Ventures is proud to celebrate that Pollinate, a standout hospitality technology startup from UQ Ventures’ Food Innovation Challenge and 2025 ilab Accelerator cohort, has been accepted into the Y Combinator Winter 2026 cohort - one of the world's most competitive and globally recognised startup accelerators.
Polinate co-foundersfrom The University of Queensland Adeep Mitra and Corey Berther, Polinate has progressed rapidly from early-stage experimentation to global validation. Their acceptance into Y Combinator places them among a small group of startups worldwide selected for their ambition, technical capability and potential for large-scale impact.
Polinate’s journey reflects the strength and depth of the UQ entrepreneurship ecosystem, demonstrating how students can move from idea to international scale through a connected pipeline of programs, funding and mentorship.
About Pollinate
Founded to simplify hospitality procurement, Pollinate has rapidly grown into a leading early-stage technology venture in Queensland. Its platform streamlines supplier management from end to end — offering automated ordering, integrated communication, AI-driven insights and real-time operational visibility.
What began as a solution to reduce administrative burden has evolved into a transformative technology reshaping how hospitality venues and suppliers work together.
Pollinate's journey with Ventures
The team first engaged with Ventures through the FaBA Food Innovation Challenge, where they began addressing complex challenges at the intersection of food systems, sustainability and technology. This challenge-based experience helped Polinate test early assumptions, sharpen their problem definition and engage directly with industry-relevant opportunities.
Building on this momentum, Pollinate progressed into the ilab Accelerator, where they focused on validating their market, refining their business model and developing the core fundamentals required to build a scalable company. Through ilab, the founders worked closely with experienced mentors, founders-in-residence and industry experts, accelerating both their technical development and commercial capability. They were also recognised at the 2025 UQ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards.
As a result of their involvement in ilab, Pollinate went on to receive investment through the UniQuest Extension Fund, providing critical early-stage capital to support product development and commercial readiness. This funding played an important role in helping the team move faster, test more aggressively and prepare for global opportunities such as Y Combinator.
“ilab was critical in helping us develop and learn the fundamentals of building a company,” said Adeep Mitra, Co-Founder of Pollinate. “We worked with some of the best mentors and had access to amazing resources, which helped us move faster and grow.”
Grace Dolan from the UniQuest Extension Fund highlighted the importance of early, founder-aligned capital in supporting ventures like Pollinate. “Pollinate is a great example of the kind of founder-led, impact-driven startup the UniQuest Extension Fund exists to support...[their] progression through ila gave us strong confidence in both the team and the opportunity, and it's exciting to see that early support translate into global recognition through Y Combinator."
Tyson Jennings, ilab Manager at Ventures, said Pollinate’s success demonstrates the value of sustained investment in student entrepreneurship,
"Pollinate’s journey is a textbook example of how student-led startups can progress from solving local challenges to building globally relevant companies,”
Jennings continued, "Their acceptance into Y Combinator is not only a huge achievement for Adeep and Corey, but also a strong validation of the pathway UQ has built to support founders from first idea through to international scale.”
Queensland Innovation on the Global Stage
Pollinate’s acceptance into Y Combinator Winter 2026 is a significant milestone not only for the founding team, but also for the broader UQ innovation community. It reinforces UQ’s growing reputation as a source of globally competitive startups and highlights the impact of aligned programs that combine capability development, mentorship and early-stage funding.
Ventures' Accelerator 2026 programs open
Inspired by Pollinate's journey? We are excited to let you know that our UQ Ventures ilab Accelerator and Empower Pre-Accelerator are open for applications for our 2026 programs. So if you are ready to accelerate your startup journey in 2026, UQ Ventures offers two programs designed to help founders succeed:
Empower Women’s Pre-Accelerator
For early-stage, women-led startups looking to transform ideas into business plans and build strong foundations.ilab Accelerator
For startups at or near product-ready stage and pre- or early revenue, aiming to scale rapidly. Participants receive a $15,000 SAFE note investment from UniQuest Extension Fund.
