New regional venture incubator RAIN launches

The failure rate of regional startups is largely due to inaccessibility to funding and relevant intellectual capital and networks claims Sam Almaliki, founder and facilitator of the Regional Angel Investor Network (RAIN), which he has launched to bridge this gap.

Almaliki, an early-stage businesses advisor and entrepreneur, was the founder of online conveyancer, Settle Easy.

For the last four and half years he been the head of commercial at ASX listed road safety tech company, Acusensus.

RAIN has established local chapters in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania which are actively engaging with local councils to facilitate access to capital opportunities for local entrepreneurs.  

Almaliki told CRN Australia that announcements regarding regional councils that have committed to the project will be announced in coming weeks.

He also revealed that regional publisher Australian Community Media, owned by entrepreneur and former Domain chief executive Antony Catalano, and its 120 mastheads are backing Regional Angels by becoming a partner.

ACM chief revenue officer, Sharon Fitter said the publisher was passionate about supporting regional communities.

“We see this partnership with Regional Angels as a natural fit," Fitter said.

Under the partnership ACM will support the network by providing media coverage, events and networking opportunities to support emerging regional startups.

Next month RAIN will start public engagement with local councils regional centres and communities in its rollout, which will host over 50 pitch events per year.

He says it is not just early-stage capital that regional startups need it is also mentorship and much wider networking and relevant industry collaboration opportunities.

“Our mission is to further unlock the entrepreneurial potential of regional Australia to drive innovation, job and wealth creation,” Almaliki said.

“Over time there may be an opportunity to have more localized presence but, for example in New South Wales, we'll have pitch events and we'll be calling on councils to pitch to host pitch events on a monthly basis on the fourth Monday of each month, starting from April,” he said.  

Regional Angels will focus on early-stage science, technology, innovation, and net zero initiatives.  

“We conduct a pre-screening session for startups who apply to pitch and fundamentally what we're looking for is startups that are very much in the early stage with a valuation of less than $6 million,” Almaliki said.

The criteria is that they must be regionally based and have an impact on a such an area. Startups to pitch will generally be early stage, regionally based, cross industry businesses  looking to raise less than $1 million in funding and with a valuation of less than $6 million. 

He acknowledged that being regional and remote has its own challenges for early-stage businesses including digital connectivity.

“Having access to the right infrastructure, whether that's capital, whether that's people whether that's WiFi challenges that are even more pronounced in a regional context," Almaliki said.

“We believe in supporting economic growth in our regions by creating opportunities for startups to succeed, disrupt industries, create jobs and drive economic growth in their communities,” he said.