Top 19 Tech Companies and Startups in Australia (updated 2024)
In Australia, the tech sector contributes hugely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and emerges as the third-highest contributor, ahead of banking, mining, construction, healthcare, and retail.
The sector comprises savvy entrepreneurs who use their small business ideas to grow their businesses and contribute to the industry.
At an average of 16 percent growth annually, the industry’s contribution is projected to reach A$250 billion by 2030. (Source: Australian Trade and Investment Commission)
By 2030, Australia’s digital sector is tipped to contribute AUD$250 billion to the country’s GDP (Source: LinkedIn)
Overall, Australia boasts many successful startups and ranks 2nd in the Asia-Pacific region and 9th worldwide for its Fintech sector based on its business environment in 2023. (Source: Statista, LinkedIn)
With all this intersting information, it’s time to dive right in to the article.
Canva
Name of Company: Canva
Founder(s): Cliff Obrecht, Melanie Perkins, and Cameron Adams
Year of Establishment: 2013
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $40 USD billion valuation
Sector: Graphics and Design Industry
Canva is one of the fastest-growing tech and design collaboration tools not only in Australia but also around the world.
Launched in 2013 and co-founded by The Famous Young Australian Entrepreneurs, Cliff Obrecht, Melanie Perkins, and Cameron Adams, Canva is used in at least 190 countries. (Source: Bloomberg)
As of Q3 2023, Canva’s worth in the secondary market was assessed at $25.5 billion and Canva experienced a 35% year-over-year growth in revenue. (Source: Demandcage)
With the introduction of its new products, including Magic Studio, a suite of AI-powered tools, and the Australian online graphic design company Canva, it is not surprising that its yearly revenue saw an impressive $US1.7 billion in 2023. (Source: new.com.au)
“Canva has not only grown but has exceeded and still exceeding the expectations placed on it. It doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. We believe this company deserves all the accolades it receives”
Judo Bank
Founder(s): David Hornery, Chris Bayliss, Joseph Healy, Alex Twigg, Tim Alexander, and Kate Keenan
Year of Establishment: 2016
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $1.8 billion
Sector: Fintech
Judo Bank is one bank in Australia that is revolutionising how everyday banking is done for small and medium business enterprises.
Their lending solutions can start from as much as $250,000 to help build, support, and grow businesses. (Source: Judo Bank)
The bank was set up in 2016 first by an initial seed investment but was formally founded by David Hornery, Chris Bayliss, Joseph Healy, Alex Twigg, Tim Alexander, and Kate Keenan. (Source: Wikipedia)
Judo Bank has raised $1.8 billion in funding from 14 investors in about nine rounds. (Source: Crunchbase)
The company’s recent funding hit $176.9 million in revenue. (Source: zoominfo)
“Judo Bank was the only bank in Australia to make it to WhiteSight’s top 20 neo-banks of 2020.”
Freelancer.com
Founder(s): Matt Barrie
Year of Establishment: 2009
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $1 billion
Sector: Freelancing and Crowdsourcing
When it comes to the world’s largest crowdsourcing and freelancing marketplace, the first name that comes to mind is Freelancer.com.
At 55,946,346 freelancers and employers, it has the highest number of users globally.
The company has room for virtually all types of freelancing work, such as sales and marketing, software development, copywriting and editing, and data entry, to mention a few. (Source: Freelancer.com)
Founded by Matt Barrie in 2009, Freelancer.com has its headquarters in Sydney, Australia, with offices in London, Vancouver, Manila, Jakarta, and Buenos Aires.
As per the most recent company annual report available by 2023, Freelancer.com boasted an extensive user base exceeding 64 million registered users, indicating a 28% increase from the preceding year’s count of 50 million users. (Source: Freelancer.com)
For a company that started very little but now receives over 6.7 million each month on its platform, Freelancer.com has taken its place in the world of freelancing and crowdsourcing. It has become a name many freelancers can easily identify with.” (Source: DDIY)
Airwallex
Name of Company: Airwallex
Founder(s): Jack Zhang, Xijing Dai, Max Li, and Lucy Liu
Year of Establishment: 2015
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $700 USD million
Sector: Fintech
Next on our list is Airwallex, another startup setting the pace.
It is a Famous IT and Tech Company based in Melbourne, Australia.
Established in 2015 with the vision of offering a “financial operating system for small businesses,” Airwallex has successfully secured a total funding of $902 million, achieving a valuation of $5.5 billion as of January 2024. (Source: Contrary Research)
Airwallex operates in the fintech market and enables businesses to accept payments from anywhere in the world.
Four years after it launched, the company became the latest tech company startup to join the billion-dollar unicorn club after its value hit more than $1 billion (Source: Airwallex)
In its six years of operation, this Australia-based technology company has garnered €638 million of startup funding from just about 10 groups of investors and venture capital funding (Source: Dealroom)
“Airwallex has set itself apart and become the go-to-company for many people seeking for cross-border financing without the hassle of trading with foreign currency”
Xero
Founder(s): Hamish Edwards and Rod Drury
Year of Establishment: 2006
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $681.4 million
Sector: Fintech
Another Australian startup that is one of the largest New Zealand companies making waves is Xero – a suite of accounting software perfect for accountants, small businesses, and bookkeepers.
This online software enables users to track and manage cash flow, payments, invoicing, pay runs, and reporting.
It was founded in 2006 by Hamish Edwards and Rod Drury. It has 6 offices in Australia and three offices in New Zealand, the UK, the US, and New York, respectively. (Source: Wikipedia)
Xero has undergone nine funding rounds by 7 investors and has raised $681.4 million.(Source: Crunchbase)
“Xero doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. It just announced in October 2021 its plans to reveal more design and tech updates in the course of 6 months for its bookkeepers and accountants to be able to unearth data and insights for more winnings.”
Afterpay
Founder(s): Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar
Year of Establishment: 2014
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $448.7 million
Sector: Fintech
Anyone familiar with the “buy now, pay later” service will know the name Afterpay.
Like their name, Afterpay is a famous Melbourne-based company involved in financial technology.
Afterpay allows its users to buy products but pay for them later.
No interest is charged on the repayment, but late fees will accrue if the user fails to pay within 2 weeks.
Afterpay was founded by Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar in 2014 and operates in Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand.
Until 2023, the United States held the highest count of merchants providing Afterpay services, yet the market share within Australia and New Zealand significantly surpassed it.
Insights estimations suggest that as of February 2024, nearly 5,000 New Zealand merchants had integrated Afterpay into their websites, constituting over 50 percent of all domains in the country offering a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option. (Source: Statista).
Afterpay announced in August 2021 that it had concluded plans for Square Inc. to acquire it for $29 billion. This arrangement took effect in February 2022. (Source: PYMNTS)
Atlassian
Founder(s): Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes
Year of Establishment: 2002
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $210 million
Sector: Computer Software / SAAS based Solution
Atlassian Corporation Plc is involved in developing software that helps project managers and developers work more effectively and efficiently.
It is an Australian company founded in 2002 by Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Atlassian has simplified business management for its users with various services such as collaboration tools, management software, project planning, and IT help-desk solutions.
Atlassian has 4 different segments – subscriptions, perpetual licenses, maintenance, and others.
The company has the backing of 4 investors and has raised $210 million in just 2 rounds of funding. And with its over 150,000 users, Atlassian must be doing something right. (Source: Crunchbase)
According to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, revenues are expected to reach $1.02 billion, indicating a growth of 16.8% from the year-ago reported figure. (Source: Yahoo Finance)
“Atlassian’s products cater to a lot of disciplines from space travel to medicine, to pizza deliveries and disaster response. They are empowering humanity through software development.”
REA Group
Founder(s): Owen Wilson and Janelle Hopkins
Year of Establishment: 1995
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $149 million
Sector: Property
REA Group is a top-notch leading digital business that specialises in property globally.
Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, the company has spread its wings to two other continents – North America and Asia.
REA Group was founded in 1995 but was listed on ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) in 1999. It has Owen Wilson as its CEO and Janelle Hopkins as the CEO of Financial Services.
It’s regarded as the No.1 commercial and residential property website in Asia and other international apps and sites for property. (Source: LinkedIn)
“Having started from a garage to become a global business, REA Group is an inspiration to anyone looking for some motivation.”
Gilmour Space Technologies
Name of Company: Gilmour Space Technologies
Founder(s): Adam Gilmour and James Gilmour
Year of Establishment: 2013
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $88 AUD million
Sector: Space
When discussing tech companies and startups in Australia, this list would only be complete by adding Gilmour Space Technologies.
Based in Queensland, Australia, it is a venture-backed rocket company that powers new-launch vehicles with its low-cost hybrid propulsion technologies.
The company was founded in 2013 by two brothers, Adam Gilmour and James Gilmour, and has become one of the leading space companies in Australia.
The Australian Tech Startup is also poised to offer more reliable, affordable, and dedicated launches into LEO (Low Earth Orbits) in 2022 with the help of its Eris orbital rocket. (Source: Gilmour Space)
Gilmour Space Technologies’s most recent funding stood at $157 million, bringing it to $207 million so far. (Source: Zoominfo)
The company has struck a deal with US orbital logistics group Atomos Space for its 2023 launch.
“With the pace Gilmour Space Technologies is going, we see it taking over the rocket space market in real time.”
SocietyOne
Name of Company: SocietyOne
Founder(s): Mark Jones
Year of Establishment: 2012
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $70.2 AUD million
Sector: Fintech Industry
SocietyOne, another fintech startup based in Sydney, Australia, is a Peer-to-Peer lending platform that allows credible business people who need money to connect with investors easily.
It was founded in 2012 and is headed by Mark Jones, the Chief Executive Officer, and has been able to raise $70.2 million in startup funding from nine investors. (Source: Crunchbase)
SocietyOne’s most recent funding saw it generate $15 million, bringing its total funding amount to $159.6 million. (Source: Zoominfo)
“SocietyOne has great potential and is poised to remain in business for the longer run. And having surpassed $1 billion in lending, what’s there not to trust about this company?”
Baraja
Name of Company: Baraja
Founder(s): Cibby Pulikkaseril and Federico Collarte
Year of Establishment: 2016
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $63.9 AUD million
Sector: Banking & Financial
Baraja is an Australian startup that provides leading automotive companies with its revolutionary LiDAR technology, Spectrum-Scan, to help them set a new benchmark in reliability and precision.
Founded in 2016 by Cibby Pulikkaseril and Federico Collarte, they combined their knowledge in photonics to solve the challenges encountered with LiDAR for self-driving vehicles.
In September 2021, Baraja raised a new funding round of $40 million to raise the bar on its Spectrum-Scan LiDAR breakthrough technology. (Source: Oil & Gas Technology)
Baraja has attracted at least $63.9 million in funding from 8 investors since its inception. (Source: Crunchbase)
“Quite an impressive move from Baraja. Besides, the combination of the two great minds behind the company has it breaking new ground.”
Carsales
Founder(s): Cameron McIntyre
Year of Establishment: 1997
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $61.8 million
Sector: Automobile
Carsales is Australia’s number 1 online website for automotive classifieds, with a growing global presence in Latin America and Asia.
The company provides a smooth platform for sellers and buyers of cars. (Source: Crunchbase)
It was founded in 1997 by Wal Pisciotta and Greg Roebuck. It was floated into
Carsales was named one of the most innovative growth businesses in 2017 by Forbes. (Source: Forbes)
“Carsales has been expanding its portfolio locally and internationally. It has become a global leader with more than 1300 staff across its offices in Australia, China, US, Brazil and many other countries.”
Secure Code Warrior
Name of Company: Secure Code Warrior
Founder(s): Pieter Danhieux Fatemah Beydoun, Matias Madou, Colin Wong, Nathan Desmet, and Jaap Karen Singh
Year of Establishment: 2015
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $51.5 million
Sector: Cyber Security
Secure Code Warrior is another top tech startup in Australia that provides cybersecurity that helps developers with intrinsic secure coding.
This company was founded in 2015. Pieter Danhieux is the CEO and co-founder, and Fatemah Beydoun, Matias Madou, Colin Wong, Nathan Desmet, and Jaap Karen Singh are co-founders.
They offer contextual training with unrivalled content depth so developers can learn and develop strategies that ensure they always have secure coding.
According to Dealroom, Secure Code Warrior is estimated to be valued between €182 – 274m as of December 2019. (Source: Dealroom)
The company has had two acquisitions – Sensei Security in 2017 and Adversary in 2020 and has raised $51.5 million in funding from 7 investors (Source: Crunchbase)
“With the menace of cyber scammers and hackers, there is no better time to embrace intrinsic secure coding than now. Secure Code Warrior provides developers with the right tool to combat this.”
Moula
Name of Company: Moula
Founder(s): Piers Moller, Aris Allegos, and Andrew Watt
Year of Establishment: 2013
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $50.9 million
Sector: Fintech
Next on our list is Moula, another startup owned by Piers Moller, Aris Allegos, and Andrew Watt, and operates in the fintech industry.
The company was established in 2013 and has its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia.
The company focuses on helping hard-working business owners access loans up to $340,000 faster through quick data processing.
Moula uses its technology to analyse an applicant’s performance history and real-time sales data to determine if such a business can pay back.
“Moula has eliminated the long process involved in accessing loans. With them, getting a loan can be as quick as within 24 hours.”
99designs
Founder(s): Max Harbottle and Matt Michkiewicz
Year of Establishment: 2008
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $45 million
Sector: Freelancing and Crowdsourcing
99designs is another freelancing platform that connects clients with graphic designers. The company started operation in 2008 and is based in Melbourne, Australia, with an office in Oakland, California.
Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz founded the company as a spin-off of Sitepoint, a forum for designers and web developers.
In what was first a contest of fictional client briefs, the founders started charging fees for real projects, which gave birth to 99 designs. (Source: Wikipedia)
99designs has gone through 2 rounds of funding from 5 investors and raised a total of $45 million. The last one was held in 2015. (Source: Crunchbase)
Over 444,000 people and businesses have used 99designs to develop logos, websites, t-shirts, and billboards. (Source: Dreamgrow)
However, in October 2020, Cimpress acquired 99 Designs to become part of its Vistaprint section, but 99 Designs will still operate as a separate brand with its leaders still at the helm of affairs. (Source: TechCrunch)
“This acquisition will see 99designs have access to Vistaprint’s 20 million small businesses. This can only mean more exploration and business for both parties involved.”
THE ICONIC
Founder(s): Erica Berchtold
Year of Establishment: 2011
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $44 million
Sector: Fashion / Ecommerce
THE ICONIC is not a new name to fashion lovers.
Based in Sydney, Australia, the company deals in fashion and sportswear.
It has positioned itself as one of Australia’s most prominent fashion destinations, with over 60,000 items and more than 1000 brands under its belt. (Source: Power Retail)
Launched in 2011 by 3 founders and led by Erica Berchtold as the CEO, THE ICONIC belongs to the Global Fashion Group.
Christoph Barchewitz and Patrick Schmidt formally spearheaded Iconic before Erica took over from them in 2019. (Source: Wikipedia)
The company has won several awards as the best online retail social commerce category for many years.
The net sales revenue generated by theiconic.com.au, accounting for deductions related to returns, allowances for damaged or missing goods, and applicable discounts, amounted to US$476.2 million. (Source: ECDB)
“THE ICONIC is no doubt the last destination for footwear and online fashion lovers in Australia. Its world class service and premium shopping experience sets it apart from the pack.”
AgriWebb
Name of Company: AgriWebb
Founder(s): Justin Webb, Kevin Baum, and John Fargher
Year of Establishment: 2013
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $36.5 AUD million
Sector: Agriculture
AgriWebb is an Australian startup software company that provides a platform for farmers to gather and analyse their farm data.
With this software, farmers can check the health of their cattle, check water levels, plot outlands, and monitor their cattle’s movement remotely. The platform also enables the listing and buying of cattle stock.
It was founded in 2013 by Justin Webb and co-founders Kevin Baum and John Fargher.
AgriWebb is the creator of the world’s leading digital ranch management software solution, serving over 16,000 global farmers and 20 million animals. (Source: einnews)
The company secured an investment of $14 million and an acquisition to gain a minority stake in the industry. (Source: SmartCompany)
In 2023, AgriWebb’s revenue run rate hit $7.1M in revenue. (Source: getlatka)
“AgriWebb has seen the future of agriculture and has bought a huge stake with its innovative and revolutionary platform.”
Car Next Door
Name of Company: Car Next Door
Founder(s): David Trumbull, Chloe Illife, and Will Davies
Year of Establishment: 2012
Funding/Estimated Wealth: $17.3 million
Sector: Transportation
Car Next Door has a simple mission – to convert any car into a shareable car to save money, empower people, reduce waste, and create greener, cleaner, and better neighbourhoods.
This company, which has its headquarters in Pyrmont, Australia, was founded in 2012 by David Trumbull, Chloe Illife, and Will Davies.
The company has been recording impressive results of 100% revenue growth each year. In 2019, Hyundai auto manufacturing raised $6.2 million to cater to its growing customers.
Not only that, but Car Next Door also bagged a total of $10 million in funding that same year. (Source: SmartCompany)
Car Next Door has garnered $17.3 million in startup funding from 10 investors. (Source: Crunchbase)
Car Next Door was sold to Uber in January of 2022.
The rebrand to Uber CarShare was announced in October, as were plans to take on the North American market. (Source: carexpert.com.au)
“A cleaner and greener world is what we are all gunning for, and for Car Next Door, bringing it to the automobile world is a way to go!”
Half Dome
Name of Company: Half Dome
Founder(s): Joe Frazer, Tom Frazer, Will Harms
Year of Establishment: 2017
Funding/Estimated Wealth: (not specified)
Sector: Media
Half Dome is a Victorian media buying company that combines technology and marketing to provide compelling solutions for businesses.
It has a massive focus on analytics and data to maximise its ability to measure paid media success and bridge the gap between business reporting and media reporting.
The agency, owned by two brothers, Joe Frazer and Tom Frazer, alongside Will Harms, started operating in 2017.
Not only has it grown its staff by 50 percent in 2021, but its clientele base has also increased with top companies like 28 By Sam Wood, PointsBet, and The Good Guys, among many others joining the train with increased revenue of $5 million. (Source: Zoominfo)
“While many media companies are satisfied with the traditional way of doing things, Half Dome has changed the status quo and is leveraging it.”
Final thoughts!
Going by the figures, there is no doubt that Australia’s tech sector has been recording steady growth; however, there are still some barriers to its development and innovation.
For instance, in the US, the tech sector contributes 10.2% to its economy; in the UK, the number is 8.1%; in Australia, the figure is 3.8%. (Source: Consultancy)
This shows that Australian tech startups still have room to contribute more to the country’s economic development, at least to try and catch up with the speed of its global peers.
But until then, the journey so far is applaudable.
