Australia’s LaunchVic terminates partnership with 500 Startups

According to a release, LaunchVic decided to terminate the relationship after Rachael Neumann, who had been designated head of 500 Melbourne, resigned from 500 Startups. The fund put 500 Startups on notice last month after reports broke that founder Dave McClure was being investigated internally over multiple allegations of sexual harassment and McClure admitted he had acted inappropriately.

LaunchVic and 500 Startups had agreed to postpone the launch of 500 Melbourne while the accelerator developed a remedial plan to address both sexual harassment and lack of diversity in the start-up ecosystem.

“While I am deeply disappointed at how this has ended, I feel confident in LaunchVic’s strong course of action over the past month to give 500 Startups an opportunity to show leadership to improve culture in the startup sector and fix the issues at hand,” said Dr. Kate Cornick, CEO of LaunchVic. “Unfortunately, as we’ve expressed to 500 Startups, without Rachael Neumann at the helm we don’t believe it will work.”

In a statement posted on Twitter, Neumann did not specify the reason for her resignation, saying that she had decided after consulting with the US team that “this is simply not the right time for 500 to launch in Australia.”

LaunchVic had committed A$2.9 million ($2.2 million) to 500 Melbourne, but due to contractual arrangements, no investment has been made. The fund will commit the capital to another accelerator program once a suitable candidate has been identified.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Venture
• GPs
• Australia
• 500 Startups
• seed