Top Australian Startups That Bloomed in 2023
We also recently published our article on the Top Australian Startups To Watch in 2024.
While Australia is most popularly known for its sandy beaches and breathtaking ocean spots, the country also has a rapidly growing startup ecosystem. Australian startups benefit from a wide variety of macroeconomic factors that has created a perfect environment for the development of numerous top startups within the country. Some examples of startups to come out of Australia include Canva, Gleam and more.
Australian startups benefit from the strong presence of VC funding in the country. There are more than 130 VC firms that invest in Australia and there are also around 200 incubators and accelerators to assist early-stage startups. Australian startups had a strong 2022, with a total of $5.1 Billion being raised across 2022, although this does represent a decrease from the previous record year.
The Australian government is very proactive with the support that it gives to its startups. This support ranges from a variety of small government-backed grants to help startups get started, to the recent Startup Year Program that aims to create a new wave of student entrepreneurs and innovative businesses in the country. This program is currently going through the public consultation process.
We also recently published our article on the Top Australian Startups To Watch in 2024.
1. Rumin8
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Size: 1–10
Founders: Matt Callahan, Elaine Darby, David Messina, Dr Cameron Scadding, Dr Stewart Washer
Rumin8 is an Australian startup that was founded in 2021 and is currently based in Perth, Australia. The company operates in the FoodTech market and uses technology to create affordable feed supplements that reduce methane emissions from livestock, which is one of the biggest global contributors to emissions.
The business has gone through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent being a $12 Million funding round in January 2023 that was supported by a pair of investors.
2. Fable Food
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 11–50
Founders: Michael Fox
Fable Food is an Australian startup that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in Sydney. The company operates in the FoodTech market and creates meat-free alternatives for a variety of meat products using shiitake mushrooms. These products taste just like the real thing, without the environmental impact.
The business has gone through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent being a $8.5 Million Series A round that took place in February 2023. It is unclear whether the business will be seeking more funding in the near future.
3. Catheon Gaming
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 101–250
Founders: William Wu
Catheon Gaming is an Australian startup that was founded in 2021 and is currently based in Sydney. The company operates in the blockchain market and has created a platform that allows users to play a variety of fun, community-driven games that allow them to earn money at the same time.
The business has gone through a number of funding rounds since being founded, and like many blockchain startups, it has seen a large amount of funding. Overall, the business has raised over $55 Million in startup funding.
4. Q-CTRL
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Haymarket, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 51–100
Founders: Michael Biercuk
Q-CTRL is an Australian startup that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in Haymarket, Australia. The company operates in the quantum computing market and creates a range of infrastructure software products to bring utility to quantum computing in a way that is useful to real-world problems.
The business has been through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent round being a $27.4 Million funding round that took place in January 2023. It is unclear whether the business will seek further funding in the immediate future.
5. Baraja
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 101–250
Founders: Cibby Pulikkaseril, Federico Collarte
Baraja is an Australian startup that was founded in 2015 and is currently based in Sydney. The companyBaraja works in the autonomous vehicle market and creates high-quality LiDAR systems to help bring autonomous vehicles to the public in a way that is safer and more cost-effective for everyone.
The business has been through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the company raising a total amount of $63.9 Million. It is currently unclear whether the business has further plans to raise funding in the near future.
6. Dovetail
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 51–100
Founders: Benjamin Humphrey, Bradley Ayers
Dovetail is an Australian startup that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in Sydney. The company operates in the marketing sector and has created a SaaS solution platform that aggregates customer feedback and research in one place. This makes it easier to monitor customer satisfaction and make needed changes.
The business has gone through a number of high-profile funding rounds since being founded, including a $63 Million Series A round that was led by Accel in January 2022. This highlights the popularity of the company’s business model.
7. Katonic.ai
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 11–50
Founders: Prem Naraindas
Katonic.ai is a startup in Australia that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in Sydney. The company works in the artificial intelligence space and has developed a Machine Learning Operations platform to help developers to build and deploy machine learning models, quickly, at lower cost and securely.
The business has recently achieved its largest funding round to date, with its Pre-Seed round in December 2022 netting the team a total of $1.6 Million to further grow and expand the business.
8. Athena
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 101–250
Founders: Michael Starkey, Nathan Walsh, Rex V. Jobe
Athena is an Australian startup that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in Sydney. The business works in the FinTech market and has created a solution to help users to pay off their home loans faster and also make buying a home. This is achieved through the company connecting homeowners and would-be homeowners with ethical investors.
The business has secured mammoth amounts of funding since being founded, even breaking the record for the biggest raise by an Australian company. The business raised $90 Million in a May 2021 funding round.
9. Eucalyptus
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Haymarket, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 51–100
Founders: Alexey Mitko, Benny Kleist, Charlie Gearside, Tim Doyle
Eucalyptus is an Australian startup that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in Haymarket. The company works in the healthcare market and has a number of brands to help people with healthcare across the country. They have helped more than 250,000 patients to have their healthcare taken care of, better.
The company has been through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent being a $42 Million Series C round in January 2022. It is currently unclear whether the business has immediate plans to raise further funding.
10. Mr Yum
Year Founded: 2018
HQ: Collingwood, Victoria, Australia
Size: 101–250
Founders: Adrian Osman, Andrei Miulescu, Kimberly Teo
Mr Yum is the next top Australian startup on the list to follow in 2023. It is an e-commerce startup that operates in the apps, and food and beverages industries. This top startup has created an online platform that customers can access through their mobile, to use to order food. However, the Australian startup’s platform has more to it than that. The digital ordering platform is visual so that customers can see the menu. On the platform, customers can also use a tool for table ordering, pickup, and delivery. Customers also have the advantage of benefit schemes to get them vouchers and codes for their food.
Since launching in 2018, the Australian startup has managed to raise A$101.5M in total funding. Mr Yum has completed four funding rounds to raise this funding. The most recent funding round took place on the 29th of November, 2021. Two other funding rounds were closed in 2019 and another in 2021.
11. OCR Labs
Year Founded: 2014
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 11–50
Founders: Daniel Aiello, Matthew Adams
OCR Labs is an Australian startup that was founded in 2014 and is currently based in Sydney. The company is behind the creation of fully automated identity verification that can be used remotely by anyone, anywhere and at any time. This helps to improve verification and cut down on the risks of fraud using biometric data.
The business has been through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent being a Series B in February 2022, when the company raised a total of $30 Million.
12. Morse Micro
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 51–100
Founders: Andrew Terry, Michael De Nil
Morse Micro is an Australian startup that was founded in 2016 and is currently based in Surry Hills. The company is behind the development and creation of WiFi HaLow microprocessors, which allow improved data transfer speeds across longer ranges with lower power consumption.
The business has received a wealth of startup funding since being founded, with the company’s most recent funding round being a lucrative Series B round where the company raised $140 Million in September 2022.
13. Barrenjoey
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 101–250
Founders: John Cincotta
The next top startup on the list to watch in Australia through 2023 is the financial services company Barrenjoey. This Australian startup provides its customers with advice, products, and financial services. It has been backed by Barclays as a founding investor. The company is very team centred as it was built by its staff and run with a moto of staff stuff matters. Barrenjoey’s aim is to support its customers when making big decisions by helping to build the bigger picture. This way, customers can make decisions informed by the long-term benefits.
An impressive A$120M of total funding has been raised by this top startup since being founded in 2020. This was made in just two funding rounds, which were supported by two investors, one lead investor.
14. myInterview
Year Founded: 2014
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 1–10
Founders: Benjamin Gillman, Guy Abelsohn
myInterview is a startup in Australia that was founded in 2014 and is currently based in Sydney. The company has created a SaaS solution for hiring, allowing hiring managers to conduct interviews over video, backed by machine learning algorithms, which reduce the time to hire and save costs with improved candidate matching.
The business has gone through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent being a Series A round in January 2023 when the company raised a total of $11 Million in startup funding.
15. Relectrify
Year Founded: 2015
HQ: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Size: 11–50
Founders: Daniel Crowley, Valentin Muenzel
Relectrify is an Australian startup that was founded in 2015 and is currently based in Melbourne. Their technology improves batteries and their performance by unlocking the full performance from each cell and reducing overall costs by generating AC output without an external reverter.
The business has gone through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the last being a multi-million dollar deal with Energy Innovation Capital, the exact figures of this round have not been made public.
16. FrankieOne
Year Founded: 2017
HQ: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Size: 51–100
Founders: Aaron Chipper, Simon Costello
FrankieOne is an Australian startup that was founded in 2017 and is currently based in Melbourne. The company works in the FinTech market and has created a platform that helps banks and other FinTechs to make better decisions when onboarding and preventing fraud through the use of a single API to avoid compliance issues.
The business has gone through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent being a $23 Million Series A round in November 2022. It is likely that the business will seek further funding in the near future.
17. Truescope
Year Founded: 2019
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 11–50
Founders: John Croll
Truescope is an Australian startup that was founded in 2019 and is currently based in Sydney. The company aggregates and amasses a variety of media posts to help businesses get real time information about a range of topics to allow these businesses to make more informed strategic decisions.
The business has gone through a few rounds of startup funding since being founded, with the most recent being a $6.2 Million Seed Round in February 2022. It is unclear whether the business will seek further funding in the near future.
18. Sidus Heroes
Year Founded: 2021
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 101–250
Founders: Dan Khomenko, Roman Povolotski
Sidus Heroes is an Australian startup that was founded in 2021 and is currently based in Sydney. The company operates in the blockchain market for gaming and has created its own internal metaverse around their SciFi game that allows users to run businesses in game and earn money in a variety of ways.
Since being founded, the blockchain startup has gone through a number of funding rounds. Overall, the business has managed to raise a total of $21 Million in startup funding from three funding rounds.
19. mx51
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 51–100
Founders: Magnus Hsu, Steven Hadley, Victor Zheng
MX51 is an Australian startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in Sydney. The company operates in the FinTech market and has created a payment solution for merchants that can take payments both in-store and online through the cloud, with real-time reporting.
The business has been through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent being a Series B round in July 2022 when it raised a figure of $32.5 Million. It is unclear whether the business will seek further funding.
20. Pathzero
Year Founded: 2020
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Size: 11–50
Founders: Carl Prins, Charbel Ayoub
Pathzero is an Australian startup that was founded in 2020 and is currently based in Sydney. The company helps corporations to manage and measure their emissions and the emissions that they are financing, with the help of expert environmental consultants. This helps these corporations to actively reduce their emissions.
The business has been through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the company raising a total of $11.6 Million throughout these rounds. The last round the business went through was a successful Series A in December 2022.
21. Ferronova
Year Founded: 2016
HQ: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Size: 1–10
Founders: Benjamin Thierry
Ferronova is a startup in Australia that was founded in 2016 and is currently based in Adelaide. The company works in the medical field and aims to help transform care outcomes for cancer patients by providing precision surgery, imaging and therapy to increase the survival rate.
The business has been through a number of funding rounds since being founded, with the most recent round taking place in January 2023 when the business raised a total of $8 Million from investors.
FAQs
How Many Startups Are There in Australia?
There are currently more than 1800 tech startups in Australia.
What is the Average Investment in Australian Startups?
The average Seed Round in Sydney is worth $835,000 and the average Series A is worth $5.4 Million.
What Startup Industries Are The Strongest in Australia?
The strongest startup industries in Australia are FinTech, Software & Data and E-Commerce.
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