The Techboard Ranking May 2017

The May Techboard Ranking is the second to cover Startups from Victoria and the first to have been topped by a Victorian Startup. This month close to one hundred companies have been added to Techboard (by the companies themselves and the Techboard Team) taking the total number of companies included in the Techboard Ranking to 1150.

Advertising tech startup Unlockd tops the Techboard Ranking for May, off the back of a $30m raise. The series B funding round also delivered the Melbourne startup with an Asian launch pad. The Lachlan Murdoch-backed startup offers a mobile platform that rewards consumers when they unlock their mobile phone and view targeted ads.

Matt Berriman, CEO and Co-Founder, Unlockd

Speaking to Techboard, Matt Berriman, CEO and Co-Founder at Unlockd said: “So far 2017 has been an exciting year for Unlockd, having launched our Unlockd Connect product for telcos into our fourth market with the UAE’s market leading telco Etisalat. We also launched Unlockd Stream, for premium entertainment content providers in March with MTV Trax in the UK.

Most recently, we announced our strategic partnership with Axiata Digital, the digital services arm of Axiata Group Berhad, one of Asia’s leading telecommunications groups as part of closing our Series B funding round of $23m USD.

At the heart of our business is the idea of creating value, and we have already given $10m in value to consumers using Unlockd platforms all over the world. We want to create the world’s largest ad and content driven virtual currency, with a big goal of giving back $500m by 2025. We are definitely on our way.”

ZipMoney ASX:ZML was the second highest trending startup in May, and New South Wales’s highest ranked. The fintech secured a significant $260m debt facility, led by National Australia Bank. The startup which provides flexible lending solutions floated on the ASX just over 18 months ago at 20 cents a share, and has been trading in the 70 cents range over the past year.

“The market opportunity is massive. Our vision is to see Zip expand across all checkouts in Australia.” Larry Diamond Founder and CEO, Zipmoney Ltd.

Third ranked iCetana closed a $8m capital raise led by Go Capital, and is Western Australia’s highest trending startup. The company picked up two nominations from our panel of experts and saw some improvement in its website rank and views per visitor.

The startup provides video analytics to solve the problem of monitoring large video surveillance networks, by intelligently displaying abnormal events to security operators.

“iCetana is excited about the recent capital raise, which will support our continued expansion internationally. iCetana has customers located in 10 countries, which provides a strong platform for this growth. We appreciate the recognition from Techboard and its support of start-up and early-stage technology companies in Australia.” Chris Farquhar, CEO, Icetana.

Victorian startup AirWallex ranked fourth raised $17.4m from a range of high profile investors. The series A round was Sequoia Capital China’s first investment into an Australian startup. AirWallex provides cross-border payment solutions, and while it is headquartered in Melbourne, it also has an office in China and an all-important Chinese licence to conduct international transactions.

“Being recognised as a top performer by Techboard is a real testament to the hard work and dedication that has gone into our product in the last 18 months. Airwallex has developed a digital layer that plugs into existing financial infrastructure and uses complex algorithms to deliver payments as cost-effectively as possible. We’ve attracted investors that recognise the vast market opportunity, and with our recent US$13 million Series A funding round from Sequoia Capital Partners, Tencent, MasterCard and Gobi Partners, we have even more capacity to further enhance our technology and grow our global reach.” Jack Zhang, CEO, AirWallex.

After announcing a leadership restructure in which the founders stepped down from the board, fifth-ranked WA based Cycliq (ASX:CYQ)went on to raise $3.5M from a share placement to institutional and professional investors and an underwritten rights issue.

Cycliq also reported strong revenue growth.

“Cycliq is very pleased to have been ranked amongst the top five technology startups in Australia. We are the number one brand for all-in-one safety light and HD camera accessories, and have now sold our products to customers in almost fifty countries. Cycliq continues to innovate as we work to develop new products as we push ahead with our global expansion strategy.” John Turner, Chief Operating Officer, Cycliq.

Other trending startups in Techboard’s top ten include Black Lab Games (8th), gaining significant mindshare as a result of releasing its latest game Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, and Airtasker (7th), which announced partnerships with Ikea and with Unions NSW, with the latter to improve pay and conditions for ‘gig’ workers.

Other notable achievements by Australian startups and tech companies from May 2017 will be covered in Techboard’s monthly summary of Startup Funding Events and Milestones called the Techboard Company Traction Report which will be available from Techboard.com.au.