The State of Australian Tech 2020

A Word From Pause Fest

Pause Fest started as an open project – bringing together various people to connect and share their side hustles. We strongly believe that pure magic happens when different mindsets and skill sets collide!

The 2010s were the formative years for many new startup ecosystems around the globe. The Australian tech scene was almost non-existent then. While countries like America, the UK and even Israel were fostering very active startup and tech scenes, Australia was years behind in comparison on all fronts.

According to the AVCAL 2013 Yearbook, there were only three active funds in the country that year, with a collective raise of about $155m, and only four active accelerators. Universities didn’t have student programs that focused on entrepreneurship. Government and community engagements and initiatives were also fairly light.

While we have progressed since, we’re still behind many other parts of the world in terms of early-stage funding, innovation and our GDP.

The Startup Genome Ecosystem Report 2020, revealed that Australia is not progressing much, but as part of the Asia- Pacific, it is ascending. The share of Asia-Pacific cities in top global ecosystems has increased from 20% in 2012 to 30% in 2020. Australia, ‘’the Sleeping Beauty’’, however, is slowly slipping on the Global Innovation Index, falling from 17th to 22nd position in the past three years.

KPMG’s Venture Pulse cited that Australia saw an increase in VC funding from US$1.033 billion in 2018 to US$1.145 billion in 2019. While there were less of more significant deals, there is not much happening in the early-stage investment, which is impacting the vibrancy of our ecosystem and the formation of new startups.

It will, in fact, be even harder to start, build and maintain a small business in the very near future.

This year, Australia’s budget will be in the red by $85.8 billion (4.3 percent of GDP) for 2019-20 and $184.5 billion (9.7 percent of GDP) in 2020-21 – an economic crisis like nothing we have seen in the last 100 years, according to the government.

I wish I could say that exciting times lie ahead of us but unfortunately, decades of playing safe with our country’s riches, the recent bushfires and then, COVID-19 have set us back, much further back.

But if we pause for a moment and ask ourselves, ‘’What is my legacy?’’, maybe only then we will uncover our true purpose and the winner’s mindset to build a distinct future for the next generations. Now is the perfect time to design for progress. In these times, and more than ever, Pause Fest continues to strengthen its commitment to catalysing the industry, celebrating diversity, educating the nation, and providing the platform and the stage for future builders.

George Hedon
Founder & CEO, Pause Fest