Sydney is recognized as Australia’s global city and represents 7% of the country’s economy. With talent coming in from the University of Technology Sydney and startup communities such as Tech Sydney connecting founders and innovators, it’s no surprise that Sydney’s startup ecosystem is one to watch.

Sydney ranks in the top 15 in Fintech globally in Startup Genome’s recent 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report. One notable Fintech startup is Brighte, an interest-free home energy improvement platform that aims to create energy efficient homes in Australia. Brighte raised $29 million in Series B venture funding in 2018. Another startup to know is Lendi, a lending platform that matches customers to lenders and helps the customers get approved for a loan. It raised $40 million from ANZ in 2018.

Besides Fintech, Sydney is seeing success in Edtech. One local successful Edtech startup is Smart Sparrow, an online learning platform that enables students and professionals to create e-learning courseware. Smart Sparrow raised $11.5 million in Series C funding in 2018. Another Edtech platform, OpenLearning raised $6.4 million in venture funding in 2018. OpenLearning is a for-profit that offers massive online open courses (MOOCs).

Some interesting highlights found in our 2019 assessment of Sydney’s startup ecosystem include:

• Sydney is top 10 global ecosystem for Connectedness
• Australia’s latest unicorn Canva, is a part of Sydney’s success stories with an operational value of $1 billion
• Sydney’s Building Partnerships grants assist revenue-generating startups scale through acquisitions.

In 2018, our member University of Technology Sydney launched the UTS startup program that encourages more students in Sydney to create startups and consider entrepreneurship as a career. The main focus of the program is to create a vibrant community to support student startups. Once accepted into the program, they offer many benefits including access to offers from UTS startup partners.

One of UTS’ partners is StartupAUS, which works with startups and investors to help local governments support fast-growing sectors. StartupAUS pays particular attention to improving the regulatory environment and expanding the awareness of the impact of technology-based startups across Australia. Their vision is to make Australia one of the best places in the world to build a tech startup.

“At the University of Technology Sydney, we see technology and entrepreneurship as Australia’s future,” Professor Margaret Maile Petty, Executive Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at University of Technology Sydney, said. “We’re fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs who will transform our economy and secure our global position.”

Would you like to become a Startup Ecosystem Ambassador for Sydney? Please get in touch with us.