SpaceDraft named startup of the year

Lucy Cooke is well acquainted with building virtual worlds, having worked on productions including Game of Thrones.

The VR producer relied heavily on this knowledge and experience when she established her visual logistics software startup, SpaceDraft, in 2017.

In keeping with all things tech, SpaceDraft received industry plaudits at a virtual ceremony last Friday when it was named Startup of the Year at the Lateral INCITE Awards.

The award, presented by Business News, recognised the best Western Australian startup judged on key resources, impact, business model, finance, and innovation.

Having worked in special effects and cinema productions, Ms Cooke founded SpaceDraft to help creatives and technology professionals plan and share their ideas for virtual worlds, before production.

The startup won the award for its cloud-based web application, which was designed to help people create and share virtual designs.

Lateral INCITE Awards startup of the year lead judge Michael Coles said SpaceDraft provided a different approach to a realworld problem that had many applications.

“If a picture’s worth a thousand words, SpaceDraft maps ideas in 4D on a digital shareable canvas,” he said.

“In this entrant, the judges saw a strong team, product ready to launch, with market potential across many segments as varied as movies, education, and logistics.”

Ms Cooke was recently selected to take part in the national Springboard Australia bootcamp in May, to help entrepreneurs grow and develop their businesses.

East Perth-based Uno Group, which analyses receipts to create market intelligence on consumer decision and buying behaviour, won the merit prize at the Lateral INCITE Awards.

Mr Coles said Uno Group had a working business model, a strong team, and established international partnerships.

“With custom data capture and AI, Uno Group has built the tech and members are rewarded to generate data, and trials are showing demand,” he said.

Uno Group was co-founded by Tyler Spooner and Brenda Lai in 2018, after they completed Spacecubed’s Plus Eight program, a seed-funded accelerator for local startups.

Lateral INCITE Awards committee chair Sue Findlay said as the world increasingly relied on digital solutions, innovators at the awards had shown how technology could help overcome barriers.

Uno Group published bi-weekly updates on customer trends to the fast-moving consumer goods sector to help with ordering and logistics during panic buying early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lateral INCITE Awards chief judge Celia Jordaan said all entries for this year’s awards were of a high calibre and impressed the judging panel with their ability to provide solutions to contemporary or future societal challenges.

“We have been highly impressed with the level of creativity, market understanding and forecasting that have gone into the innovation entered in this year’s INCITE Awards, making them all viable products and services for our global community,” she said.

“For example, winners in both the smarter communities and social impact categories, InteliCare, have used AI technology to support our seniors and people with disabilities to live safely and confidently in their homes.”