Ex UNSW Entrepreneurs Attract Rich Funding

You’ve probably heard of Atlassian but what about Forage? The startup allows people to, virtually, get a taste of what to expect when they enter a career and the service is now used by JP Morgan, Redbull, Accenture, Lululemon, SAP and Walmart.

Founders Tom Brunskill and Pasha Rayan won Total Funding of $36.8M, not bad, for their free virtual work experience programs. Forage lets students to develop real-life skills required for various roles, granting them insight into potential workplaces and their daily operations.

With a wide range of 100% free, self-paced job simulations, the platform's impact has been remarkable, over 2 million students are registered in its programs and Forage collaborates with more than 200 universities worldwide.

Both of Forage’s creators are alumni of The University of New South Wales (UNSW) which has placed first among Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) Universities for producing the highest number of alumni who have founded startups that have raised more than US$10 million in funding.

Global provider of startup and tech ecosystem intelligence, Dealroom.co, analysed data on startup funding for alumni since 1990 to uncover the results.

Earning the top spot in the ANZ region and securing 74th place globally, UNSW has been the launching point for a slew prominent, innovative companies. Other notable startups founded by UNSW graduates who have raised substantial funding include Airtasker, Shippit and fintech Weel.

The UNSW Founders program has been instrumental in driving entrepreneurial alumni particularly those who have attended the 10x Accelerator.

David Burt, Director of Entrepreneurship at UNSW Founders, says “UNSW Founders recognises that entrepreneurship is an important career path and provides founders with a launchpad to turn their ideas into global companies. It’s the catalyst for getting ideas out of the lab and into the real world and we look forward to nurturing more exceptional startups to help propel Australia’s innovation further.”

According to Dealroom.co, looking at data is a key component to assessing which universities are most successful at producing entrepreneurial talent. Dealroom.co’s data shows over 22,000 alumni from various universities worldwide have ventured into founding startups with substantial funding, 85 per cent of these graduates embarked on their entrepreneurial journey within the past decade, with one in seven doing so since 2020.

By providing students, researchers and alumni with an environment that encourages exploration and experimentation with entrepreneurial ideas, universities play a crucial role in nurturing and fostering talent that drives innovation economies.