Startmate
Startmate is an Australia and New Zealand startup accelerator and early-stage fund, founded in 2010, that writes the first cheque into pre-seed and seed startups across every sector and runs cohort-based programs for founders. As of December 2025 it is led by new CEO Phoebe Pincus and has backed more than 350 startups, two of them in water.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Startmate began in 2010 as Australia's answer to Y Combinator: founder Niki Scevak wanted local startups to get the first cheque and a room full of mentors without flying to San Francisco. He went on to co-found Blackbird Ventures, and Startmate kept running cohort after cohort, backing more than 350 startups since. It is a generalist, not a water fund, which is exactly what makes its two water bets worth a newcomer's attention.
Startmate's only two water-tracked companies attack the same unglamorous problem: nobody can easily see inside the millions of kilometres of buried pipe under our cities. Both are buried-pipe asset intelligence, from opposite directions. Puralink sends autonomous Ferret robots crawling through water and wastewater pipes to inspect them, after a burst main flooded its founder's Sydney street. VAPAR points artificial intelligence at the CCTV footage utilities already shoot, turning a two-week manual review of a sewer survey into minutes.
Startmate writes those first cheques at pre-seed and seed, the earliest moments when a company is still a few people and a prototype, then hands founders a mentor network and a path to follow-on money. For a newcomer, Startmate is what water looks like to a generalist accelerator: not treatment plants and chemicals, but young ANZ founders chipping at the boring, expensive problem of infrastructure nobody can see. As of December 2025 it runs under new CEO Phoebe Pincus; watch which founders she lets into the next cohort.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Startmate invest in?
- Startmate invests across every sector, backing ambitious Australia and New Zealand founders from pre-revenue onward rather than any single industry. Within that generalist portfolio, (don't) Waste Water tracks two water companies: Puralink, which builds autonomous pipe-inspection robots, and VAPAR, which uses AI to analyse sewer CCTV footage.
- Who runs Startmate?
- Startmate was founded in 2010 by Niki Scevak, who later co-founded Blackbird Ventures. As of December 2025 it is led by CEO Phoebe Pincus, who rose from Chief of Staff to COO before succeeding Michael Batko after his eight years in the role. Ben Simai heads its investments.
- What stage does Startmate invest at?
- Startmate invests at the earliest stage, writing a startup's first institutional cheque at pre-seed and seed through its cohort-based accelerator, then supporting follow-on rounds. Its two water deals reflect this: a pre-seed round into the robotics company Puralink and a seed round into the AI inspection company VAPAR.
- Where is Startmate based?
- Startmate is based in Melbourne, Australia, with a presence in Sydney and Auckland, and invests across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Founded in 2010 and modelled on the US accelerator Y Combinator, it has backed more than 350 startups across all sectors from its earliest cheques onward.
- Is Startmate a water-focused fund?
- No. Startmate is a generalist startup accelerator, not a water fund. Within its broad portfolio, (don't) Waste Water tracks two water companies across two deals, Puralink and VAPAR, both working on buried-pipe inspection, and rates the firm's water commitment Committed.