{"id":44325,"date":"2023-10-20T15:35:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/stone-chalk-celebrates-its-first-birthday-how-its-300-residents-raised-over-100-million-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:35:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:35:10","slug":"stone-chalk-celebrates-its-first-birthday-how-its-300-residents-raised-over-100-million-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/stone-chalk-celebrates-its-first-birthday-how-its-300-residents-raised-over-100-million-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Stone & Chalk celebrates its first birthday: How its 300 residents raised over $100 million – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stone<\/div>\n

Sydney fintech startup hub Stone & Chalk has celebrated its first birthday with its 300 residents who have collectively raised over $100 million and created 150 new jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just pumped for all our startups,\u201d Stone & Chalk CEO Alex Scandurra tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

The biggest funding round for a Stone & Chalk startup so far has been Data Republic, which closed a massive $10.5 million Series A round, while Brighte recently closed the biggest seed round seen in the fintech co-working space.<\/p>\n

Fifteen of its residents have expanded overseas in the last year, while 400 university students have completely internships in the space.<\/p>\n

Scandurra says a big part of Stone & Chalk’s initial success is its dedicate effort to foster a collaborative culture, along with carefully curating its residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing selective can create a sense of arrogance and elitism and we didn\u2019t want that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to create a spree to call with a real fight for a philosophy where startups are really trying to excel, focus and succeed balanced by a whole collaborative environment where we celebrate together everybody\u2019s success \u2013 and we share and back each other when things are down and tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to this, Scandurra says its investor-mentor program has strengthened its startups with support in customer acquisition, funding, access to talent and expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has been a key part of our philosophy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Scandurra says Stone & Chalk’s purpose is to help young companies become sustainable businesses in the long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus on really, really early stage startups scaling up,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be a gazelle factory. Gazelles are the mid-level startups really starting to sprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best memories from year one<\/h3>\n

He says one of his proudest moments so far was day one<\/a> when Stone & Chalk opened the doors to its first 100 residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing, we have a vision like every founder does when they start and you never really know how it\u2019s going to go,\u201d Scandurra says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a real metamorphosis of companies and what they\u2019re looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stone & Chalk\u2019s community now works in many areas of fintech, security and IoT.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also seen a lot of diversity in terms of age and ethnicity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur oldest resident is 62, our average founder is 40 and we\u2019ve got 61 women in fintech. We\u2019ve been quite proactive about trying to support women in fintech.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of this, he says their Fintech Fever program to link promising young people with startups has given its founders access to talent they couldn\u2019t otherwise have found.<\/p>\n

\u201cFour hundred kids at university applied for internships at the startup itself, between five to ten ended up in paid employment before they graduated,\u201d Scandurra says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have the founders come back and say, \u2018Geez, these guys are better than we are and smarter than we are\u2019 was a massive personal success.\u201d<\/p>\n

What lies ahead<\/h3>\n

Stone & Chalk\u2019s next 12 months will be transformative, Scandurra says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur building gets knocked down at the end of next year,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

With \u201cprohibitive\u201d real estate costs and low vacancy rates in Sydney\u2019s CBD, Scandurra says he’s hoping to get some extra support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deliberately try to charge as little as possible for the startups themselves,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge now is how do we find a model so that cities and governments are behind this and recognise the power of startups in their infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also wants to help bring an end to cross-town rivalries in fintech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love to be able to support Melbourne,\u201d Scandurra says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much bullshit between Sydney and Melbourne, it\u2019s just unproductive. We want to be a national asset.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to focus more on Asia. We had the first three Chinese fintech startups arrive in August and we\u2019re helping Australian startups gain traction in that region.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to this, Stone & Chalk will be placing a high priority on its cyber security innovation program run in partnership with Data 61, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and KPMG.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery industry is heavy on digital and not having cyber security [is like] outsourcing the Australian Defence Force,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to help shift the needle in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, <\/em>LinkedIn. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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