30pm
Percy, 139 Murray Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009

Confirm your seat Southstart.co/the-table/

29/07/2026

Building something of importance is lonely work. But it doesn't have to be.

SOUTHSTART brings founders, funders and operators, all in one room, all thinking bigger together.

Save your seat for 2027 → https://www.southstart.co/eoi/

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