Startup World Cup 2026 Queensland Final

Twelve finalists. One Queensland winner. Tonight is the night.

12 finalists. One winner. One ticket to San Francisco. You don't want to be hearing about this one secondhand.

This is the night Queensland's most ambitious founders compete for a place on the world stage.

The Startup World Cup 2026 Queensland Final is delivered by the City of Moreton Bay's Innovate Moreton Bay program, in partnership with Creative HQ and Startup&Angels. On 9 July 2026, twelve finalists will pitch live at UniSC Moreton Bay to a panel of leading investors and venture capital leaders. One winner earns a guaranteed place at the Startup World Cup Global Grand Final in San Francisco from 4-6 November 2026, pitching alongside nearly 150 regional winners from across the world for USD $1 million in investment.


Last year, GravityFit took that stage. In October 2025, they represented Queensland on the world's most prestigious startup stage in Silicon Valley. The 2026 winner will follow in their footsteps.

What is the Startup World Cup?

The Startup World Cup is the world's largest startup pitch competition. Founded by Pegasus Tech Ventures and delivered across Australia by Startup&Angels, it is a global series of more than 100 regional competitions designed to find the next generation of world-leading startups and connect them with top investors and resources.

The global grand final brings together nearly 150 regional winners from across the world, competing for USD $1 million in investment on one of the most prestigious startup stages in Silicon Valley.

Pegasus Tech Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based global venture capital firm managing over $2 billion in assets. Founded in 2011, Pegasus operates a Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model, partnering with large corporations to invest in emerging technology startups worldwide.

Meet the 2026 Finalists

The 2026 cohort spans trust and safety, health, climate resilience, defence, construction, and consumer technology, reflecting the breadth of innovation now coming out of Queensland and beyond.

UVSentry (GenAqua)

GenAqua makes waterborne pathogens like Legionella a solved problem for hospitals and aged care, with UVSentry devices that fit existing taps and showers to deliver point-of-use UVC disinfection. The technology has demonstrated a 140-fold reduction in Legionella in a Brisbane hospital trial, while its IoT platform automates compliance reporting in real time.

Vertical: Healthtech / Water Safety

Founder: Scott Goulter

Rocket Fast Drones

Rocket Fast Drones builds tube-launched, vertically-recovering electric drones that fly roughly twice as fast as anything else in their class, with a demonstrated cruise speed of 170 km/h. Its flagship AEROMed mission delivers blood and medical payloads to trauma sites inside the “Golden Hour”, reaching a 30 km radius in around 13 minutes where conventional drones take over 20.

Vertical: Medtech / Drone Logistics

Founder: Dr Joni Sytsma

ID/Ai

ID/Ai is a deepfake detection and content verification platform built around seven priority models that distinguish real content from synthetic. The company works across media, government, finance, professional services and high-net-worth individuals, addressing a problem that is only growing as synthetic content becomes harder to detect by eye.

Vertical: Trust & Safety Tech / AI

Founder: Judy Sahay


ScreenCoach

ScreenCoach is a family technology platform that helps parents move past screen time battles by combining screen time management with routines, rewards, goals and allowance management in one gamified system. Rather than relying on restriction alone, it is built to help children develop responsibility, self-discipline and healthy habits.

Vertical: Family Tech / Consumer

Founder: Peter Kakris

StatDoctor

StatDoctor is building the technology layer that connects healthcare facilities and doctors directly, replacing a recruitment process still largely run on spreadsheets, email and phone calls. The platform is designed as AI-native infrastructure for how the healthcare workforce moves, covering rostering, credentialing, recruitment and pay.

Vertical: Healthtech / Workforce Infrastructure

Founder: Dr Anurag Ganugapati

ProcurePro

ProcurePro brings construction procurement, currently scattered across spreadsheets, email and phone calls, into one connected platform, giving commercial teams the visibility and governance to make smarter decisions before spend is committed. With up to 80% of project spend flowing through the supply chain, the company is aiming to save the construction industry a billion admin hours.

Vertical: Construction Tech / AI

Founder: Tim Rogers

Hailo Solutions

Hailo removes the hidden barriers that stop people from using public transport with confidence, providing intelligent two-way communication between passengers and operators regardless of language, ability or familiarity with the system. The company is building the missing layer of clarity and trust that makes every journey possible.

Vertical: Transport / Accessibility Tech

Founder: Santiago Velasquez

Fidestra.ai

Fidestra.ai is building the trust infrastructure for the synthetic media era, turning suspicious digital content into defensible evidence for governments, platforms and financial institutions. As deepfakes and AI-enabled fraud become cheaper and faster to produce, the company positions itself as the proof layer needed to restore confidence in a world where seeing is no longer believing.

Vertical: Trust & Safety Tech / AI

Founder: Tim Lea

Phantom Dynamics

Phantom Dynamics is developing an autonomous drone swarm system designed to give emergency responders a complete picture of any scene, helping them locate and assist people faster while staying out of harm’s way. The company describes it as the unfair advantage Australia’s emergency services need.

Vertical: Defence Tech / Autonomous Systems

Founder: Hamilton James

NOYA Biomedical

NOYA Biomedical is developing Sperm Syringe, a rapid one-step microfluidic device that makes sperm selection for human fertility treatment and animal breeding faster, gentler and more reproducible. Backed by patented research and non-dilutive funding, NOYA is working to improve reproductive outcomes globally through simple, scalable technology.

Vertical: Medtech

Founder: Dr Farin Yazdan Parast

Urban Inventors (Smart Drain)

Urban Inventors is reimagining the world’s drainage infrastructure through Smart Drain, a patented hardware and IoT platform built for open, closed and hybrid drainage networks. By preventing blockages, reducing flood risk and generating real-time infrastructure intelligence, the company is helping cities move from reactive maintenance to predictive management.

Vertical: Climate Tech / Urban Infrastructure

Founder: Dr Nadeesha Chandrasena

Fempro Armour

Fempro Armour designs purpose-built protective equipment for women and girls in sport, healthcare and high-impact environments, engineered around female anatomy rather than adapted from male-based standards. The company is working to change how entire industries think about protection, so women can compete, work and recover with confidence.

Vertical: Sports Tech / Safety Equipment

Founder: Stephanie Bofinger

Meet your judges

Pauline Fetaui

Director, Perspective X

Pauline Fetaui is a serial founder, angel investor and ecosystem builder, with twenty years of digital and transformation leadership across financial services and government behind her. She currently sits on the Advisory Board of Silicon Catalyst Australia, the country's leading Semiconductor and Quantum Accelerator, and is Co-Founder of Something Tech, Australia's Digital, Innovation and Technology Festival, and Host of Perspective X, a long-form podcast on the Day One Network.

Craig Josic

Managing Director | GEN Australia & Australia GEC Ambassador | Global Entrepreneurship Network

Craig Josic (CJ) is a serial entrepreneur and ecosystem builder who co-founded Silicon Coast, leads the Queensland AI Hub Sunshine Coast and GEN Australia, and has spent over a decade connecting founders, investors, and communities across Queensland and beyond.

Audun Fiskerud

Program Lead | EnergyLab

Audun helps startups get investment ready, and he helps established companies develop cultural and systemic enablers of innovation. Exited founders with 20+ years in start-ups, innovation, strategy, research, and learning programs.

Peta Ellis

General Manager | Beaten Zone Venture Partners

Peta Ellis is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and Defence innovation investor with nearly 30 years' experience turning vision into execution for leaders, startups, and future-focused ventures.

Annie Lawrence

Head of Industry Advancement | City of Moreton Bay

Annie Lawrence leads a diverse team delivering on an ambitious economic development agenda for Australia's third largest local government. With a career spanning both private sector and senior government roles, she sits on the Queensland Minister's Advisory Council for Innovation.

Julien Taylor

VC Investor | QIC

Julien is a VC investor at QIC Ventures with 15+ years of global experience in venture, strategy and scaling startups like Go1 and Sonder.

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Innovate Moreton Bay is a City of Moreton Bay initiative, proudly delivered by Creative HQ and strategic partners, to support innovative business leaders across City of Moreton Bay.


For more information about Council’s innovation programs, see: www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/innovation