"As a founder, you get used to hearing 'this isn't gonna work' or constant no's from pretty much everyone around you. I don't think you realise how encouraging it is to hear, 'we see the vision, and we believe in it', especially when it's coming from people who've been there and done that.
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"Winning eased a pressure I didn't even fully realise I was carrying. We're excited to keep pushing forward on this journey, especially with support we never would have found without Genesis."
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Founders of a platform that allows users to create dynamic graphics for live broadcasts have topped the latest class of University of Sydney's business accelerator program.
The biannual Sydney Genesis accelerator saw University of Sydney interaction design graduate Jasmine Li and University of Auckland student Stefan Naja emerge victorious with BLOB , which is designed to improve streaming audience engagement.
The pair have been collaborating online for eight years and met in person for the first time during the Genesis program, with Stefan coming to Australia a week before the final pitch night that saw them take home the top prize of $30,000 in equity-free funding.
"When we started Genesis, we had a minimum viable product and we had some users. We just didn't know where to go next. Genesis gave us mentorship, clarity and strategy. Experience that would have taken years to figure out on our own," Jasmine said.
"As a founder, you get used to hearing 'this isn't gonna work' or constant no's from pretty much everyone around you. I don't think you realise how encouraging it is to hear, 'we see the vision, and we believe in it', especially when it's coming from people who've been there and done that.
"Winning eased a pressure I didn't even fully realise I was carrying. We're excited to keep pushing forward on this journey, especially with support we never would have found without Genesis."
Andrew Howard, Strategy & Innovation Director at Insignia Financial/MLC, presents the MLC Financial Clarity Prize to Mansh Saxena, Krish Singh and Ethan Dodson from BackPro AI.
In contrast to the story of BLOB's founders, University of Sydney mechatronics undergraduate students Krish Singh and Ethan Dodson met when they sat next to each other in a first-year class and struck up a friendship that soon developed into a business partnership.
The pair founded BackPro AI to provide secure, bespoke large language model solutions for organisations operating in regulated industries such as financial services and insurance.
Fellow student Mansh Saxena, 21, came on board as a partner this year and the team are now taking on more clients, opening an office and recruiting.
Their Genesis pitch saw them take home the inaugural $5,000 MLC Financial Clarity Prize for excellence in startup financial modelling. A partnership between MLC and Genesis, the award is designed to help founders build confidence and capability in financial planning from the earliest stages of their entrepreneurial journey.
All startups in the latest Genesis cohort received a template financial model designed by MLC, attended a workshop and benefited from one-on-one coaching with entrepreneurial finance mentors.
Aether Diagnostics founder Jada Khorram.
"The Genesis accelerator program has been transformative. The support we received - especially around financial modelling - was incredibly helpful," Krish said.
Andrew Howard, Strategy & Innovation Director at Insignia Financial/MLC, said: "With 138 years' experience in supporting Australians with their financial needs, partnering with Genesis to empower their founders to deliver tangible financial models was a no-brainer.
"Great ideas need great financial plans to succeed, and we were so impressed with the calibre of all the startups. Congratulations to BackPro AI as the inaugural winners of the MLC Financial Clarity Prize - we can't wait to see what you do next."
Other finalists on the pitch night included Victoria Romeo, a prior Genesis winner who sold her previous startup to give her more time to care for her mother with dementia and her new baby.
Romeo's new startup, Carers Corner , provides support for unpaid carers and is inspired by her own experience. Carer's Corner won the runner-up prize named in honour of the late Dr Richard Seymour, a University of Sydney lecturer in entrepreneurship, who started the Genesis program in 2008 and tragically died young in 2017.
"Genesis gave us mentorship, clarity and strategy. Experience that would have taken years to figure out on our own."
Jasmine Li Co-founder, BLOB
The People's Choice Award went to Aether Diagnostics , founded by University of Sydney physics and pharmacology undergraduate student Jada Khorram. She developed an at-home, self-administered diagnostic tool for yeast infections, similar to a pregnancy test.
Genesis co-head Anna Fitzgerald said: "This Genesis cohort was incredible. Our participants are passionate about solving pressing societal challenges across a number of sectors, from health to financial services and community support for carers. This confirms what a thriving innovation and entrepreneurship capability we have at Sydney University. "
Soon to enter its 19th year, Genesis has supported more than 1,000 startups and helped them raise over $80 million. Participants gain one-on-one access to industry mentors and advisors, a database of entrepreneurship resources, networking events and industry exposure.
Startups are eligible for the program if at least one of the founders is a University of Sydney student, alumni, researcher or staff member. The program runs two cohorts per year, each of which culminates in a finale where top startups pitch for $30,000 in equity-free funding and other prizes.
