{"id":44168,"date":"2023-10-20T15:33:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/zhushing-the-envelope-australia-post-launches-investment-fund-and-is-planning-drone-trial-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:33:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:33:56","slug":"zhushing-the-envelope-australia-post-launches-investment-fund-and-is-planning-drone-trial-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/zhushing-the-envelope-australia-post-launches-investment-fund-and-is-planning-drone-trial-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhushing the envelope: Australia Post launches investment fund and is planning drone trial – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
Australia Post is getting in on the innovation act, announcing it has launched an investment fund and will begin a major drone delivery trial in 2016.<\/p>\n
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The company has set aside $20 million to invest in emerging ecommerce businesses and will also forge a new partnership with Melbourne University.<\/p>\n
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The partnership will see two new places aimed specifically for ecommerce businesses open up in the Melbourne Accelerator Program.<\/p>\n
The businesses include those operating in online shopping, deliveries, communications, payments and transactions. The successful applicants will receive $20,000 in funding, office space and mentoring.<\/p>\n
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Australia Post managing director and group CEO Ahmed Fahour says he expects the fund to grow to more than $100 million in the coming years.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m very proud to announce that our Board has recently allocated an initial $20 million towards our e-commerce Innovation Capital Fund,\u201d he says,<\/p>\n
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\u201cOver time, as it becomes successful, this fund could grow into a $100 million fund. The fund will be used to invest in tangible commercial venture opportunities in the ecommerce market.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSo we are actively seeking to invest in and accelerate new business ideas. And we expect those ideas will come from a variety of different sources. Our own staff, our customers \u2013 especially small to medium size businesses, our partners and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The fund will be managed by the Australia Post Accelerator, which will select ideas \u201cthat have real commercial potential\u201d and co-invest in them.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOver time, a handful of these opportunities will be accelerated; scaled for growth; and some will be folded back into the core of our business while others will leave to take on the world,\u201d Fahour says.<\/p>\n
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Last week Fahour told the Australian Financial Review<\/i> that drones were not gimmicks and Australia Post had already begun and a trial with a \u201cmajor\u201d ecommerce business next year.<\/p>\n
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