In 2021, we published the second iteration of our Australian tech companies with $100M+ valuations chart. In the three years then, the chart has more than doubled. Let’s take a quick look back.

In 2018, Canva was Australia’s solitary unicorn. By the time we published our chart in 2021, there were six—Canva, Airwallex, SafetyCulture, Culture Amp, Judo Bank and Go1.

At the time of publishing, there are 17 unicorns on the chart below, and we know there are some soonicorns on there too.

The number of Aussie tech companies valued at $100m+ is growing every decade. To show this growth, we structured our updated chart by the year each startup reached a $100m+ valuation.

Note: This list is non-exhaustive. We created it using data from PitchBook, press articles and internal estimates. Is there someone we’re missing? Let us know here.

Here’s the chart in numbers:

• 1990-2000: 9 startups valued at $100m+
• 2000-2010: 24 startups valued at $100m+
• 2010-2020: 62 startups valued at $100m+
• 2020-2024: 139 startups valued at $100m+

That’s a total of 234 startups (up from 99 when we last updated the table in 2021). As the Aussie tech ecosystem matures, there’s more local capital, seasoned talent and company-building experience that startups can leverage to hit milestones faster. We’ve seen how these factors can help founders reach a $100m+ valuation from a standing start faster, with some of the quickest rises including:

• Ambience Healthcare: founded in 2020, valued at $126m in 2022.
• Avicena Systems: founded in 2020, valued at $100m+ in 2022.
• Darwinium: founded in 2021, valued at $100m+ in 2023.
• Hysata: founded in 2021, valued at $100m+ in 2022.
• Ofload: founded in 2020, valued at $100m+ in 2021.

Breaking it down by sector, there are clear favourites for Aussie tech companies, with 33% SaaS companies, 19% consumer and 15% fintech and hardware.

Zooming out, the increasing number of startups hitting $100m+ valuations is part of a larger trend of growth in Australia’s tech sector. Research from the Tech Council of Australia found that:

• The tech sector is equivalent to the seventh largest employer in Australia, providing jobs to 861,000 in 2021, representing 6.6% of the workforce.
• Software engineers are the 14th most common occupation and represent more Australians than secondary school teachers, plumbers, hairdressers and police.

Additionally, The State of Australian Startup Funding Report 2023 reported that:

• There were 413 deals for a total of $3.5bn of funding in 2023 alone, making it Australia’s third-highest funding year on record.
• In 2023, there were 38 deals between $10m-$20m, 32 between $20m-$50m and 15 over $50m.

We’re so grateful to have a front-row seat to the growth of the Australian tech ecosystem and can’t wait to see the increase in startups on this chart when we next update it.