This morning, venture capital firm H2 Ventures – with the support of Investec – released the inaugural Tech Pioneers Report.
The report “analyses the Australian and New Zealand Tech startup space and highlights those companies that are taking advantage of technology and driving disruption across a range of industries and sectors.”
50 companies from across both nations are featured in the report, chosen based on five factors:
- Total capital raised;
- Rate of capital rising;
- Geographic & sector diversity;
- Consumer & marketplace traction; and
- X-factor: degree of product, service, and business model innovation.
Of these companies, 27 are from New South Wales (including the business ranked #1 on the list), 9 from Victoria, 2 from Queensland, 10 from New Zealand’s North Island, and 2 from the South Island.
Breaking down the products offered by each company, the most popular category was the booming fintech sector at 11, followed by creative (8), services (5), and transportation (4). In all, 13 industries are represented in the report, proving the diversity of innovation unfolding within the two countries.
Topping the list is SaaS company Atlassian, founded in 2002 by Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Their team oriented products, such as development software JIRA, and chat/file sharing service HipChat, are now used by 50,000+ organisations worldwide, including NASA, Facebook, Toyota, and eBay.
Currently, 25% of Atlassian’s national workforce consists of international employees on the 457 ‘skilled worker’ visa, which Farquhar put down to Australia’s knuckle dragging when it comes to preparing students for careers in the modern tech industry.
“…by and large, it’s sort of a size issue in terms of getting people from education all the way through. So we can do a lot better at getting younger people to study science, technology, maths and computer science and that would have helped us over the last 10 years,” he told Lateline in September, 2015.
Atlassian’s IPO in late 2015 valued the company at $6 billion.
There are only 11 other public companies on the list, including #2, New Zealand-based Xero. Co-founder and CEO Rod Drury has been a prominent entrepreneurial figure in the country for over 20 years.
“With each mountain climbed, there is always a new one right behind it. Achieving those summits is addictive for entrepreneurs.”
The top five is rounded out by digital assets specialists Envato, marketing services company Campaign Monitor, and Canva, the online graphic design platform now used by approximately 40% of Fortune 500 companies.
The rest of the list is where the truly disruptive innovation begins.
Shoes of Prey, #16 on the list, allows users to create personalised 3D designs of shoes that are then produced and delivered to your door.
At #21, there’s 8i, the company set on bringing a human experience to the burgeoning world of Virtual Reality-driven entertainment.
Then there’s Airtasker. #40 on the list, the service allows people to outsource tasks to anyone in the area looking to make some extra money. Airtasker may be one of the smaller companies on the list, but they provide a crucial service at a time when 40% of the Australian workforce is in the throes of revolution.
The report – which can be read in full here – paints the picture of Australian and New Zealand tech sectors well on their way to international prominence. The report is the first of its kind, and as the decade continues the list is sure to change dramatically as exciting new ventures arise to drive both nations thriving knowledge economies.