A freedom of information (FOI) request to the NSW government by the community startup festival Spark has revealed the NSW innovation, science and technology minister Anoulack Chanthivong overruled a recommendation by an Investment NSW assessment panel to fund it with a $40,000 grant, hand-writing “$0” on his ministerial brief so it received no support.
The decision led to Investment NSW double-checking with minister Chanthivong’s staff, concerned about the “reputational risks from the startup ecosystem” given that it “aligns with the objectives of the Innovation Blueprint” and that Spark’s application was “assessed as strong and well regarded”.
Chanthivong’s office responded that it was “happy to stick with the original decision of the minister”.
Spark Foundation CEO Harry Godber shared the details at the launch of the 11th Spark Festival on Monday, shocking hundreds of guests from the startup community. Spark is hosting more free 100 events, many sold out, across Sydney this week.
Spark is one of several events declined further funding since Labor came to power in 2023 and Chanthivong became the sector’s minister.
One of the Minns government’s first actions then was to cut funding to the Sydney Startup Hub before shutting it down in 2025.
During his tenure, minister Chanthivong scrapped the $10 million Carla Zampatti VC fund to back female founders, and suspended the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) grant for six months. When it returned after six months, the maximum grant was reduced to $50,000.
The NSW government also ended support for the annual Startup Muster survey of the local tech ecosystem, as well as the Techstars founders program and the annual SXSW Sydney festival after just three years.
While minister Chanthivong has addressed the Spark festival in previous years, his office declined an invitation to be a part of the 2026 event.
At the minister’s discretion
The minister’s office did not respond to a series of questions from Startup Daily about the decision, instead issuing a statement through a spokesperson.
“As per the Fostering Innovation Sponsorship Program guidelines, the Minister is the decision maker on these discretionary funding proposals. In this instance, the Minister decided not to approve funding for Spark Festival,” it said.
The funding was meant to be for Spark events in regional NSW and Western Sydney.
Shadown innovation and technology minister Jacqui Munro said funding Spark was “a no-brainer” pledging to back it if the Opposition is returned to government at the March 2027 NSW election.
“Programs like Spark, run by volunteers, are the lifeblood of the startup ecosystem,” she said.
“From the local small commitments grants to innovation support, this government has failed to apply the expected standards of taxpayer money expenditure – repeatedly going against the advice of public servants and giving no reasons for doing so. Unexplained decision-making like this is a clear failure of leadership.”
Spark was one of 16 events recommended for round 4 of the Fostering Innovation Sponsorship Program (FISP) under a competitive assessment process “against set criteria to ensure the process is transparent and equitable”.
FISP received 93 applications requesting a total of $3 million. Nine were ruled out, leaving 84 to be assessed. The panel recommended 16 with a further 15 considered “fundable”. The total funding budget for FISP round 4 was $400,000 and the recommended projects were within that budget.
Ultimately, the funding went to 19 organisations, including several universities, business lobby groups the NSW Business Chamber and ACS, and events such as the recent Tech 23 by Cicada Innovations.
Spark Foundation chair Murray Hurps, who also founded Startup Muster, said the festival created collaboration between incubators, accelerators, educators, government, startups and a curious public more than a decade ago.
“Since then, every year it has remained the largest collaboration tool for the NSW startup ecosystem,” he said.
“While we have a record number of events and attendees this year, it also seems like a record high in terms of the need for this work. NSW needs to get Sparked, and for tens of thousands of people it will be this week.”
Double standards?
Spark was previously funded in rounds 1 and 2 of FISP, but the main program has now been knocked back for three years.
Round 3 FISP documents from 2025 reveal Spark was listed as “Top ranked but not recommended (high risk/not appropriate for funding)”.
Godber, a former advisor to the federal Coalition under Malcolm Turnbull, faced domestic violence charges in early 2025 and resigned as an advisor to the Tech Council at the time. NSW Police subsequently requested the matter be dropped and it was dismissed. Godber maintained his innocence from the outset.
But if concerns over reputational risk involving the Spark CEO in 2025 were an issue, then how can the NSW government justify giving US mixed martial arts juggernaut UFC $16 million via Destination NSW to host three events in Sydney. So many UFC fighters have been convicted of a range of offences, including domestic assault, alongside a history of racist, misogynist, homophobic and abusive comments by its participants?
Godber told Monday night’s event that Chanthivong is still welcome to be a part of Spark, but he’s at a loss to explain why the minister overruled the assessment panel to deny a festival attended by 1000s government support.
In a statement to Startup Daily he said Spark has maintained a “spirit of bipartisanship that has defined our community for the past 11 years”.
“I’m sure I speak for the entire Spark community of over 40,000 entrepreneurs in saying how disappointed I am that the Minister chose to deny funding for Spark Festival for the third year running – against the express and repeated advice of his department,” Godber said.
On Wednesday morning, Spark hosted a sold out breakfast discussing AI sovereignty at the NSW Parliament with the Parliamentary friends of tech, a bipartisan group of politicians cofounded by Liberal MLC Jacqui Munro and Labor MP Jason Li.
The City of Sydney continues to be a major supporter of Spark, along with Decidr, UTS, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and Startup Daily.
Editor’s note: Startup Daily editor Simon Thomsen will join PR leader Marie Dowling in the conversation at the Spark event Is Media Relations Startups’ Most Underrated Growth and Trust Lever?’ t UTS Startups on Sept 24. Details here.
