The company Startup-Muster conducted a survey in the beginning of 2015 with 1.333 responses and 602 startups confirmed (compared to 2014: 385 validated startups) in order to gain a better insight into the Australian startup scene. 48% percent of those startups were founded in 2014 and the main age of entrepreneurs working in startups lies between 30-35 years. Most startups have their office in Sydney (44%) and 17% percent are in Melbourne. Another report, “Crossroads 2015”, was compiled by the NPO StartupAUS, stating for example, that several new VC funds were created in 2014 including Reinventure ($50 million) and Air Tree Ventures ($60 million), based in Sydney. Also, several new startup co-working spaces were launched, responding to the strong demand of startups. Those spaces are for example: Common Room in Sydney, Queens Collective in Melbourne or the Engine Room. Further co-working spaces in Sydney are Tank Stream Labs or Fishburners.
The Startup-Muster survey is also showing, that marketing takes with 12.9% the top position in the Australian startup industries, followed by Media/Content (12.7%), Retail (12.3%) and Big Data, as well as IoT with 12.1% and Fintech is placed on rank 8 with 10.7%. 69% of startups were using outsourcing, 50% to somewhere else in Australia and 17% to India. 64.2% of the software development for example is outsourced and 63% of graphic design. According to this study the challenges are mainly the availability of technical talent, of government grants and of non-government funding. There are already a few grants available, but strong state regulations concerning taxes for starting a business present hurdles, too.
The Compass Report 2015 “Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking“ placed Sydney on rank 16 with the category “talent” on rank 6. It is a very multicultural city with a strong startup scene and positive approach to business, but the living expenses are quite high. Accelerators in Sydney are for example: muru-D, which is supporting digital startups or BlueChilli, which provides startups with early stage funding, technology IP and expert skills. There is also a network of source providers the startup scene in Sydney can rely on. SydStart or Startup Smart are offering support, news and a community for local entrepreneurs. SydStart is also hosting an annual startup conference in Sydney. Other events in this area are for example Unconvention, with successful Australian entrepreneurs as guest speakers or Silicon Beach Australia, a forum for Australia’s tech community with weekly meet-ups in Sydney and expanding to other Australian cities, such as Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide and Perth.