Lauren Capelin

Lauren Capelin is the current Principal at Startmate. Lauren has been with the company since August 2020 and in their current role, they are focused on sourcing the pipeline of incredible founders that come through their twice-annual Accelerator program. Lauren has also overseen the sourcing and selection processes of their Summer21, Winter21, Summer22, and Winter22 cohorts - including companies like EntryLevel, Layer Licensing, Cake Equity, Steppen, GGWP, Milkdrop, Baresop, Cipherstash, Transactional.ai, Flux Finance, The Mintable and Throughline.

In addition to their role in sourcing and selecting startups for the Accelerator program, Lauren also oversees Investments - which includes the fundraising process for their cohort funds and early-stage investor education program, First Believers. Lauren is also responsible for leading strategy and overseeing the incredible Media team as they build out startmate.com to be a number 1 destination for great startup content across Australia and New Zealand.

In April 2022, Lauren launched their inaugural Media Fellowship - focused on boosting the profile, capability and networks of the incredible content creators, platform builders and media entrepreneurs across ANZ.

Lauren Capelin has a graduate certificate in business from Queensland University of Technology, a bachelor's degree in creative industries from the same school, and certifications in community strategy from CMX Media and in board readiness from XY on Boards. Lauren is also a certified yoga teacher.

They are on a team with Phoebe Pincus - Chief of Staff, Sophia Witherington - Head of Fellowship, and Sascha Kerbert - Head of Accelerator. Lauren Capelin reports to Michael Batko, CEO.