Stone & Chalk

We’re proud to announce our new partnership with MLAI, bringing together Australia’s largest innovation community and one of the country’s most engaged grassroots AI and machine learning networks. This collaboration is built on a shared belief: Australia’s AI future will be shaped by practical implementation, technical capability and community-led innovation. By combining MLAI’s deep technical expertise and hands-on AI community with our founder ecosystem, commercialisation support and national innovation network, we’re creating more opportunities for: ✅ AI founders and startups ✅ Engineers, researchers and roboticists ✅ Students and emerging builders ✅ SMEs and corporate innovation teams We're kicking things off by supporting AI Week Melbourne (1–7 June) – featuring conferences, workshops, hackathons, robotics events, community meetups and hands-on experiences designed to make AI more accessible, practical and collaborative. And this is just the beginning. MLAI will also establish a permanent presence within our Melbourne hub, creating an ongoing home for Australia’s AI community to connect, learn and build together. The future of Australian AI will be built by people who experiment, collaborate and create. We’re excited to help bring this community together. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eFZDnn4v Stone & Chalk MLAI Dr Sam D.

For Jessica MacDonald and David Mallett, MBA, CPPD, building a successful business was only part of the vision. As the founders of Yanun, they set out to create more opportunities for First Nations professionals to build meaningful careers in project management and professional services. Today, that commitment continues to shape their business, helping emerging professionals find their pathway while delivering high-quality project services across Australia. At Stone & Chalk, we're proud to support founders who are building businesses with purpose and creating lasting impact for their communities. 🎥 Hear Jessica and David share the story behind Yanun: https://lnkd.in/g_BUyPqC

Yes!! Our members Space Protocol and ResearchSat are launching into space 🚀 The teams will be developing a hypersonic missile detection payload for launch in late 2027. This partnership came about thanks to the Department of State Development's support of Space Protocol's participation in the TRIBE VC US mission, which brought these two Australian deep tech founders together. This is exactly what happens when great founders share the same ecosystem. Congratulations to both teams - we can't wait to watch this one unfold 🛰️ Samya Bagchi, Ph.D., Ben Colley.

Robots can use AI to sort parcels in warehouses, help nurses in hospitals, monitor crops on farms, or inspect roads. But these robotics companies are hard to build. Founders need space to manufacture, customers to trial the tech, and connections into overseas markets. So join us for a discussion with ARM Hub and founder Dominic Lindsay (Nexobot Pty Ltd) on how Australia can turn robotics into business. 📅 Thursday 4 June | 12.30pm – 2pm 📍 Stone & Chalk, Tech Central Sydney Register now: https://lnkd.in/ehKnDMKW

Applications are now open for the 2026 L'Oréal Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program. The program offers startups a fully-funded commercial pilot with a global brand, exposure to 35+ markets, and mentorship from senior leaders. This year's challenge areas: • Connected Brand Experience • Creators & Affiliates • AI-Powered Commerce • Innovation for Good • Science for Beauty Last year, Stone & Chalk alumni Heatseeker was named one of four winners across the SAPMENA region. We're proud to support the program alongside HEC Paris, connecting Australian founders with opportunities to test and scale globally. This is your chance to work on real commercial challenges with an international brand leader. Applications close 3 July. Learn more and apply now: https://lnkd.in/eidbbC9N Paulette Parker Monika Esprit

Most people interested in robotics never actually build a robot. The AI Week Build Your First Robot: Hands-On Robotics Workshop is an antidote to that. Participants will build a WiFi-controlled rover from scratch using an ESP32 kit, with hands-on support throughout the session. No prior coding or hardware experience are required, just curiosity and a willingness to get stuck in. You’ll leave with a working rover, practical robotics experience, and a much better understanding of how embedded systems actually work. Event details 📅 Sunday 7 June, 10am–4pm 📍 Stone & Chalk Melbourne, 121 King Street 🎟️ https://luma.com/mlai-jvl2 Web Directions ACASE

“Brain health is one of the last great frontiers in healthcare.” 🧠 At Stone & Chalk Adelaide, we’re proud to support startups like Your Brain Health, who are tackling complex healthcare challenges with practical, evidence-based technology. Their platform, ScreenIT, is helping unify brain health assessments across cognition, psychology and physical health, making it easier for clinicians, researchers and communities to better understand and monitor brain health. Hear from Co-founder and CEO Gregory Rosenbauer on the journey so far, and the role community plays in building something ambitious from the ground up. Interested in joining our innovation community? Learn more 👉 https://lnkd.in/gSjpfg5p

Last week, Stone & Chalk alumni Martin McCann joined us for Founders Unfiltered at Tech Central Sydney, sharing lessons from 10 years building Trade Ledger™ and describing every day as an entrepreneur as a 'school day'. Some of the key takeaways from the conversation: ➡️ Culture is everything Martin reflected on building TradeLedger alongside co-founder and CTO Matthias Born, whose shared ethics and ideals became the company’s foundation. Every hire needed to align with that culture. It also became the filter for what didn’t work. “It was too early for us to be bringing in senior staff. The things they were good at weren't the things we currently needed, and the things they wanted to change didn't need to be changed.” ➡️ Personal brand matters more than you think One of Martin’s biggest lessons came when his team pointed out that while many people didn’t recognise TradeLedger’s name, they knew it as the company run by “the Irish guy with the long hair and the leather jacket.” “My goal back then was for the company to be more famous than my brand in fintech. But actually I learned personal brand trumps business brand in B2B“ ➡️ The hardest moments shape founders Martin shared the reality of the early days, including almost having to delay staff salaries over Christmas while waiting for investment funds to land. ➡️ Sometimes the right decision is the clearest one A decade later, the decision to sell TradeLedger to United Fintech came down to what was best for staff, customers, and investors. “It didn't feel like an emotional decision, because it was clearly the right one.” Thank you Martin for joining us and paying it forward. Founders Unfiltered is Stone & Chalk's fireside chat series with founders, for founders. Growth stories without the gloss. Sharing what they've learned so the next generation of founders can go further, faster. Join us for our next Founders Unfiltered session with Pascale Helyar OAM on 18 June: https://lnkd.in/g8E4fMBY

Not all AI events are built the same. Some are about theory. Some are about hype. But AI Week Melbourne is much more focused on the people actually experimenting, building and figuring this technology out in real time. For one week, Melbourne will become the epicentre of AI as we host everything from interactive exhibitions and robotics meetups through to hands-on workshops and an AI energy hackathon where participants manage both smart homes and an entire city grid. There are events for engineers and technical builders as well as for curious people who just want to better understand where AI is heading and to meet others exploring the space. We're excited to be teaming up with Web Directions and MLAI to bring you a packed week designed to bring AI enthusiasts together to share ideas, test things, and build really interesting projects together. Check out what’s happening throughout the week 👉 https://aiweek.com.au/ Graham McCorkill + John Allsopp + Imtiaz Aziz + Caitlin Shepherd.

The space industry cannot wait for perfect information. Our Space Town Hall with South Australian Space Industry Centre yesterday revealed how experts must find evidence, but then act. 1️⃣ Dr Moira Smith spoke about floods in remote Australia. Government teams cannot check every road and asset fast enough. So Digital Content Analysis Technology Ltd uses satellites to see floodwater to help repair crews know where to go first. 2️⃣ Astronaut Pamela Melroy spoke on NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA spent years testing Orion before sending it around the Moon. But at Mach 32, nobody gets a practice run. So when the capsule came back, engineers studied it to improve the next mission. 3️⃣ Professor Tat-Jun Chin covered research at Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML) His team built an AI model to read Earth-observation data. When their first plan to test it in space changed, they worked with European Space Agency - ESA to test it another way. 4️⃣ Flavia Tata Nardini spoke about Australian industry. Mining companies need to know where minerals are before they drill. Fleet Space Technologies uses ground sensor data sent through satellites to find them. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped bring South Australia’s space sector together. The evidence is never complete. But people here are building anyway.