LaunchVic's 30X30 hunting unicorns

LaunchVic has announced it's officially on the hunt for the next wave of tech unicorns, declaring its 30X30 program open for expressions of interest. The 30X30 program pairs Victoria’s fastest growing scaleups with existing unicorns including Atlassian, Canva, Culture Amp, Juda Bank and Carsales.

Offering education for HR, Operations and Finance leads designed to address the common bottlenecks found in scaling companies, successful program participants looking to export will receive business guidance and $6000 funding for new market entry from Global Victoria, the Victorian Government’s trade facilitation and promotion agency.

Zhoe Low, General Manager of direct-to-consumer luggage startup July, said the 30X30 program has helped the company through a significant growth period with the return of international travel.

“The 30X30 program provided us with a rare opportunity to connect with our scaleup peers to share and learn from their experiences as well as those of our mentors,” she said.

“This couldn’t have come at a better time as we were experiencing a period of exponential growth and the program helped our management team to hone our focus and shape our operations for further expansion.

“We are glad to have come through the program armed with both the hard and soft skills needed to achieve our long-term goals.”

The 30X30 program 2022 cohort.

Where many programs focus on uplifting founder capability, LaunchVic Chair Leigh Jasper said 30X30 takes aim at the back-office functions crucial to scaling fast.

“Developing executive talent to support the founders is a key enabler for rapid growth, which is why the 30X30 program is designed to upskill leaders in the HR, operations and finance functions,” he said.

“The success of the inaugural program in 2022 proves that empowering leadership teams through mentoring, education and cohort engagement allows founders and CEOs the freedom to focus on strategic growth.

“It’s a unique offering that helps ambitious Victorian scaleups on their path towards ultimate unicorn status.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Andrii Yalanskyi