Coworking space for international students Outcome-Hub launches in Melbourne

Victorian startup Outcome.Life has today launched a new hub at the edge of Melbourne’s CBD in Carlton, dubbed Outcome-Hub.

The coworking space will support international students looking to launch their own startup, with the aim of strengthening Victoria’s growing startup ecosystem.

Funded by the Victorian Government’s LaunchVic and private investors, Outcome-Hub will look to tap into Victoria’s 175,000 international students, offering them a space where they can transition from their degrees towards developing their business ideas.

Designed by students at Melbourne’s RMIT University, the space will offer a number of facilities including offices, stand up desks, and kitchens, as well as the expected event and meeting spaces. The hub will also be plugged into a high speed internet network, and host regular social and networking events to encourage collaboration.

Domenic Saporito, cofounder of Outcome.Life, said it will be “breaking down the barriers” for international students who have innovative ideas by facilitating a space of like-minded people who are able to “empower” each other.

“A key focus of Outcome.Life is the integration and collaboration between those who were not born in Melbourne, and long established Melbournians and businesses. It is this integration of networks that proves to be the most powerful and successful in accelerating the startups of internationals,” said Saporito.

Previously speaking to Startup Daily about Outcome.Life, cofounder Gerard Holland said the startup had received a lot of feedback from students saying they wanted to start their own business in Australia.

“A lot of their parents back home have their own business, so they’ve grown up with it, and have this drive to do the same thing,” he said.

Outcome.Life is an online community for international students, currently working to develop a platform to help connect international students to internship roles to prepare them for real world jobs. The business wants to place a tight focus on connecting students to jobs within startups, as a way to support the ecosystem while providing the students with quality experience.

“Employers are definitely less likely to hire you if you don’t have the experience, so is the best to get these international students prepared for the jobs,” said Holland.

Discussing the support received from LaunchVic to develop the hub, Holland said it comes as a way to encourage the international students who are being educated in Australia to remain local and contribute their ideas to the local startup ecosystem.

“If they’re going to start a business once they graduate, we want them to start it here and grow it here, because that’s going to help the ecosystem in Victoria and the whole of Australia,” he said.

Further attracting international talent to Victoria, LaunchVic has also provided $2.5 million in funding to support the expansion of Silicon Valley startup accelerator 500 Startups to Australia earlier this year. Set to kick off later in the year, the accelerator will accept 20 to 25 startups from across Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region.

Image: Gerard Holland & Domenic Saporito. Source: Supplied.