BlueChilli to produce interactive StartRail maps for each of Australia’s startup regions

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BlueChilli is urging startups to complete its StartRail survey, with the results to be used to produce a series of interactive maps detailing Australia's startup ecosystem. The StartRail map will visualise the startup scene in each Australian city and startup region in the style of a railway network map. It will show the startups in each community and their stage of growth, as well as which university, investors, incubators, accelerators, and coworking spaces they originated from or work at.

BlueChilli's CEO Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin originally came up with the idea for the StartTrail map, based on Sydney's CityRail map, as a task for a graphic design intern. The first map was Sydney-only and divided into three zones: education, incubation, and growth, with organisations like incubators, accelerators, and VCs appearing as stations.

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With the map was last revised in 2013, BlueChilli's Alan Jones said the company has been overwhelmed by the growth in the tech startup sector over the last few years.

“The growth in the Australian startup ecosystem and its outward spread from Sydney and Melbourne into capitals and regional areas across Australia has been enormous,” Jones said. 

The company will this year produce a StartRail map for each startup city, region, or community that has ten or more startups completing the survey.

With the startup ecosystem at large booming, the idea of mapping it out has emerged as a useful way to keep track of the different parties and stakeholders involved. Paul Daly, convenor of the Adelaide Entrepreneurship Forum, produced a map showcasing the Adelaide startup ecosystem, while StartupBlink took on the task of creating a global map last year.

You can complete the StartRail survey here.