Vanessa Picker and team to receive support from global mentors at Adelaide-based ANZ Innovyz START accelerator
22nd January – FitUsIn (www.fitusin.com.au ) today announced that it has been selected for the ANZ Innovyz START Summer 2013 accelerator program which kicks off on 21 January 2013.
Modelled on the renowned US-based TechStars program, ANZ Innovyz START helps to develop successful tech enterprises with potentially break-through ideas that are ready for accelerated growth. Just ten entrants for the Summer 2013 program were selected from over 120 applicants from around the world.
The FitUsIn team will be based in South Australia for a 13-week intensive mentorship program at the ANZ Innovyz START offices in the heart of Adelaide’s Central Business District. There, they will receive a range of sponsored business support services to help them accelerate growth, as well as advice from more than 35 mentors, including CEOs and corporate executives who have started, grown and exited companies. High-profile program mentors include Chief Experience Evangelist for Microsoft’s US Developer & Platform Evangelism (DPE) team, Chris Bernard, noted Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Babinec, and co-founder and former Chairman of DealsDirect, Paul Greenberg.
At the conclusion of the program on April 18th, FitUsIn will present its business plan to more than 350 attendees and investors at a special Demo-Day at Adelaide Town Hall.
Dr. Jana Matthews, Managing Director of ANZ Innovyz START said: “We only accept a handful of companies for ANZ Innovyz START. Our decision is based on whether we believe the innovation is “breakthrough”, and whether the company founders are really committed, coachable, and have leadership potential. FitUsIn is an exciting company with a potentially industry-changing product and a dedicated leadership team. We look forward to helping them realise their vision and preparing them for global growth.”
Nick Reade, ANZ General Manager for Small Business said “We’re excited by the calibre of the participants for our second program and feel that we are building on the success of our inaugural class last year. To have participants of this calibre validates why ANZ is supporting the ANZ Innovyz START program and the broader start-up segment in general.”
Vanessa Picker, CEO of FitUsIn said “the ANZ Innovyz Start Program will allow FitUsIn to grow rapidly, firstly within South Australia and then beyond. After winning Startup Weekend Sydney last year, we successfully signed up more than 70 gyms around the country, including Australia’s largest corporate fitness provider. We are now looking to accelerate this growth and we believe this will be achievable through working with mentors that the ANZ Innovyz START program has to offer.”
– Ends –
Media Contact
Vanessa Picker – CEO of FitUsIn
Phone: 0423 409 190
Email: Vanessa.picker@gmail.com
Website: www.fitusin.com.au
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gymdeals
About FitUsIn
FitUsIn is an online service provider that is connecting casual fitness users to gyms that have unutilised capacity and/or gyms that are looking to increase their client base.
Travelers, contract workers, students or individuals interested in staying fit may not be able to sign up to long term contracts, but many are looking to access gyms on a temporary basis, in a reasonably affordable basis. This is a target market that is not currently being tapped by fitness centers.
Fitness centers can offer specials, discounts and vouchers for casual visits or specific classes. In effect, increasing their client base.
Ultimately, FitUsIn wants to connect fitness users to fitness centers via a single online platform, in a greater effort to uplift the overall health and fitness of the community.
About ANZ Innovyz START
ANZ Innovyz START is a 13-week accelerator program modelled after the highly successful TechStars program in the United States (rated as the world’s #1 accelerator program). Many companies apply but only ten are accepted. Those CEOs and one or two team members move to Adelaide, AU for three months to grow their business in the accelerator.
ANZ Innovyz START provides a $6,000 stipend to each founder (up to $18,000 per company) to participate in the program. The Program Director works with each company to commercialise its break-through innovation. The program includes mentoring by successful entrepreneurs, learning programs around growing a company, identification of target markets, working and reworking the company’s plan, and a presentation to potential investors on the final day of the program. ANZ Innovyz START is one of 50 accelerators in the Global Accelerator Network that was created by TechStars. www.innovyzstart.com
About ANZ Small Business
ANZ is committed to start-up businesses and the broader small business sector. Currently the bank of choice for more than 390,000 small business customers, ANZ has one of the highest approval rates of loan applications from start-up business, approving over 70 per cent of start-up loan applications it receives. ANZ offers small business customers a range of easily accessible tools and resources to support their business at any life stage, including the ANZ Business Insights Tool, which allows registered customers to track sales trends and compare performance with local competitors.
