Bluethumb win Creative3 Pitch – “Soundcloud for art”
Yesterday morning, four creative startups from across Australia pitched to early stage investors at Australia’s only event dedicated to connecting creative industries’ ventures with investors, QUT Creative Enterprise Australia’s Creative3 Pitch. We pitched ourselves as the “Soundcloud for art” and we’re ecstatic to announce it worked. We’ve been named the prestigious winner of the Creative3 Pitch and will now go on to represent Australia and compete against 63 countries at the world championships for creative entrepreneurs, the Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen. Denmark here we come!
Founder Edward Hartey and Director Philip Slusarski in action.
The other finalists included Brisbane’s Men on the Moon, comiXchat from the Gold Coast and Brandspot from Melbourne. Men on the Moon helps bricks and mortar retailers boost sales using beacon technology; comiXchat turns conversations into comics and Brandspot groups all of a company’s branding materials in one online location.
The finalists.
Bluethumb Directors Philip Slusarski and Edward Hartley pitched at the breakfast event and are thrilled about getting through. “We are a little surprised and certainly honoured to win. We thought the competition was great and loved the concepts being launched,” says Hartley. “Representing Australia in Denmark will be an eye opening experience and I’m super excited to find out the judges and European VCs response to Bluethumb and how they see it in the global art landscape.”
Creative3 Pitch winners with CEO of QUT Creative Enterprise Australia.
So why did we win and what makes us different?
We are pioneers disrupting the traditional art gallery system by giving Australian artists a marketplace to sell their work from day one. “Because of my online sales, I have been able to set up my own studio and gallery and work as a full-time artist,” says Inverloch based artist, Annette Spinks. “Bluethumb has given me national exposure and the opportunity to sell my art all over Australia.”
Unlike other online galleries, we connect Australian artists with Australian art lovers on an equal platform. Any artist can quickly set up a gallery page and sell on our site and app, so we have some of the best-established artists in the business exhibiting alongside complete newcomers to the scene with everything in between.
Technology and innovation in the art world is what Bluethumb is all about. In 2014 , our Bluethumb – art unearthed app was awarded Best Shopping App in the Australian Mobile & App Design Awards.
Always looking for new ways to get our artists noticed, next week we are hosting our first Melbourne pop-up gallery as part of the Melbourne Fringe. More info here.
Melbourne Fringe pop-up featuring artists Loui Jover, Sarah Gosling, John Graham, Annette Spinks, Cameron Holmes, Matthew Broughton and Jac Clark.
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