What is Tech Council of Australia? Which are its constituent companies?

Highlights

• Australian tech industry titans have come together to form an alliance, which intends to transform Australia into the global start-up capital within next 10 years.
• The Tech Council of Australia comprises almost 25 leading companies and aims to employ over one million people by 2025.
• Local subsidiaries of Microsoft and Google, and other big names like Tesla, are said to be the part of the council where 50% of the member companies are Australian.

In what would emerge as a new institutional power, the Tech Council of Australia was finally launched on Wednesday, 11 August 2021. This alliance is aimed at transforming Australia into the global start-up capital within next 10 years.

Total 25 companies, known as foundation members, have come together to launch this group, that majorly includes Australian start-up and scale-up companies, venture capital firms and some well-known multinational tech giants.

Source: © Jirsak | Megapixl.com

What exactly is Tech Council of Australia?

Founded by former StartupAus Chief executive Alex McCauley, the Tech Council Australia is basically a broad collection of ecosystem interests, formed with the alliance of big Australian startup, venture capitals and scale-up companies, as well as some big names in the global tech space like Microsoft, Tesla and Strip.

With a newly appointed CEO Kate Pounder, the global council targets to engage the Australian government business, and other related communities to widely drum up support in the ongoing development, creation, and technology adoption across industries.

Australia’s Tech Council is chaired by Robyn Denholm, Chairperson of Tesla, Inc.  representing a broad cross-section of the technology ecosystem. Its board includes Scott Farquhar, Atlassian co-founder and Mina Radhakrishnan, CEO of Different.

The council is aimed at shaping Australia’s digital future and making it the global start-up capital in the next ten years, with a vision of harnessing the technology sector. The council aims to grow the tech industry value by AU$250 billion by 2031, employing over 1 million people by 2025.

Which companies constitute the Tech Council of Australia?

It took Alex McCauley around one and a half years to bring together various parts of the technology sector to finally form the massive Tech Council of Australia.

The board of directors includes Alex McCauley, Robyn Denholm, Mina Radhakrishnan, Scott Farquhar, Kate Jones, Cliff Obrecht, Anthony Eisen (CEO Afterpay), Didier Elzinga and Wyatt Roy.

The group comprises a total of 25 companies including Google. Here’s the list of the constituent companies:

1.    99designs

99designs is a leading global creative platform for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and business owners. It has brought over 1 million creative projects since 2008 and now it’s a member of the global tech council of Australia.

2.    Afterpay Limited

With millions of global customers, Afterpay Limited (ASX:APT) is an Australian-based BNPL company founded in 2017.

3.    Airtasker Limited

Airtasker (ASX:ART)  is an Australian community platform that provides an online marketplace for various professionals indulging in various creative activities.

4.    AirTree Ventures

AirTree is a venture capital company that majorly invests in Australia and New Zealand-based technology start-ups and entrepreneurs.

5.    Atlassian Corporation

Formed in 2002, Atlassian is an Australia-based software development firm listed on the NASDAQ. It provides a range of software products to help different teams organise, discuss, and complete work in an orderly manner.

Also Read: Tech Players Atlassian, Afterpay and NEXTDC in Action

6.    Blackbird Ventures

Balckbird is a venture capital firm, which raises funds to invest in the best start-up companies. It has a portfolio of over 70 companies across Australia and New Zealand.

7.    CapitalB

It’s a Brisbane-based investment firm that operates through a diverse range of growing portfolio and forward-thinking business. It aims at building innovative and inspirational businesses across various sectors.

8.    Deputy

Deputy is an Australian Information technology firm providing cloud-based workforce management and scheduling platform to help various companies organise and manage their teams.

9.    Culture AMP

Culture is another firm providing a data-driven employee engagement platform for assisting businesses in organising staff culture.

10. Canva

Canva provides graphic design platforms to create various kinds of visual content.

11. Different Technologies

Operating in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, Different is a licenced agency in NSW providing high-quality, full-service property management solutions.

12. Google Australia

Google Australia (GOOGL) is a digital service provider to Australians, providing digital advertising solutions through cloud and consumer hardware products.

13. Health Engine

Health Engine is operating as Australia’s leading healthcare booking destination with over 7 million Aussies and 30 million online bookings via its HealthEngine app.

14. Main Sequence Ventures

It is a venture capital firm involved in managing CSIRO Innovation Fund 1, LP

15. Megaport

Megaport is a leading global network provider founded in 2013. Helps in establishing simpler networks without any complex configuration.

16. Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft provides digital transformation solutions and other services.

17. Our Innovation Fund LP

It’s an Australian venture capital firm that invests in early-stage tech firms.

18. Redbubble

It’s a global online marketplace for print-on-demand based products.

19. SafetyCulture

SafetyCulture provides mobile-based operational platforms for workforce management.

20. Sonder

Sonder is a leading provider of online wellbeing and safety management platform.

21. Square Peg

SquarePeg is a global investment firm empowering entrepreneurs across the globe.

22. Stripe

Stripe provides a wide range of financial tools for IT firms and entrepreneurs across the globe.

23. Tyro

Tyro is an Australia-based largest Electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) provider.

24. Jarden

Jarden offers a wide range of investment products and services in wholesale and retail markets across the globe.

25. Livetiles Reach

LiveTiles is a workspace technology firm offering wide range of IT products for workspace management.