Melbourne based startup established in 2024, combining expertise in planning, AI, smart cities and commercialisation.Spero-ai will simplify, speed up and reduce costs in urban planning for applicants and councils providing significant time and cost savings to clients and empowering planners to focus on what matters.At Spero-ai we are committed to delivering AI-native solutions backed by years of industry experience.The first industry sector that we will be accelerating is the application and approval processes for small scale planning for residential development.Spero-ai plans to initially work across Australia and NZ to offer products to applicants, industry and councils.

The co-founders

James Mant MPIA
Chief Executive OfficerJames is an urban planner and leader with 25 years experience in state and local government. He has led award winning planning projects and been recognised worldwide for his work on 20-minute neighbourhoods. He is a respected planner currently on the elected Planning Institute of Australia (Vic) Committee and is the host of The City People Podcast.

Peter Kelly
Chief Information OfficerPeter is an experienced CIO and a visionary technologist with over 25 years experience. He has a history of spearheading and delivering cutting-edge technological solutions and developed ground-breaking platforms across diverse sectors. Peter is recognised as an innovative technology leader, who drives compliance excellence.

Jennifer George MBA GAICD
Chief Commercialisation OfficerJennifer is an experienced CEO specialising in digital health, smart cities, and climate tech. Jennifer worked in US institutional investment for 10 years and has commercialised sustainable innovations in more than 50 industries over the past 15 years. She is the Chair of the Smart Cities and Communities for Standards Australia, and a former Co-Chair of Australia 4.0, an initiative to identify and build ICT solutions for Australia’s Net Zero Grid for the Pearcey Foundation.