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NextGen Ventures

@nextgen.ventures

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A VC firm backing young Australian ambition.

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Sydney, we’re back with FounderHack.

Same chaos, but bolder, and with more ambition

Get ready to build.

Register now through the link in bio 🔗 taken in Sydney by @nextgen.ventures

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7 months ago

Mitchell Hughes and Jerry X’Lingson are the co-founders of NextGen Ventures, Australia’s first venture capital fund that aims to power student founders at their earliest stage.⁠
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The company has so far raised $2 million for its first fund, and aims to back 36 founders in three years with $70,000 cheques. More broadly, NextGen hopes to make Australia a great place to build. and aims to back 36 founders.⁠
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Full story at the link in bio.⁠
⁠
#30Under30⁠
⁠ by @nextgen.ventures

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3

a year ago

If you’re a young Australian and truly ambitious, it’s very likely you are considering or have considered a move to the US.

That’s why we’re launching – Open Source: US Playbook

Translating intention to actually making the move is a larger leap than most give credit to. What visa do you need? Where should you stay? What is the Tenderloin? How do you find the right founders and people to meet?

Then, the big question is how you crush it in the US over a longer tome horizon.

On October 1, we’re open-sourcing what we’ve learned at NextGen Ventures, where 55% of our portfolio companies have moved fully/partially within 9 months of our cheque, charging through the likes of Founders, Inc. (2x), Y Combinator (5x), or relocating indefinitely.

Alongside is Jeremy Cabral, Co-Founder of Finder, who will break down what it takes to win in the US over the long term, having taken Finder to the US market in 2015 as COO. Jeremy spent 16 years helping grow the company from an Australian startup into a global fintech operating across multiple international markets.

So if you’re seriously considering a move to the US, join us. You might even meet your future house mate 🏡

Thanks to Lyra, once more, for the hospitality 💙

🔗 https://luma.com/kktl4pxm taken in Sydney by @nextgen.ventures

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21 days ago

Meet the three 21y/o dropouts revolutionising the $3T+ private credit industry.

We're proud to be on the journey with Forward, backing them from first cheque, to YC, and beyond.

Link in bio for full vid! by @nextgen.ventures

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a month ago

We're hosting a fireside for Melbourne's most talented and curious STEM students, to learn from founders who are building the stuff of science fiction in real time.

We’ll be bringing two of Australia’s most exciting SciFi builders, Joshua Ince, building artificial muscles for the future of robotics at Poly-Motion, and Julie Đào, building hardware that predicts and prevents rheumatic heart disease at Sonorus, to share their story: how they went from university students to trailblazing as founders, what they’ve learnt along the way, and a glimpse into how they see the future of their respective fields unfolding…

Grateful to be partnering with @colabs.aus, Doccy, and a handful of other great organisations, including @monashdeepneuron, @nexusmedtech, and @mymi.medtech!

📍 CoLabs Notting Hill, Thursday July 30th, 6:30pm
🔗 Grab your tickets on Luma before they go - https://luma.com/4envbfx2 by @nextgen.ventures

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3 months ago

Two days out. This Wednesday, we're at UNSW to sit down with Billy Jeremijenko, co-founder of Aquila.

The gap between sitting in a lecture and building a startup is shrinking.

So if you're a technical university student who's ever found yourself quietly wondering whether the startup path might be for you, we'd love to see you there.

Come meet builders from across the Sydney ecosystem and maybe your next collaborator.

🗓️ Wed July 1, 6pm AEST
📍 Michael Crouch Innovation Centre, UNSW
🤝 With Bluesat UNSW, Atomcraft, and UNSW Founders

Register: https://luma.com/sgovoxd9 taken in UNSW Founders by @nextgen.ventures

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4 months ago

Jerry on the origins of NextGen Ventures, Australia’s tall poppy syndrome, and why there’s never been a better time to be a young and ambitious builder in the AI era.

Listen on the Standouts podcast by Jayden Lay (link in bio) by @nextgen.ventures

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4 months ago

We've just opened applications for Semester 2 intake of our student investments team.

Are you a current university student who cares about taking up opportunities that rapidly accelerate your rate of learning, where being unapologetically ambitious is the default, and where you’re constantly surrounded by exceptional young people?

We think you’ll find yourself at home at NextGen Ventures.

Since 2023, we’ve had the privilege of welcoming 70+ exceptional students to NextGen Ventures. We get asked all the time, what do we look for and what’s in it for you?

First, there's no prerequisite background, but one thing has been common across all successful applicants: a hunger to learn and to be great. Some of the things we look for show up across every discipline, whether neuroscience, biotech, aerospace, or anything in between. We're most interested in you as a human and your story. Then, expect to learn about everything from frontier technology to your own judgement, your life philosophy, and yourself.

Second, be on a path toward your life's work and be ready for us to spur you towards it. We deeply believe in giving students a platform to exercise radical responsibility in uplifting Australia's young founders at the grassroots. We also want you pushing past the edges of your role, chasing your own curiosities and asking for the opportunities you want, because that's where the best learning happens.

Third, be excited about growing Australia's startup ecosystem at the grassroots and find personal fulfilment in that process. We started NextGen Ventures believing young people were both overlooked and underserved, and remain driven by changing that. We align most with people who find that same fulfilment in their lives by going beyond to serve a mission greater than themselves.

We’re excited to hear from you. Apply via the link in our bio! by @nextgen.ventures

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5 months ago

Not one, two, or three. But four NextGen-backed startups were listed yesterday in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2026!

Every founder that we’ve had the privilege of working for is truly special. This is just a glimpse of the world-class talent emerging from Australia’s grassroots:

GrazeMate (YC W26) – Sam Rogers grew up on a cattle farm and climbed Everest after facing a life-threatening spinal injury, where he noticed the ease with which Sherpas herded yaks using bells atop mountain ranges. This led him to build his own version of 'Robot Cowboys' (autonomous drones) to help ranchers move and monitor their cattle

Fluency - Our first investment as a fund. The dynamic duo in Finnlay Morcombe and Oliver Farnill continue to Accel (pun intended), landing some of the world’s largest enterprise customers across the US, while taking ambitious Australians like Donald La and Varad Chaudhari (ex-NextGenners) along for the ride

Puralink – After a pipe burst in Harrison Crowe-Maxwell's neighbourhood, the crew (alongside Shyeon Delnawaz and Long Tran) haven’t looked back since, now building autonomous pipe inspection robots. Between PCB assembly and hosting 170+ robotics enthusiasts for ‘Australia’s Largest Robotics Party’, the team have seriously supercharged the robotics ecosystem across Australia

Lucent (YC W26) – Alisa Rae, who is building an AI bug detector that watches session replays, started her journey moving out of home at 15 to selling an EdTech startup at 21. Most recently, Alisa was a part of Y Combinator's Winter 26 batch

Like these founders, we at NextGen Ventures are also out to make a dent in the world. Grateful to have Mitchell and Jerry in the Forbes list alongside these founders, And as always, thank you to the 80+ students, 100+ LPs, and countless other supporters who are each the reason for our continued existence 💙 by @nextgen.ventures

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5 months ago

48 hours in Brisbane/UQ until... a Founder who began his now thriving startup on campus ~15 yrs ago 🆚 an ex-Canva and ex-YC startup engineer, who is now Founding Engineer at a startup, battle it out on campus.

If you're a technical student who's been wondering what ambitious paths exist beyond the standard routes, then come find out whether you should be a first hire at an early-stage startup or build your own.

Two people who've actually done it, side by side:
Alex Ghiculescu
— co-founder & CTO of Tanda. Built it on campus at QUT 14 years ago, now serves Bunnings, Domino's, and Australia Post.
Mitchell Johnson
— founding engineer at AutoRFP.ai. Previously 4 yrs at Canva and an early hire at a YC startup before that.

On Wednesday night, they'll share the real story of:
- how they went from technical students to founders/engineers
- the difference between founder vs founding engineer
- why the startup path is criminally underrated
- inside look into equity, salary, learning velocity, optionality
- the mistakes they wish someone had warned them about

📍UQ, Sir Llew Edwards Building, Learning Theatre
⌚5:45-7:30pm, Wed 13 May

Limited spots 👉 https://luma.com/vw7uw26f

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Thanks to our co-hosts @uqcomputingsociety, @uqfintech, and @uqventures taken in University of Queensland - St. Lucia Campus by @nextgen.ventures

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5 months ago

Most engineering students think the ambitious path looks like working at: OpenAI, Atlassian, or Jane Street.

There's another. Actually, two.

The first is starting your own company. The second is joining an early-stage startup as a founding engineer, sitting in the same room as the founders, owning core architecture from day one, and getting equity in something that could be the next Canva or Stripe.

Both will teach you more in 12 months than 5 years anywhere else. Both come with steep learning curves, real ownership, and asymmetric economic upside. And almost no one explains the trade-offs honestly.

So we've brought together one who took each path, to break it down.

🔹 Alex Ghiculescu, co-founder & CTO of Tanda: built 14 yrs ago whilst on campus at QUT to now being a global workforce management company now serving the likes of Bunnings, Domino's and Australia Post

🔹 Mitchell Johnson, founding engineer at AutoRFP.ai: 3rd engineering hire at the early-stage startup building the future of procurement. Previously spent 4 years at Canva and was an early hire at a YC startup prior to that

They'll go deep on:
→ What year one actually felt like: as a founder vs. as a founding engineer
→ The honest economics: equity, salary, learning velocity, optionality
→ How to know which path fits you (and how to know when to switch)
→ The mistakes they wish someone had warned them about

Whether you're a technical student wondering what to do after graduation, or 6 months into a uni thinking "is this it?", come through. Ask your questions. Meet others like you.

📍 UQ, Sir Llew Edwards Building, Learning Theatre
📅 5:30-7:30pm 13th May

Limited spots, sign up here 👉 https://luma.com/vw7uw26f

—

Thanks to our co-hosts in @uqcomputingsociety, @uqfintech and @uqventures for bringing to life this event! by @nextgen.ventures

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5 months ago

Nobody tells engineering students this, but the highest-upside career path available to you is either joining an early stage startup, or even building your own. It’s undertalked, underrated, and overlooked.

This has been true for decades, despite technical students building many of the world’s greatest companies. And now there has never been a better time to take this pathway, with even greater opportunity.

So if you’re a technical builder who loves hardware, spacetech, robotics, drones, or the like, and you have a quiet feeling you probably shouldn’t spend your whole life just following the default path, then join us next Tuesday night.

We've brought together two of Australia's most ambitious young founders in spacetech and hardware - Patrick Bellamy from [Kronus](https://kronus.io/?utm_source=luma) (who is still at uni…) and Shoaib Iqbal from Esper Satellite Imagery.

They’ll share their story from sitting in the same classes as you right now, to forging their own paths as founders, where they’re now building innovative companies and collectively raising $millions from top investors.

We will also go deep on tangibly explaining how you can get your start today, by either joining or building your own startup.

And the benefits to doing so: steep learning curves, building cutting edge technology, getting asymmetric financial upside, and being surrounded by the smartest and most ambitious builders.

Show up, be curious, ask your questions, and meet others like yourself. Info below:

📍 David Wood Theatre, University of Melbourne

🕔 April 21st 6–8pm

Limited spots, sign up here 👉 https://luma.com/4224p890

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Thanks to our co-hosts in @aresunimelb, @monashmotorsport, Monash UAS, and @murmotorsports — some of the best hardware, rocketry, and robotics teams and societies supporting ambitious student builders in Australia! by @nextgen.ventures

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6 months ago