Start Me Up Down Under
Looking for a website that distributes virtual boomerangs? Or maybe an online print shop whipping up snappy Paul Hogan T-shirts with quips like, “Co-ed Naked Crocodile Hunting?”
Australia is launching a national small biz incubator of sorts, shelling out $83 million to support newborn start-up companies. Coined the Innovation Investment Follow-on Fund (IIFF) – now take a breath – the aid aims to prevent the country’s next big-time tech companies from flaming out during the global recession.
In other words, IIFF is Australian for bail-out. (There’s one for you Foster’s beer fans.)
More than 1,000 start-up employees will benefit from the investment, which will be funneled through venture capital firms.
Our take? The Aussies are smart as a whip when it comes to recession spending. While we toss briefcases of cash at floundering, overly indulgent companies like AIG, the Australians have the wit and wisdom to feed the hungry entrepreneurs of the future – the ones who will be responsible for pulling the world out of its financial nosedive.
