Swinburne Venture Cup Pitch Night 2026
Description
Join us for an inspiring evening celebrating Swinburne’s achievements in innovation at our annual Venture Cup Pitch Night on Tuesday 27 October at 6pm.
📍 Hyatt Centric Melbourne | 🗓️ Tuesday 27 October, 6pm | 🎟️ Free Entry
Over an intensive 12-week journey through Swinburne’s Elevate Program, five teams have been developing their startups, testing assumptions and refining their ideas. Now, they’re ready to take the stage and pitch to a live audience for the chance to win prizes.
This year, we’re also welcoming two Wildcard winners to recognise emerging talent from across the Swinburne ecosystem and celebrate the growing range of ways the Innovation Studio supports founders from idea to growth.
Whether you’re an investor, founder, startup enthusiast or simply curious about emerging ideas, Venture Cup Pitch Night is a chance to connect, be inspired and celebrate the creativity and ambition of Swinburne’s innovation community.
Meet the Elevate cohort:
🔹 Hashtag.AI: co-founded by Angie Simmons and Anupam Chaudhuri
🔹 IniDeck: founded by Dinuka Navaratna
🔹 Intersession: co-founded by Luke Bonnici, Jake Ciminelli and Addison Forbes
🔹 Poly-motion: co-founded by Joshua Ince and Dr Vishnu Pillai
🔹 SeizureSafe: founded by Shaun Bedford
Introducing our Wildcard winners:
🔸 Dandelion: founded by Hao Wei (Howard) Tu
🔸 Science Island: co-founded by James Marshall and Bill Trikojus.
Why come along?
Be inspired by bold ideas shaping the future
Watch founders pitch for cash prizes and recognition
Hear insights and challenging questions from our expert judging panel
Hear former Venture Cup entrant Murray Longe share lessons from two startup exits and launch his new book, Not From Around Here.
Cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award
Connect with fellow innovators, investors and partners
Not From Around Here with Murray Longe
Twenty-two years after competing in the Swinburne Venture Cup, Murray Longe returns to share lessons from building and selling startups in Australia and Europe, and to launch his new book, Not From Around Here. His story offers founders a candid look at growth, partnerships, setbacks and what it takes to keep building beyond the competition.
Event details:
Date: Tuesday, 27 October 2026
Time: 6pm-9pm
Location: Hyatt Centric Melbourne, 25 Downie St, Melbourne, 3000 (near Southern Cross)
Event schedule:
Time | Activity |
|---|---|
5.30pm-6pm | Arrival and Check In |
6pm-6.20pm | Welcome |
6.20pm-7.30pm | Pitch session |
7.30pm-7.40pm | Judging session |
7.40pm-7.50pm | Winner announcements |
7.50pm-9pm | Networking, with light food and drinks provided |
Whether you’re a founder in the making or simply curious, come and be part of this celebration of creativity, innovation and ambition.
If you have any questions, contact us at innovationstudio@swin.edu.au.
The judging panel
Dr Werner van der Merwe
Vice-President at Swinburne Innovation and Enterprise Dr van der Merwe is reinvigorating the innovative spirit at Swinburne and partnering with industry to generate new revenue, drive innovation and improve the university’s overall financial sustainability. Dr van der Merwe has a PhD in Engineering from the University of Pretoria. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an INSEAD alumni.
Kate Taylor
Acting Chief Commercialisation and Development Officer at QUT (Queensland University of Technology) Kate Taylor is Acting Chief Commercialisation and Development Officer at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where she focuses on ensuring excellent research delivers real-world impact through partnerships, attracting funding and accelerating innovation. With over 15 years’ experience across technology transfer, business development and entrepreneurship, Kate has worked across a broad range of sectors and technologies. She also serves as Chair of the Queensland Social Enterprise Council (QSEC) and Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia (KCA), and is a Registered Technology Transfer Professional.
Andrew Cicutto
Partner @ Archangel Ventures Andrew Cicutto is a Partner at Archangel Ventures, where he is dedicated to finding, nurturing and amplifying the most ambitious founders building businesses of consequence. A passionate believer that very small groups of committed people can alter the course of history, Andrew takes great joy and satisfaction in supporting Australia’s best and brightest as they embark on their journey to change the world. At Archangel, his focus areas include consumer-facing software and products, media, energy, mar-tech and construction-tech. His notable investments include Heaps Normal, Atelier, Termina, H2X Engineering, Flowing Bee and Fluency.
David Rowe
Deeptech, Fintech & Enterprise SaaS | Investor & Operator | Startup Adviser David Rowe has over 25 years’ experience spanning venture capital, corporate venture and operating roles, working with founders, VCs and large enterprises to scale technology businesses across fintech, payments, SaaS, edtech, cleantech and deep tech. An operator at heart, David likes clear strategy, practical execution and momentum that compounds. He brings a rare mix of senior commercial and partnership leadership, founder empathy and scaling experience, startup, enterprise and investor credibility, technical fluency and strong governance. David values transparency and egoless collaboration and enjoys working with ambitious teams building global products from Australia and New Zealand.
Your host for the evening
Dr Olivia Rinato
Associate Director, Commercial Programs and Operations, Swinburne Dr Olivia Rinato is a researcher, entrepreneur and educator with a multidisciplinary background spanning business innovation, the creative industries and the health sector. Her PhD on enterprising mindsets led her to design her first product business, grounded in her research. She has also designed and delivered transformative learning experiences across RMIT Activator, HEX and Monash Generator. Her work brings together research, enterprise and education to help people turn ideas into meaningful, real-world impact.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
