Celebrating innovative startups at Venture Cup 2026

Swinburne Innovation Studio has hosted the 2026 Venture Cup competition, showcasing innovative ventures from the Elevate program alongside two wildcard teams.  

Mental health practitioner workflow management service InterSession took first place, led by Luke Bonnici, Jake Ciminelli and Addison Forbes.

Luke, who is also a Swinburne alum, explained that much of the early-stage work to build a startup is done alone. 

"To turn that work into a pitch, and present it to a room full of people who see the value in the problem we're solving was really special," he said, adding that he first applied for the Venture Cup shortlist in 2018. 

"To come back eight years later and win means a lot and shows you can really do what you set your mind to, even if it takes a bit longer than you might think." 

Poly-motion, a startup developing advanced artificial muscles from polymer fibres, co-founded by Swinburne alum Joshua Ince and Dr Vishnu Pillai, came in second and also took out the Peoples' Choice award. 

Third place went to wearable, drug-free seizure monitoring platform SeizureSafe, founded by Swinburne alum Shaun Bedford. 

For the first time, two wildcard ventures, AI-powered research visualiser Dandelion and STEM learning game Science Island, were also selected to join Elevate program participants on stage.

Swinburne Director of Commercial Innovation Abs Seth said he was impressed with the range of startups, all focused on solving real-world problems.  

"It was fantastic to have leading investors, colleagues from other universities and key industry partners connecting with our founders and supporting their ambitions," he said.

"At Swinburne, we're proud to be building an innovation ecosystem where people have the support and connections to turn promising ideas into successful ventures."

Elevating the startup launchpad

The Venture Cup competition concludes the Swinburne Innovation Studio's Elevate program, an intensive journey of coaching, mentoring and peer learning, designed to help startups move faster and build stronger.

Founder Joshua Ince previously came first at the Luminate Showcase with Poly-motion; he explained that Elevate allowed him to sharpen and hone his venture. 

"The structure, accountability and culture really helped us push the progression of Poly-motion," he said. 

 SeizureSafe founder Shaun Bedford found pitching challenging due to his epilepsy and speech impairment, making placing third at Venture Cup particularly rewarding. 

"Elevate gave me the support and confidence to keep pushing SeizureSafe forward, and it was encouraging to see disability and epilepsy recognised as problems worth solving," he said.

"I hope everyone in the cohort keeps backing themselves and the solutions they’re building."