Faramoon accepted into Skalata Ventures

A big part of the TRAM journey for teams once they’ve completed our programs is ‘what happens next’. Putting the team and the processes in place to accelerate growth, enlisting the right support to guide them, and getting the right funding in place to get there are big-ticket items that take effort to get right.

Skalata Ventures recently announced that Faramoon (TRAM 2016) was accepted into their April 2020 seed investment program intake – the first TRAM alumni team to be accepted into the prestigious program. For Faramoon, this is a huge step toward success. Being part of our very first TRAM cohort, it’s incredibly special to see them achieve such an important milestone, and a serious silver lining to this period of isolation!

We spoke to Dr Mohsen Kalantari, one of the founders, about the news and what the team hopes to achieve this year.

“Faramoon has been selected from 150 applicants to participate in Skalata Ventures. This outcome is both promising and exciting for Faramoon. Being among six startups participating in the program in 2020 has risen the bar higher for us and has put us in a position to aim for new heights.

“The funding will help Faramoon to accelerate customer acquisition at a global scale. It will also assist us in improving Faramoon's technology and providing a better customer experience.

“Faramoon has navigated through exciting and challenging moments since being admitted in the inaugural TRAM program in 2016. A journey that has involved getting out of our comfort zone to talk to customers, greater awareness driven by customer feedback, the pains of pivoting, the excitement of a deal with the University of Melbourne on our IP, the satisfaction of our first paying customer, the sense of fulfilment of the first grant secured, failure in partnership with other companies in the market and anxieties caused by competitors.

“We have been fortunate that Faramoon has been given the chance to participate in TRAM. It offers a unique ecosystem for academics to take their research to new heights and make an impact in society and industry. We thank every member of the TRAM team for their support, but a special thanks to our very first mentor, Richard Day who guided us in the early days of Faramoon when we were called Interactive Virtual World.”

Our TRAM Director, Dr Simon Wilkins, was also delighted, adding:

“It is great to see visionary initiatives like Skalata and LaunchVic continuing to support knowledge-intensive companies that are emerging from our university research community and programs like TRAM. ‘Deep-tech’ startups, like Faramoon, are transformative, precisely because they bring Australian innovation to the world, and create high-value jobs that will grow our future economy.

“We’re delighted to see others sharing that passion and TRAM will continue to drive this agenda for researchers and the broader community.”

Well done to the entire Faramoon team, we can’t wait to see what you achieve this year!