​ANZ's largest pitch night.

​What unites the Summer'26 cohort is an obsession with fundamentals: time saved, costs reduced, risk removed, outcomes improved. They’re cutting waste out of construction and manufacturing, unlocking capital stuck in cross-border payments, automating legal diligence and government tenders, and rethinking mental health care beyond the appointment. This is AI applied with intent, paired with deep domain expertise earned on factory floors, in courtrooms, hospitals, and high-pressure operating roles.

​The result is a cohort proving that world-class, category-defining companies can be built in Australia, by founders willing to take on the hardest problems first.

​​👉 Details

​​​When: Thursday, 30 April @ 7:00 PM (pre-party starting at 5 PM)
Where: Carriageworks (at the close of Blackbird's Sunrise Festival)
What: Pitch night (19 companies)

​​🎫 Ticket pricing

​​Early bird price: $30 (200 tickets available)
First release: $35
Final release: $40 (if available - tickets on the door)

​​🚨 Demo Day sells out in advance. Get your ticket asap.
*This is an 18+ event

​​🦄 Overview of the night

​5 pm - Registration opens
5 pm - 6.30 pm - pre-party with Sunrise (drinks + canapés)
6.45 pm - Doors open
7.00 pm - Registration cut off
7.15 pm - Show starts
8.40 pm - Show ends

​​🚨 We have a strict start and finish time. This means you MUST arrive and check in before 7.05 pm. If you do not check in by 7.00 pm, you will forfeit your ticket.

​​Now, watch this.

​​🤝 We are proud to host this event at Blackbird's Sunrise Festival in Carriageworks.

​​​​​Sunrise is Blackbird’s love letter to founders and the beautiful things they create. It’s a celebration of exceptionalism in Australia and New Zealand, where people from the startup community come together to dream up the future.

​​🚨IMPORTANT NOTE: Sunrise Australia 2026 is a separate ticketed event. Your Startmate Demo Day ticket does NOT grant you entry to other Sunrise sessions. And vice versa, if you have a Sunrise ticket, this does not automatically grant you access to Demo Day.

​Sunrise Australia 2026
📆 30 April
🎟️ Get your ticket to Sunrise Australia 2026 here.

​​​🪩 What is Demo Day?

​​Every 6 months, we unearth ANZ’s grittiest, hungriest founders; the ones with cosmic dreams and colossal drive. These companies join our Accelerator and spend 12 weeks laser-focused on their customer, building the best product imaginable and setting the foundations they need for exponential growth.

​​Demo Day is the grand finale - an event where our Accelerator founders unveil radical progress, boundless ambition, and their world-changing startup ideas to the world.

​​These companies will be joining the ranks of Upguard, Morse Micro, Heaps Normal, Andromeda, Mindset, Propeller, Sitemate, Amber, Edrolo, Great Wrap, 5B, Aquila, Happy Co & Bugcrowd as Startmate Alumni.

​​​​🚀 Community links

• ​Get funding: ​Accelerator: $120k - apply by 10 May

• ​Start a new company: ​Launch Club

• ​Become an angel investor: First Believers

• ​Invest in our funds: Express interest

• ​Give back, become a mentor: Express interest

​💙 Thank you to our sponsors

​​✨ Taurus Legal Management ✨ is a premier full-service commercial law firm trusted by ambitious businesses and the people behind them. They work with founders, startups, and investors to make the most of opportunities while minimising risk. Known for being responsive, strategic, and commercially minded, Taurus Legal Management helps you get the most out of your business at every stage of growth.

​✨ Rhubarb ✨ is wickedly smart IT delivered so you can stay obsessed with building your business. Their Apple-first (but not Apple-only) IT services & IT advisory focus on your end goal, because 'figuring it out' isn't why you started this.