The startup ecosystem in Asia has been growing fast over the last few years. The number of accelerators and entrepreneurship programs are proliferating in specific areas of Southeast Asia and East Asia, while other neighboring countries such as Australia are not far behind.
The convergence of several factors is turning the “Lucky Country” into an attractive hub for new startups. Australia’s robust economy, combined with a fast-growing tech-scene and financial support from Australian’s government, corporate ventures and capitalists, are attracting young professionals. Growth is set to continue, with 2018 expected to bring about even more fascinating and disruptive innovations.
Keep your eyes open because Australian entrepreneurs are working hard to make your life a lot easier. And, if you are thinking about launching a new business, consider the pros and cons of working for yourself and learn from these five startups:
1. HealthEngine
HealthEngine is an online marketplace for healthcare that allows patients to find, book and manage their medical appointments. Users can book appointments Australia-wide with a GP, dentist, physiotherapist, chiropractor and many more health professionals online.
Founded in late 2010 by Adam Yap, Dr. Marcus Tan and Mike Cadogan, this West Australian startup has raised over AUS $37M in four funding rounds and now employs 100 people.
Over a million people are already using this service, which could revolutionize how patients organize their appointments and other health needs. As co-founder, Adam Yap explains, “technology will transform the health sector, it will transform every sector. The idea that health can live in a bubble and is separate to your life is changing. There’s this idea that I can book a hotel online, I can buy a car online, then why not organize your health?”
2. Medius Health
A brand-new service in the medical space is Medius Health. Founded in 2017 by Abhi Bhatia, Sammi Bhatia, and Shameek Ghosh, the young startup received a seed round of $1.2M.
Medius is a virtual health assistant, an AI platform, trained by doctors and built by computer data scientists. It converses with patients to understand their complete health profile, determines the symptoms, possible causes and recommends the most appropriate course of action.
As co-founders Abhi Bhatia and Sammi Bhatia explain in this inspirational video, “their goal is to provide accessible and affordable healthcare to everyone in the world.”
3. Shippit
Shippit is revolutionizing local logistics, making deliveries easier for retailers. The platform simplifies bookings and improves the tracking system for both customers and vendors. It makes shipping smarter worldwide.
Rob Hango-Zada and William On founded the Australian startup in 2014. Since then, the company has grown from working with a handful of boutiques in Sydney to powering deliveries for hundreds of retailers across Australia.
After two successful rounds of seed investment, in May 2017, Shippit entered the first round of series A, raising over AUS $2M to grow exponentially quicker.
4. Spacer
Mike Rosenbaum and Roland Tam founded Spacer in 2015, and two years later, they acquired Parkhound, to help become a marketplace not only for storage but also for parking space. Spacer now connects people and businesses, that need storage or parking space, with their neighbors who have spare facilities.
In October 2017, they raised a series A of $2.7M to help them expand into other Asian markets. As Tam explained in this interview with advance.org, an initiative supported by Australian Government funding, “we are planning to enter into Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo as our first target markets.”
5. Koala Safe
Adam Mills came up with the idea of Koala Safe in 2014 after detecting his nephew’s addiction to computer games. He developed a product to give parents back control of their child’s Internet usage. KoalaSafe was born as a parental app and control router that, connected to the home’s WIFI, lets parents efficiently manage the time their child spends online.
After three rounds of seed investment, the company has boosted sales using Amazon to reach $1M this year. They started selling in Australia from their e-commerce website and now deliver to almost 30 countries while continues to expand worldwide.
In 2018, keep your eyes open because Australian entrepreneurs are working hard to make your life a lot easier. And if you are thinking about launching a startup, consider the pros and cons of working for yourself.