ACS buys out River City Labs

ICT sector professional association ACS has acquired Brisbane-based start-up accelerator River City Labs from its founder, Shark Tank judge Steve Baxter.

ACS has committed to investing $7.5 million over the next three years in River City Labs to support the operations of its RCL Accelerator and Startup Catalyst programs.

River City Labs was founded in 2012 to foster the growth of tech scale-ups in Queensland. ACS beat out around 20 potential buyers to acquire the company.

Announcing the acquisition, ACS said the services currently provided by RCL Accelerator and Startup Catalyst for their tenants and partners will not change. Baxter is also expected to continue to be heavily involved in their operation as an advisor.

“We’re tremendously excited by being afforded the opportunity to grow River City Labs. ACS’s vision is for Australia to be a world leader in technology talent that fosters innovation and creates new forms of value,” ACS President Yohan Ramasundara said.

“We understand that new jobs growth in a digital economy comes from tech start-ups, and we are pleased to be in a situation where we can contribute to growing the tech ecosystem both in Queensland and more broadly across the country,” he said.

Since its launch in 2012, more than 700 start-up founders have set up office at River City Labs, while just under 29,000 people have attended more than 1000 start-up and community events hosted by the company.

As well as being a Shark on Channel 10’s Shark Tank Australia, Baxter holds the position of Queensland Chief Entrepreneur, a position established in 2016 to help promote the importance of entrepreneurship to the Queensland economy.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Nmedia

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