The Brisbane startup scene "is on fire" according to River City Labs' Josh Anthony.
"We've seen unprecedented growth in the last six months, especially here at River City Labs," the co-working space's community manager said.
"We've added more than 70 people to our space in the last six months. We're holding events that have hundreds of people."
The city's startup scene has "really come into its own," Anthony added.
From Friday to Sunday, River City Labs will host Startup Weekend Brisbane.
The Queensland leg of the international network of events will involve teams planning and launching startups in the space of a weekend.
"On Friday night people pitch a business — they get one minute to pitch their business — and they form teams around the best ideas," Anthony said.
"We're expecting somewhere between 130 and 150 people to be there creating startups over the weekend, with a very half-half technical/non-technical split," he added.
Anthony expects around 15 to 20 teams to participate.
Read more: Startup Catalyst extends deadline for applications
"They'll work for the whole weekend with mentoring and regular breaks for food and drink and things like that until Sunday night pitches."
On the Sunday night teams will pitch in front of a panel of judges including River City Labs co-founder (and Shark Tank 'shark') Steve Baxter; Amazon Web Services local startup chief Ian Gardiner; Craig Lambert, a co-founder of Slingshot Investments; and Sue Coulter, general manager, business transformation and technology, at CUA.
There are over $10,000 worth of prizes on offer during the weekend, Anthony said.
"The winners last year, CarValues.co, actually had customers by the end of the weekend who were standing there with their money, handing it over," Anthony said. "You can actually have customers in 48 hours."