MEDIA RELEASE
Monday April 6, 2020
The team behind Melbourne based startup Friends of Mr Ed (Fred for short) is one of 20 - out of 700 global applicants - selected to attend the Startupbootcamp’s 2020 SportsTech acceleration program.
Startupbootcamp is an intense 3-month program designed to support entrepreneurs to scale within their industry, with the ultimate goal to have the startups in a position to scale globally by the end of the program. The program has been Funded by LaunchVic, Victoria’s startup agency, to harness ideas and fuel products that will create a better experience for sports fans at major events. Providing a huge boost for Australia’s startup scene over the next 3 years, Startupbootcamp’s 3-year Sports & EventTech focused program will be based in the heart of Melbourne.
Fred Co-Founder, Richard Busso, was proud to accept the offer to be involved.
“Amy and I jumped at the chance to be part of the FastTract Event in December last year and now being selected as one of 20 startups from across the globe has validated all the time and effort we’ve put in to the startup so far,” Mr Busso said
Fred is the first product in the Friends of Mr Ed stable. A first in an industry that has not yet seen any digital innovation in this space, Fred is a social app where racehorse owners and lovers of the sport connect, and can share the thrill of ownership on and off the track. Richard and Amy own shares in a number of horses themselves and have a vision for a more engaging, personalised and easy experience as a racehorse owner.
Support for Friends of Mr Ed has grown since the launch of the app ‘Fred’ into the Apple App store in early 2019 with 800 users onboarded. Richard and Amy then secured further funding to deliver product enhancements and lay plans for version 2 of the app including expansion to Android users.
Co-Founder Amy Thompson said the opportunity to be part of Startupbootcamp was the leg-up Fred needed to go to the next level.
“We’re looking forward to being in the running to attend the 2020 accelerator because of the access to industry heavyweights and the ability to give Fred 2.0 the best chance of success. We hope horse owners everywhere will be backing Friends of Mr Ed all the way,” Ms Thompson said.
Only 10 startups who attend Selection Days will be offered a place in the Startupbootcamp SportsTech acceleration program.
To read more about the program see: https://www.startupbootcamp.org/accelerator/sport-eventtech-melbourne/
To discover more about Fred see: www.friendsofmred.com
Media enquiries
Downloads available
