So far we have talked a lot about start-up regions in Europe or Latin America. That’s why the following question came up: What does the Start-up scene in Down Under actually look like?
With the Great Barrier Reef, Australia has the largest ecosystem in the world, but its Start-up ecosystem performs still in a smaller environment. It is said that the Australian entrepreneurship landscape is small but very active. Let’s find out how:
Currently Australia still has one of the lowest rates of investment & Start ups in the developed world. One reason for this is the rather low support that Sartups in Australia receive from the state.
The StartAus platform has presented a number of suggestions for improvement in response to this situation:
- Establishing a national innovation agency
- Establishment of nationwide networks of entrepreneurship centres
- more state subsidies, that the gap to leading start-up nations does not to grow any further
Despite the current situation, the Australian government is confident that theStart-up sector in the country will contribute approximately AUD 100 billion to GDP by 2033.
The market around the founding capital Melbourne and Sydney is already seen as a great opportunity, especially in an international context. For example, the Australian start-up Canva has grown to 1,023 employees since its foundation in 2012 (as of 2020). We are also very enthusiastic about the graphics tool and use it for our posts on social media, for example!
As already mentioned, the performance of the government is still expandable, but there are already some support possibilities for startups:
- The government has made an investment of A$1.1 billion
- There are new tax incentives for early stage investors
- Since 2016, Sydney has had an action plan for tech start-ups. This is intended to raise awareness of the importance of tech start-ups and increase the density of the start-up ecosystem. Overall, the program is intended to make it easier for founders to enter the market.
- The „Regulatory Sandbox“ offers start-ups the opportunity to test their product/service for up to 12 months with 100 customers in a secure environment.
- Accelerator Landing Pools are available to help start-ups to gain a foothold in a foreign market.
Overall there is still a lot of room for improvement in the Australian start-up scene, but the Australians are on the right track.