So it’s true… We’re in lockdown again. And case numbers are climbing. But our spirits are higher. The tech industry is flying right now - the quality of locally grown tech businesses and products truly is something to be proud of.
Just look at Brissie-based, Go1. They’re officially Australia’s newest unicorn (following a $273 million raise).
“The company plans to use the funds to scale up its team and partnerships and sees expansion opportunities in the US and Europe. Its user base has grown by more than 300% in 12 months, and the business now generates more than 70% of its new revenue outside of Australia.”
And Go1 aren’t the only ones flying right now. Enter Employment Hero… The cloud-based HR startup is on its way to “becoming the next Aussie unicorn”, after it landed $140 million in its Series E funding.
Even the famous online aggregation and discussion website, Reddit, is setting up shop in Sydney. Given that Australia is Reddit’s fourth-largest user base, the formal move into the market seems like a no-brainer.
“Reddit made international news earlier this year when community r/wallstreetbets successfully disrupted short-sellers and made some individual traders rich by pumping up the stock of US retailer GameStop.
The potential to be involved in the next grassroots financial movement on Reddit hasn’t escaped Australians. The company said that — apart from r/australia — r/ausfinance and r/asx_bets were the most popular communities in the country.”
ANZ is revamping its ANZi ventures and accelerator into a startup with a full rebrand and repositioning. The hope here is that when ANZi operates more like a startup, they’ll offer a more “startup-like” culture, which in turn will help them maximise value in all their investments.
“The bank is hoping the new venture, which will change its name from ANZi to 1835i, will have greater freedom to act quickly as it develops a pipeline of investments aligned with ANZ’s strategy, but without the regulatory burden of the bank’s ADI licence.”
If headlines like the above are not enough to remind us why Sydney is such a melting pot of tech talent and opportunity, news of Sydney getting its own Space research network sure is. This network, where industry, academic research and government projects meet, will be established at Sydney’s Tech Central precinct with $1.4 million in state government funding.
Growth projections continue to be encouraging - with experts, like famous VC fund, Blackbird’s founder Rich Baker, predicting that our $1.6 billion strong VC ecosystem is only in its infancy… To keep updated and explore the local tech scene in Sydney check out the map.
Despite being in business for over two decades, Phocas’ product launch cadence is still very much like a hot new startup. Engineers get to learn something new every day while exploring new tech stacks while working to fix a lot of ‘world’s first’ problems and assessing the latest technology available to improve existing products and create new ones.
Whether you’re looking to switch roles, advance in your career, or just looking for a change of pace - this article is for you.
You don’t need to look further than the news to know that there’s a lot of pressure on employees in tech… Burnout, the great resignation, tech valuations… It’s a lot. And showing your team some love can make a big difference at times like these.