{"id":44435,"date":"2023-10-20T15:35:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/melbourne-startup-hub-inspire9-announces-a-massive-expansion\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:35:55","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:35:55","slug":"melbourne-startup-hub-inspire9-announces-a-massive-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/melbourne-startup-hub-inspire9-announces-a-massive-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne startup hub Inspire9 announces a “massive expansion”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Melbourne co-working space Inspire9 has appointed a new CEO as it plans a \u201cmassive expansion\u201d into the city\u2019s west.<\/p>\n

Serial entrepreneur and two-time BRW Fast 100 entrant Mark Balla will be taking on the head role at the startup hub, which will soon be taking on a 2300m2 space at the newly announced Dream Factory in Footscray.<\/p>\n

Announced on Tuesday<\/a>, the Dream Factory will be run by the Impact Investment Group and will span across four levels and 7000m2.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big move for the now seven year old organisation, and Balla says it\u2019s an exciting time to be taking over the reigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t ask for a better introduction to the business,\u201d Balla tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a massive expansion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspire9 is now on the hunt for startups and entrepreneurs to fill the space, and Balla says they are especially interested in companies from around the city\u2019s west.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to focus on startups that come from that side of town, but we\u2019ll look at anyone,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another version of what we\u2019re doing in Richmond. We have a direct impact on the local economy here so it\u2019d be great to increase that and bring in more people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A serial entrepreneur<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Balla is a long-time entrepreneur that has founded several companies including most recently a not-for-profit building toilets for schools in India.<\/p>\n

\u201cFounding businesses runs in my blood,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a deep interest in continuing to develop Inspire9\u2019s footprint to ensure that the business founders of Australia continue to have a strong and supportive community to join and contribute to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to get stuck in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says he wants to bring this focus on the social good to the co-working space and its inhabitants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m bringing that way of thinking into Inspire9,\u201d Balla says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can be more than just Richmond or Footscray.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expanding its offering<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Inspire9 will also be playing host to the Simplot Ignite food-tech accelerator<\/a> in a few weeks, housing a number of startups going through the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a slightly new direction for us and it highlights for current and future residents that if they\u2019ve got something new, exciting and innovative that needs space, they can talk to us,\u201d Balla says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone comes in with another type of accelerator outside of our previous experience then we\u2019d love to see them.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re open to anyone that\u2019s hoping to build something and help people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another new partnership, Inspire9 will also be working with health consultancy PHW to \u201creimagine\u201d its communal work areas in order to make the experience better for its inhabitants.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we\u2019re very full so being able to fit more people that are looking for space is really exciting,\u201d Balla says.<\/p>\n

Balla has the backing of Victorian minister for small business, innovation and trade Philip Dalidakis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great that Inspire9 have found Mark, who I\u2019m sure will do great things for the company,\u201d Dalidakis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want Victoria to be the location of choice for startups worldwide and as a homegrown success story Inspire9 is a great example of how bright ideas can grow and expand into globally competitive businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Melbourne co-working space Inspire9 has appointed a new CEO as it plans a \u201cmassive expansion\u201d into the city\u2019s west. Serial<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}