LinkedIn Top Startups 2021: The 25 Australian companies on the rise
The 2021 LinkedIn Top Startups list reveals 25 young, emerging companies where Australia wants to work now.
Over the past year and a half, professionals across Australia have been pushed to reevaluate the way they live and work in the wake of the pandemic. With economic recovery starting to happen at different paces across industries, many professionals are looking for something new and asking themselves: “What’s next?”?
Startups are a natural place to turn to for new ideas and innovation. And our 4th annual LinkedIn Top Startups list is the best resource to find the ones you should be paying attention to right now, reflecting 25 companies that continued to attract investment, employees and attention in 2021.?
To put together this year’s rankings, we looked at LinkedIn data across four pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement with the company and its employees; and how well these startups pulled talent from our flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list. In order to be eligible, companies must be seven years old or younger, have at least 50 employees and be privately held and headquartered in Australia (you can learn more about our methodology at the bottom of this article).
Of course, joining a startup can be a venture bet in and of itself. US-based research suggests that as many as 90% of startups fail — so those that are winning today may look completely different a year from now. However, startups can also be great places to gain experience, grow your career and build important skills. Thinking about joining one? This article outlines some factors to consider before taking the leap.?
Most importantly, this list is meant to be a resource for you. If you feel like a startup is the right fit for your next opportunity, take a look at who you may know at each company, see what jobs are currently open or dig into a LinkedIn Learning course on one of the top skills among employees.
Check out this year’s 25 Top Startups in Australia — and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopStartups.
You can also check out the Top Startups in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the US and the UK.?
What you should know: Named after its former PwC CEO (and Carlton FC president) founder Luke Sayers, our top startup is a modern advisory and investment business. The company launched last year during the global pandemic — “people thought we were crazy” — but quickly leaned into the challenges, finding creative ways to maintain team and client relationships. | Full-time headcount: 90 | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Business Analysis, Stakeholder Management and Portfolio Management | Most common job titles: Partner, Senior Manager and Technology Specialist
What you should know: This employment platform helps small and medium-sized businesses manage HR, recruitment, payroll and benefits while adjusting to the new world of work brought about by the pandemic. It has embraced remote-first working for its own staff on a permanent basis. | Full-time headcount: 320 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2014 | Most common skills: Customer Relationship Management, Human Resources and Recruiting | Most common job titles: Sales Development Representative, Account Executive and Product Owner
What you should know: Proudly B-Corp certified and a member of 1% for the Planet, this online bedding and furniture retailer has a focus on sustainability and the full life cycle of its products. | Full-time headcount: 253* | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2015 | Most common skills: Adobe Photoshop, Product Development and Digital Marketing | Most common job titles: Full Stack Engineer, Product Developer and Customer Specialist
What you should know: When the pandemic hit and hospitality businesses were limited to takeaway, Mr Yum reacted quickly — in just nine days, the company built and launched pick-up and delivery functionality to its platform to support local businesses to trade through lockdown. | Full-time headcount: 95 | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Social Media Marketing, SQL, Hospitality | Most common job titles: Account Manager, Integration Specialist and Senior Data Engineer?
What you should know: In-person visits to the doctors are off the cards for many due to lockdowns and remote locations. This healthcare technology company dreams, builds and runs digital healthcare experiences including two telehealth pilots, one for men and one for women, a tele-dermatology service and a sexual health brand. | Full-time headcount: 120 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets and Adobe Photoshop | Most common job titles: Specialist, Customer Specialist and Software Engineer
What you should know: This Australian financial services firm is majority staff-owned and growing fast thanks to a strategic partnership with multinational bank Barclays. Everyone who joined the company before August 2021 has been given the title of Founding Partner or Founding Principal in recognition of their role in establishing the business. | Full-time headcount: 250 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Equities, Derivatives and Investment Banking | Most common job titles: Executive Assistant, Settlement Analyst and Head of Equities
What you should know: When naming this challenger business bank for small and medium enterprises, the founders drew on the ‘judo strategy’ of a small, agile entrant taking down a slower moving giant. | Full-time headcount: 340 | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Banking, Risk Management and Financial Analysis | Most common job titles: Relationship Director, Analyst and Director of Credit
What you should know: If you’ve clicked on a link from someone you follow that took you to a recipe, article, video or tour, you may well have used Linktree. Demand for the ‘freemium’ social media reference landing page soared as more people rediscovered their passions and dreams during lockdown. | Full-time headcount: 135 | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: JavaScript, Web Development and HTML | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer and Engineering Manager
What you should know: As a startup that connects e-commerce retailers with courier companies, Shippit has thrived during the coronavirus pandemic, tripling its business in 2020 alone. | Full-time headcount: 123 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2015 | Most common skills: SQL, Business Analysis and Customer Relationship Management | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer and Business Development Manager
What you should know: Brighte is on a mission to make every home sustainable by offering consumers a fast way to pay for solar and home improvements. When the pandemic hit, the company reset its targets and refocused on its team’s mental wellbeing, offering additional leave days and activities to bring employees together. | Full-time headcount: 170 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2015 | Most common skills: Business Analysis, Finance and SQL | Most common job titles: Business Development Manager, Account Manager and Software Engineering Manager
What you should know: This construction company delivers high-quality buildings across the commercial, residential, education and infrastructure sectors. Traditionally a face-to-face industry, Kapitol’s leaders acknowledge employees can be even more productive when working from home. | Full-time headcount: 102 | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Construction, Cost Management and Procurement | Most common job titles: Project Coordinator, Site Supervisor and Onsite Manager
What you should know: Australia’s first neobank created shockwaves when it launched and it continues to grow its offering, having obtained an unrestricted Authorised Deposit-Taking Institution licence in 2019. It was able to quickly transition its entire workforce to remote working last year through its cloud-based infrastructure. | Full-time headcount: 119 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2017 | Most common skills: Banking, Stakeholder Management and Business Analysis | Most common job titles: Product Owner, Scrum Master and Head of Finance
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What you should know: This digital marketing company doesn’t mind throwing out the rule book as it works with businesses to employ ambitious ideas and digital strategies. Impressive refused to act on advice to cut staffing numbers by 40% following a revenue loss — not only retaining all of its employees, but doubling staff numbers in the second half of 2020. | Full-time headcount: 75 | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation | Most common job titles: Performance Director, Search Engine Optimisation Specialist and Performance Manager
What you should know: This full service agency uses its experience in research, strategy and creative execution to help brands achieve results. The name is a cross between Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ and Disney’s Tinkerbell, with the company hiring two kinds of people — thinkers (business-focused suits) and tinkers (the creatives and producers). | Full-time headcount: 101 | Headquarters: Sydney and Melbourne | Year founded: 2017 | Most common skills: Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Marketing Communications | Most common job titles: Creative Lead, Creative Specialist and Senior Account Manager
What you should know: WithYouWithMe identifies skills shortages in the tech workforce and builds up talent to fill the gaps, with an emphasis on supporting veterans. The team has grown 450% since the start of the year and successfully launched in Canada despite not being able to travel there due to restrictions. | Full-time headcount: 280 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Military, Data Analysis and Business Analysis | Most common job titles: System Architect, Practitioner and Software Engineer
What you should know: Co-founders Jordan and Laura O’Reilly grew up alongside a brother with a disability. Their experiences with the system led to the creation of Hireup, an online support network to help people with disabilities find, hire and manage their own support workers. The company now recruits Australia-wide thanks to the shift to remote work. | Full-time headcount: 220 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2015 | Most common skills: First Aid, Working With Children and Healthcare | Most common job titles: Support Associate, Personal Support Worker and Community Support Worker
What you should know: No more waiting 15 minutes for a beer! Me&u aims to transform the hospitality industry by making it easier to order and pay at your table. With demand for cashless and contactless payments soaring amid the pandemic, me&u has developed new features to ensure its hospitality partners can continue to grow. | Full-time headcount: 90 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Hospitality, SQL, Customer Relationship Management | Most common job titles: Business Development Manager, Project Lead and Account Manager
What you should know: LAB3 specialises in cloud-based solutions for businesses and government agencies. The award-winning tech company, which is set to open a new office in Sydney in October, recently expanded into New Zealand. | Full-time headcount: 174* | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2017 | Most common skills: ITIL, Solution Architecture and Active Directory | Most common job titles: Senior Software Engineer, Principal Consultant and Senior Project Manager
What you should know: The ASX’s newest buy now, pay later service wants to help people plan right by spreading the cost of purchases over time. It differentiates itself from its rivals by specialising in high-value purchases (think renovations rather than a pair of new trainers), with users able to borrow up to $20,000. | Full-time headcount: 74 | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Stakeholder Management, Sales Management and JavaScript | Most common job titles: Business Development Manager, Customer Service Consultant and Inside Sales Account Manager
What you should know: Roberts Co is a boutique construction company that has grown its footprint across developments in Australia, including hospitals and high schools, and abroad by focusing on hiring diversity and sustainability. The company says the silver lining to the pandemic is the validation of its disruptive business model, which leans heavily into flexibility in terms of remote work and part-time hours. | Full-time headcount: 134 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Construction, Contract Management and Construction Management | Most common job titles: Project Engineer, Crane Operator and Site Engineer
What you should know: Willow empowers asset owners to make data-led decisions in real time by creating a ‘digital twin’ of buildings and infrastructure. The company, which has offices in Melbourne, Toronto, Seattle, New York, London, Amersfoort and Manila, continues to go from strength to strength, recently raising $58 million in a pre-Series B funding round. | Full-time headcount: 250 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2017 | Most common skills: Agile Methodologies, SQL and C# | Most common job titles: Digital Project Manager, Software Engineer and Technical Lead
What you should know: Based in Australia, this cryptocurrency exchange enables traders to securely buy and sell a range of digital assets, like bitcoin and ethereum. The company has experienced a period of exponential growth, going from just 11 employees to more than 100 over the past financial year. | Full-time headcount: 106 | Headquarters: Brisbane | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: JavaScript, SQL and Software Development | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer and Customer Support Officer
What you should know: This business loan marketplace links small businesses with lenders. It refers to its workforce as the ‘Pride’, and recently created a virtual version of its office to allow the Pride to enjoy random daily interactions with their peers and to collaborate virtually. | Full-time headcount: 175 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2015 | Most common skills: Finance, Banking and Financial Services | Most common job titles: Business Advisor, Product Specialist and Finance Specialist
What you should know: Lexicon builds web and mobile applications for big enterprises. The company, whose clients include high-profile brands such as Kmart, Toyota, ANZ, MYOB and Lexus, puts employee wellbeing at the forefront with fun team activities like virtual escape rooms, painting classes and DIY clay-making lessons as well as offering access to employee assistance programs. | Full-time headcount: 95 | Headquarters: Melbourne | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Agile Methodologies, JavaScript and SQL | Most common job titles: Senior Consultant, Software Engineer and Lead Consultant
What you should know: Having evolved from GROW Super to GROW Inc, the company uses blockchain technology to help large organisations provide wealth management services to their customers. It was recently valued at more than $100 million after striking a deal with the ASX. | Full-time headcount: 90 | Headquarters: Sydney | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Business Analysis, Stakeholder Management and Agile Methodologies | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Product Owner and Senior Business Analyst
Share the full list and your thoughts on this year's Top Startups using #LinkedInTopStartups.
Methodology
LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 15%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts the rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalised across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July, 1 2020 through June 30, 2021.?
To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 50 or more full-time employees, be 7 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 20% or more of their workforce within the methodology time frame are also ineligible. Minority venture investments that LinkedIn or Microsoft, LinkedIn’s parent company, make in other companies have no impact on a company’s eligibility.?
About company insights
*Company insights were sourced from LinkedIn Talent Insights. Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles in the relevant country and includes full-time employee profiles associated with the company on LinkedIn. We exclude members who identify as part-time or contractors. Headcounts are provided by the companies directly, unless otherwise noted with an asterisk. Those headcounts are based on LinkedIn data. The insights reflect data as of August 2021.
Reported by: Cathy Anderson, Cayla Dengate and Capucine Yeomans.
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3 年congratulations....
Head of Sales (VIC + NSW) @ 1Komma5 Australia
3 年Very interesting list here. Regardless of some larger and more established companies (older than 5 years) it's certainly tech that is driving these companies and will so into the future too.
Seasoned Leader - F and A | Consulting | HR Transformation | Start up Lead & Investor
3 年Great to know.
Adjunct Associate Professor | CEO | Digital Transformation | Cyber | Academic Leadership & Governance | Reach out for Consulting, Academic Governance, Board Membership, Guest Webinars & Public Speaking engagements |
3 年Will be interesting to see how many of them are going to make it big time success...but best luck to all! In fact some are extremely successful already!
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3 年Cathryn Lyall