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Founder winner: Bond named most entrepreneurial university
Bond has topped a list of Australia’s most entrepreneurial universities, producing more funded start-up founders for its size than any other university. The Australian newspaper published figures from League of Scholars, using information from Crunchbase, the top source of data on venture capital funded start-ups, to discover which Australian universities had produced the most founders of successful start-ups. Based on the number of founders who reached the milestone of attracting venture capital funding, the data highlights the University’s contribution to the innovation economy. When adjusted for student population, Bond produces 75 founders for every 100,000 graduates.
The University has always had a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship from its inception 33 years ago as Australia’s first private, not-for-profit university. Bond alumni who have gone on to found successful enterprises include Ms Neeti Mehta Shukla (Class of 1992), founder of the US$6.8 billion robotic process automation company Automation Anywhere; Mr Christian Faes (Class of 1995), whose property finance
Augmented reality could soon help doctors re-learn the lost art of eye examinations thanks to Bond medical student Mr Andrew Kroger.
Mr Kroger and his business partner Mr Kirk Lehman are developing retinAR, an app which uses augmented reality to help the user learn how to correctly operate an ophthalmoscope through examining an eye inside a virtual head. Mr Kroger says the idea for retinAR came after he noticed students struggling to correctly use the ophthalmoscope in a clinical setting. He says the problem appeared to stem from unfamiliarity with the ophthalmoscope among doctors.
“It seems to be they’re just unfamiliar with the tools, they had one experience in medical school and didn’t have an opportunity to practice any further. We’re creating a free app that allows them to practice without bothering their flatmates or their family and accosting their eyes, because if you’re no good then it’s just going to be uncomfortable for the patient." retinAR received a boost when it was named winner of the Transformer Launchpad competition, run by Bond University’s Transformer entrepreneurship program.
Number of alumni who have founded start-ups that attract funding, adjusted for size of university
25 50 75
Bond University
University of New South Wales
University of Sydney
University of Technology Sydney
University of Melbourne
Swinburne University of Technology
University of Western Australia
Queensland University of Technology
Australian National University
University of Adelaide
Graph shows number of venture capital funded start-ups founded by alumni of a university per 100,000 undergraduate and postgraduate completions at the university from 2009-2019. Source: The Australian, Crunchbase, League of Scholars. platform LendInvest was recently listed on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of US$389 million; and Mr Jack Stevens (Class of 2007), co-founder of Edstart, a start-up that makes it easier for parents to pay private school fees. Edstart is backed by the National Australia Bank’s venture capital fund and recently raised $10 million.
Bond University fosters student start-ups through its Australian-first entrepreneurship program Transformer which is offered as a fee-free, extracurricular option to undergraduate and postgraduate students from all disciplines.
The program was recently boosted by the appointment of a Founder in Residence, Mr Stuart Giles, the co-founder of Icon Cancer Group, Epic Pharmacy Group and the Epic Good Foundation. The role of Founder in Residence is multi-faceted, overseeing development of the Founder’s Program, strengthening entrepreneurship capabilities and industry networks, and helping secure funding opportunities for student start-up ventures.
But for Mr Giles, it’s the opportunity to increase student engagement that matters the most. “I’m really excited by the idea of being able to go back to where it all starts and not just give a little back, but maybe play a role in helping younger entrepreneurs at the start of their journey by sharing what I’ve learnt along the way,” Mr Giles says.
