Unique & Innovative Companies That Have Reached Unicorn Status
Australia is proudly home to a lot of innovative start-ups, which makes the start-up industry in particular worth considering. The synergy of technological shifts, market opportunities and a vigorously growing digital culture has developed several Unicorns – which are start-ups having a worth of at least $1 billion. Cha-ching.
Instead of showing invisible powers, these present-day tech unicorns and privately taken startups worth more than $1 billion propose something even more exciting; and that is the expectation of BIG profits (and often in a short amount of time). Software development company Atlassian became known as the first Australian business to attain tech unicorn status, and after that some other startups have since swiftly built up their value. Let’s check out some of the companies that have reached the unicorn status over the last few years.
Canva
Canva is a Sydney-based graphic design company and online platform which has become one of Australia's biggest tech unicorns. The website provides an easy way for experts and novices alike to create a range of graphic content without relying on Photoshop and other complex design tools. Led by Melanie Perkins, Canva came to the forefront of design in 2017 and attained tech unicorn status in 2018. Canva’s worth exceeded $3 billion in October 2020 after the most recent fundraising efforts, and Canva have also come up with a subscription-based flagship product in extension to their free version. They are also introducing Canva for Enterprise to promote brand consistency for larger businesses.
Zip Co
The fintech unicorn Zip Co provides up to $10,000 without interest with Zip Pay for items under $1,000, and ZipMoney for huge investments. Founded in 2013, Zip Co revealed a 138% hike in revenue for the financial year of 2019, with intentions of 2.5 million active clients for this year. In 2016, Zip Code earned a Pocketbook budget planner and software for personal finance, with more than 500,000 total customers.
Afterpay
Afterpay also followed the strategy of Zip Co, “buy now, pay later” model and have built up a foothold in the Australian, American and UK markets. Appealing to an increasing need to shop online (particularly in this WFH/COVID-19 climate), Afterpay has added more than 5 million customers worldwide since launching in 2014. As unicorns are privately held, it is almost impractical to nail down explicit valuation rates, although the disparity is especially large in the case of Afterpay, with Morgan Stanley valuing the firm at $5.5 million more than UBS’s assessment.
Judo Capital
Judo Capital was introduced in 2018, the challenger bank providing small and medium businesses got $400 million in its latest course of funding. With a $350 million debt facility deal with Credit Suisse and a comprehensive banking license awarded in April of this year, Judo Capital seems hovered to surpass a US $1 billion valuation.
Airwallex
Max Li and Jack Zhang, founders of Airwallex noticed it hard to open a coffee shop in Melbourne, exclusively with huge exchange rates on supplies imported from China. When they couldn’t turn up a better way, they recruited some colleagues from university and organised one. Airwallex now provides cost-effective software for cross-border payments, thus lowering foreign exchange expenses by up to 90%. By executing so, Airwallex moved from raising to tech unicorn in three years… an Australian record.
Nearmap
Nearmap is a Perth-founded and Sydney-based aerial imagery company. The company supports businesses to attend virtual site visits by joining together aerial photographs into high-quality digital maps. Nearmap holds a large share in the Australian market and is getting profits in the US. This leads to sales topping rates for the year 2019. Nearmap now employs 3D aerial maps for 75 metropolitan cities in the US, too.
Data Republic
Big data and analytics have modified the dimensions of performing things, and data reliance has doubled in the last few years. The Data Republic is among the companies in Australia that have handled artificial intelligence, SaaS, Cloud data science, and PaaS to safeguard the data flow among businesses. The clients of the Data republic range from banks to brand owners and state governments to air services in the Australian region and the Asia Pacific. The startup launched in 2016 and strives to aid businesses use data to grow and flourish. They have offices in Singapore, Sydney, and LA.
So there you have it, all that glitters has a golden horn. An economy with advanced technology and an exclusive position in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia is the proud birthplace of many startups and tech firms. The well-connected startup environment of Australia has backed the advancement of many local startups nationally, and subsequently encouraged their international launch and to achieve the unicorn status.
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