Fishburners, the Sydney co-working space that grew into one of Australia’s most influential startup communities, has entered voluntary administration.
The administration spells an uncertain future for the not-for-profit, which evolved from a single hub in Ultimo to a community spanning over 35,000 entrepreneurs.
Documents listed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show Fishburners appointed Phil Quinlan and Gayle Dickerson of KPMG as administrators on Wednesday.
In a statement, the voluntary administrators confirmed they will continue trading Fishburners, as they “undertake an immediate assessment of the business, in tandem with an accelerated sale and recapitalisation process”.
The board of Fishburners said the decision to appoint administrators was linked to “failed efforts to resolve long-standing rental legacy debt” at the government-backed Sydney Startup Hub, which it called home for several years.
Those debts, combined with “subsequent operating losses”, convinced the board a “formal restructuring process is the most effective way to achieve a sustainable future and continuity for the thousands of tech entrepreneurs who rely on Fishburners’ support services”.
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The board has been “actively engaging in consolidation and investment discussions, which the Administrator will now pursue,” it said.
When asked about the government’s role in the demise of Fishburners, the minister responsible, Anoulack Chanthivong, said they will work with any impacted startups to support them through the administration process.
“Any questions about Fishburners’ finances should be directed to their administrators,” he said.
His opposition counterpart, Jacqui Munro, accused the government of turning its back on the startup sector.
“Despite Fishburners’ ongoing attempts to find a workable financial solution with government, and despite their ongoing good faith engagement, Labor has evidently decided that key institutions and communities in our state’s startup ecosystem are not worth investing in,” she said.
“The NSW Government’s determined recalcitrance on startup engagement is staggering. Since their election Labor has made ongoing policy decisions that make life materially harder for founders in New South Wales. The potential of losing Fishburners, once the envy of Australia’s startup scene, would strike fear into the hearts of most responsible politicians.”
Murray Hurps, who as CEO of Fishburners between 2014 and 2017, creating Australia’s largest startup community during his tenure, said he hoped an ecosystem supporter would intervene to keep the organisation alive.
“There is a real chance the NSW startup support ecosystem is close to collapse,” he said.
“Allowing key organisations like Fishburners to fail and trying to restore capacity later is just a tax on poor planning, paid by everyone.”
Administrator Gayle Dickerson said Fishburners “has been a pillar of the Australian startup ecosystem, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship for over 15 years”.
Founders to have participated in Fishburners include Koala c-founder and CEO Dany Milham, v2food founder Nick Hazell, and Natalie Nguyen, cofounder of Hyper Anna, now Alteryx Auto Insights.
Fishburners origin story
Launched in 2011 by entrepreneurs Mike Casey and Pete Davison, Fishburners intended to connect ambitious founders and technology professionals in Sydney’s developing startup scene.
Unlike other co-working spaces, Fishburners launched as a not-for-profit, reliant on financial support from paid members and corporate sponsors.
Its initial Ultimo space quickly grew to 50 desks. Just four years later, it occupied the entire building at its Harris Street home.
It grew a reputation as a hotbed for local innovation, and by 2015, Fishburners attracted more would-be residents than the premises could house.
In 2018, Fishburners moved to the new Sydney Startup Hub premises in York Street, Wynyard, taking space in a building that also housed Stone & Chalk and Tank Stream Labs.
The Berejiklian Coalition government had backed the 11-storey premises with $35 million in funding, which subsidised rent and helped fund office fit-outs.
Announcing the funding in 2017, former Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the “high-density cluster environment” could help build Sydney into one of “the world’s top innovation centres”.
For a period, Fishburners also expanded to Brisbane and launched its first international foray with a Shanghai office.
Startup Hub disruption
But the state’s startup support plans changed course with the election of the Minns Labor government.
In 2024, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology Anoulack Chanthivong announced the Sydney Startup Hub would relocate to the new Tech Central precinct, located two kilometres south in Haymarket, by late 2025.
The government argued the move would draw ambitious founders closer to universities, research institutes, and established scale-ups like Atlassian, allowing startups to absorb skills and technical know-how.
Budget constraints also played a role.
Discussing the decision to break Sydney Startup Hub’s York Street lease three years early, a government spokesperson argued the hub is “not commercially viable and not fit for purpose under the current model”, and Stone & Chalk, which now runs Tech Central was “fully supportive of relocating the services currently provided at the Hub to Tech Central”.
Nevertheless, the push to house Sydney’s early-stage founders at Tech Central put resident startups on edge.
Fishburners itself questioned the exact level of support offered by the government in the weeks before the move.
“Without a clear and structured transition, the government risks creating a serious gap in the infrastructure that supports early-stage founders,” CEO Majella Campbell said at the time.
“This decision is about far more than desks—and unfortunately, it will be the startups who will feel the impact most.”
Tech Central to now
Fishburners eventually came around on the Tech Central project, albeit at the last minute as government negotiations dragged on and in September 2025, a few weeks after the old site closed, joined operator Stone & Chalk.
It also overhauled its offering: on top of its residency program at Tech Central, Fishies, as many know it, launched a passport membership, offering founders access to networking events across the city, regardless of where they worked.
An additional passport ‘hub’ membership grants members access to a dedicated Fishburners working space within global co-working giant WeWork’s York Street premises, “clustered with other ambitious founders”.
The WeWork partnership also grants passport holders access to international co-working spaces.
Fishburners also announced the launch of a digital ‘ecosystem navigator’, compiling “events, opportunities, programs, and people from across the ecosystem” in “one easy-to-use place”.
And in December, The Ascent Project to back women founders.
The administrator now has day-to-day control of Fishburners operations and he company will continue to trade as usual while an assessment of the business is underway, in tandem with a sale and recapitalisation process, Dickerson said.
“We will seek expressions of interest from parties within the innovation and technology sectors and work with all stakeholders, including the board, employees and founders, to maximise the outcome,” she said.
A first meeting of creditors is set for May 18.
- This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You can read the original here.
- Additional reporting by Simon Thomsen.
- Disclosure: Fishburners CEO Majella Campbell cohosts Startup 360 with Simon Thomsen.
