Top Unicorns in Australia

Australia, often touted as “the ultimate first-world country”, has a bustling economy that, according to figures provided by the nation’s government, has been consistently growing faster than other advanced economies around the world.

Indeed, according to the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Aus. Trade), the country is expected to achieve 11.1% growth from 2019 to the end of 2024, while the average growth for advanced economies is significantly lower at 7.8%.

Of course, an entrepreneur’s ability to be successful is very much dependent on the health of the economy in which it’s developed, which makes Australia a great place to launch a startup based on economic prosperity. Of course, there are other factors to consider, but it’s a good start.

From there on out, it’s kind of self-fulfilling – startups do better in strong economies and economies are strong because both new and old businesses are successful. Unfortunately, the inverse is also true, most commonly seen in developing countries.

Ultimately, with its strong economy, Australia is an excellent place to start a business, and not only that, it’s shown to be a great place for businesses to continue to grow and thrive in the long term.

For this reason, Australia is now the proud home of ten unicorns.

 

What Else Makes Australia Ideal for Startups?

 

Economic conditions aren’t necessarily the bee-all-and-end-all of what makes a country a good place to start a successful business, but ultimately, almost everything comes back to the economy at the end of the day.

Some other factors that make Australia a good option for startups include:

 

• Government Support: The Australian government actively supports startups by means of funding programmes, the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive, grants and more.

 

• Highly Skilled Workforce: Australians are generally well-educated and skilled, making the country a great place for high-quality staff.

 

• Access to Asia-Pacific Markets: Due to its location, Australia has strategic access to one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. This is great for the potential growth and expansion of Australian startups.

 

• Plenty of Investors and Venture Capital: There are plenty of local and international investors in Australia, and the volume of venture capital in the country is steadily increasing.

 

• High Quality of Life: Australians enjoy a high quality of life, making major cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane attractive to both employers and employees.

 

• Vibrant Tech Scene: Australia has a strong and vibrant tech scene, with particular emphasis on SaaS (Software as a Service), health tech, agritech, fintech and more. Strength in tech is always a good sign, indicating futuristic growth and innovation.

 

These factors are all very much interconnected with the overall strength of Australia’s economy, but at the end of the day, they all come together to form an environment that is undeniably highly conducive to both launching and growing thriving businesses.

 

Top Unicorns in Australia

 

The ultimate indicator of a healthy economy is a combination of plenty of startups as well as businesses that are in the later stages and are continuing to thrive. The best measure of that is in unicorns. Unicorns are businesses that are valued at $1 billion and are privately listed.

Of the total 1,450-odd unicorns worldwide, Australia is currently home to 10.

 

1. Canva: $26 Billion

 

 

Canva, founded in 2006, is probably one of the best-known amateur graphic design platforms. The aim behind the app was to democratise design and visual communication, allowing anybody to create graphics quickly and easily.

By means of drag-and-drop features, professional layouts and a large stock library of photographs, illustrations and more, Canva provides both organisations and individuals with a great way to create and customise presentations.

Canva was founded by the duo of Melanie Perkins and Clifford Obrecht, the current CEO and COO respectively. After nearly two decades, the company is now valued at $26 billion, making it the highest-valued unicorn in Australia.

 

2. Airwallex: $5.5 Billion 

 

 

With 29 different investors, Airwallex is the operator of a global payments and financial platform that processes international payments. It’s a scalable tool that aims to create an easier and cheaper alternative to traditional financial processes, allowing individuals to issue and pay invoices in the currency of their choice at mid-market foreign exchange rates.

The company was founded by Max Li, Jack Zhang, Lucy Li, Xijing Dai and Ki-Lok Wong in 2015, and it officially gained unicorn status in 2019 after bringing in $100 million in its Series C funding round. Airwallex is now worth $5.5 billion.

 

 

3. Immutable: $3.5 Billion

 

 

Immutable is a blockchain-based game development platform. It uses the Ethereum blockchain to transform the ownership of digital assets in the world of video gaming. This provides scalable blockchain infrastructure for video games in an attempt to make in-game economies more transparent.

Currently valued at $3.5 billion, Immutable was founded by James Connolly, James Ferguson and Robert Ferguson in 2018. The founders are now the business’s CTO, CEO and President respectively.

 

4. Safety Culture: $2.7 Billion

 

 

Founded in 2004, Safety Culture brought in $26 million in its most recent funding round at the end of 2023, and is now valued at $2.7 billion.

This global tech company, based and founded in Sydney, Australia, is the developer of a workplace safety technology platform that facilitates of workplace environments. The platform allows for the standardisation of these inspections along with customisation options by means of mobile-friendly inspection forms.

Ultimately, the platform allows businesses to have safe and healthy work environments in a way that’s easy to achieve.

 

5. G01: $2 Billion

 

 

GO1 was founded in Brisbane in 2015 and is the operator of an onboarding, compliance and professional development platform that is designed to be able to educate and train employees. The idea is to modernise enterprise training processes and content, improving the user experience and overall efficacy of training.

The startup was founded by Chris Hood, Andrew Barnes and Chris Eigeland, and now, nearly a decade after it was founded, it now has approximately 1,000 employees and 42 investors. GO1 is currently valued at $2 billion.

 

6. Employment Hero: $2 Billion

 

 

Founded in 2012, Employment Hero received $168 million upon completion of its most recent funding round in October of 2023, and with 13 investors and early 1,000 employees, the startup is now worth $2 billion.

Employment Hero is the developer of human resource management software that aims to close the gap between employees and employers. It does so by means of payroll service, onboarding software and the management of other employee benefit services. This helps companies save time and be more efficient.

The start was founded by Dave Tong and Benjamin Thompson, and achieved unicorn status at the end of 2023.

 

Is There a Future for Australian Unicorns?

 

There’s no doubt that Australia has a strong economy, having facilitated the establishment and growth of many a successful business. However, there’s still a big question that needs to be answered.

If Australia has such a strong economy, why are there currently fewer than 10 unicorns that were founded in Australia?

We’re not saying that becoming a unicorn is easy – it’s certainly not. But you’d think that a country with such an active, first-world economy would be producing way more privately owned companies valued at more than $1 billion.

For instance, the United States is home to roughly 700 unicorns, meaning that the US has almost 70 times more unicorns than Australia. America doesn’t have an exponentially better economy than Australia (not even close), so what’s going on here?

Many experts assert that one of the main limiting factors for Australia is its conservative regulations. Much like the European Union is far more strict and regulates businesses way more than the US, Australia kind of falls into the same category of “over-regulation”, so to speak.

At the moment, Australia is home to nine unicorns – the six listed above as well as Culture Amp, Link Tree and Pet Circle, all of which are valued below $1.5 billion – which is still more than most countries in the world.

But in light of the USA’s success, it seems plausible to assume that Australia has a great deal more potential than is being realised, so it’ll be interesting to see whether the nation makes any regulatory changes in the coming years or simply sticks to its conservative trajectory.