On Tuesday, member for Bathurst Paul Toole announced that the hub had received funding under the new Local Innovation Network program, funding which would help “unlock the enormous potential” of start-up businesses. 

“This is about boosting jobs, this is about boosting jobs out here in the Central West and very importantly about creating new technology and new opportunities,” he said. 

“When you look at entrepreneurs and a lot of start-ups, one in 10 start-ups happen outside of the Sydney area. 

“So in regional and rural communities, places like Bathurst, we want to give them the best opportunity to be able to start up and have an opportunity to grow and set up a brand new business.” 

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Upstairs expert in residence James Triggs said there are several programs that the $300,000 in funding will support. 

The first of these is developing an incubation course to help with the establishment of new businesses. 

“This is a program that will take them through a step-by-step guide for how to actually go about validating the market and ensuring there is a good business opportunity there,” Mr Triggs said. 

Upstairs will also create a Central West Angel Investors Network, to create more opportunities for start-ups to secure investment in their businesses.

“We’re going to be trying to find all the Angel Investors in the Central West, bring them together with start-ups who are investment-ready and create a platform for the start-ups to be able to pitch their business idea to the Angel Investors,” Mr Triggs said. 

Upstairs also plans to take advantage of video conferencing technology to connect regional areas.

The funding from the NSW Government comes after a very successful few months for the Upstairs hub.

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Currently, it has eleven start-ups working from Upstairs in Russell Street and there is the capacity to take up to 32. 

The team at Upstairs hopes that the new programs can help attract more start-ups to the space, where they can utilise the various supports. 

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