PRESS RELEASE: 10 Innovative Canberra Businesses Awarded $276,500 through the Innovation Connect Grant Program

10 Innovative Canberra Businesses Awarded $276,500 through the Innovation Connect Grant Program

WHAT:

• $276,500 awarded to 10 local innovation businesses in the first round of the 2025 ICON Grant.
• Six of the funded projects are led by local female founders.
• Since 2008, over $3.5 million in grant funding has been awarded to more than 300 companies.

OPPORTUNITY:

• Interviews:
  • Grant recipients are available to discuss their projects and how funding will help bring their ideas to life.
  • Innovation Connect Program Manager, Shashank Bokil, on how this funding supports early-stage innovative projects.
  • CBRIN CEO CBRIN, Petr Adámek, on why Canberra is the best city in Australia for starting and scaling up businesses.
• Photo and vision opportunities:
  • Photos of the companies and prototypes of the funded projects may be made available.

Contact:

Ben Garrett, CBRIN Marketing & Communications
(02) 6183 6812
[email protected]

About the Innovation Connect grant program:

Delivered in partnership with the ACT Government, the Canberra Innovation Network’s Innovation Connect Grant Program (ICON) offers matched funding of $10,000-$30,000 to support early-stage businesses in market testing, prototyping, patenting, and assessing the commercial viability of their concepts.

In 2024, seventeen Canberra innovators received grants of up to $30,000, turning ideas into reality across various industries. These projects hold the potential for meaningful real-world impact and greater efficiencies.

The next round of the Innovation Connect Grants is now open for expressions of interest.

About CBRIN:

The Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) is a not-for-profit innovation network founded in 2014 to diversify the ACT economy and drive business growth in Canberra. CBRIN’s core mission is to empower entrepreneurs to make a significant social and economic impact, strengthening the region and accelerating products and services with the potential to transform industries.

Quote from Chief Minister Andrew Barr

“Canberra is a city of ideas, and programs like the Innovation Connect Grant Program help turn those ideas into businesses, jobs, and solutions that benefit our whole community.

It’s fantastic to see six of the ten recipients in this round are female-led businesses, showing that Canberra’s innovation sector is increasingly diverse and inclusive.

Since 2008, more than 300 Canberra companies have received over $3.5 million through this program, helping them take their innovations from concept to market.

The successful projects funded in this round demonstrate the creativity and ambition that make Canberra one of the best places in Australia to start and grow a business.

The ACT Government is proud to back early-stage innovators so they can prototype, test, and launch ideas that have the potential to change lives. “

The funded projects:

• Hydro-Sense Technologies: Developing an intelligent, modular, autonomous, cost-effective and real-time water monitoring system delivering improved insight for pre-emptive action while reducing operational costs and field safety risk for users.
• Pawl: Developing a digital platform that keeps vets connected with pets beyond the clinic. (Female Founder)
• SK Software: Developing a purpose-built compliance platform that streamlines export control legislative and regulatory obligations for government, academia, and industry, simplifying the management of personnel access, technology authorisations, and compliance risks across multiple jurisdictions.
• Simply SecOps: Developing SpiderHawk, an Australian-developed platform that automates Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) gap analysis, enabling Security Operations Centres (SOCs) to identify missing log sources, optimise detection rules, and enhance response efforts to cyber threats in line with Australian Government security and compliance requirements. (Female Founder)
• Clubland Australia: Building digital clubhouses for sports clubs to better connect players to the club and the club to the community. (Female Founder)
• Dapple: Developing an app that fights loneliness and promotes social connection and graduate networking for uni students. (Female Founder)
• meos: meos is a mobile-based personal OS that uses AI-powered agents to instantly capture, organise, and execute your ideas, eliminating mental clutter and turning thoughts directly into results.
• Nansen.io: Nansen’s Chain-FS is the world first secure, zero-trust cloud storage solution that guarantees your data remains untouchable, even in the event of a security breach. (Female Founder)
• Statekraft: Statekraft revolutionises the democratic process through real-time contextual intelligence and predictive analysis of legislative and policy processes, empowering stakeholders to make informed and timely decisions in an increasingly complex regulatory, policy and political environment. (Female Founder)
• Aratherm: Developing a Heat Battery Web-App that will be a free and accessible web application designed to inform policy makers and industrial heat users of the benefits of switching from gas to electricity for mid-temperature industrial process heat (150°C-600°C).