One of Australia’s best known startup hubs hit a wall this year, and it raises a bigger question about how we look after the founder community.
What happened
Fishburners entered voluntary administration in May 2026. Founded in 2011 by Mike Casey and Pete Davison, it says it supported more than 35,000 entrepreneurs who went on to raise over $600M. For a lot of Sydney founders, it was where things started.
Why
Fishburners pointed to long-running rental debt from the NSW Government’s Sydney Startup Hub program, which it hadn’t been able to resolve, along with ongoing operating losses. The hub itself is moving from Wynyard to Tech Central.
The sale
KPMG’s Gayle Dickerson and Phil Quinlan were appointed administrators and called for expressions of interest. On 2 June 2026, ASX-listed Scalare Partners, which runs Tank Stream Labs, bought the Fishburners brand, programs, IP and community assets for an undisclosed cash sum. It didn’t take on staff or liabilities. Scalare plans to relaunch Fishburners pitch nights nationally and set up a small investment vehicle for startups that come through them.
My read
The Fishburners team got handed a problem that wasn’t theirs to solve. Australia is minting billionaires at a serious clip, but the community infrastructure that helped build them is fragile. Good that the brand lives on. The question of who funds this layer of the ecosystem hasn’t gone away.