Giants like Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat and Pinterest have been part of the ‘unicorn’ club for years – which means a private company worth billions – but only three Aussie companies boast being a part of the list, with a new one sliding into the exclusive group last year.
The biggest hit on the Aussie side is the digital design business Canva, now valued at $ 6 billion, but was started by founder Melanie Perkins in her mother’s living room in Perth in 2013. It has 30 million users in 190 countries.
Next up is Airwallex Payment Transfer Provider, which is valued at reported $ 1.8 billion.
Airwallex works by allowing the client to open a local bank account for 50 different currencies, so that they can send quickly and receive money worldwide using low bank charges.
Most Recent Addition – JUDO BANK
But the bank you may have never heard of – Judo Bank – joined the ranks in 2020 at a cost of $ 1.6 billion, representing more than 60 percent of the value over the past seven months during the COVID pandemic.
It’s the first of the Aussie challenger banks to reach the coveted position.
Known as neoback – which means it’s completely digital – Judo Bank has no portable branches to visit. It is supported by the Myer family and was founded in 2018 by David Hornery and NAB banker Joseph Healy.
Back in May 2020, Mr Hornery said he had nearly 60 bank employees in support of about 650 customers – with a focus on small to medium-sized businesses.
Nearly billions of dollars of borrowing have been added to its portfolio during COVID-19 as small business customers turn their backs on major banks due to frustration and lack of access to employees, Judo said.
“Relationship banking is something that SMBs have been complaining about for years,” Mr Hornery told Smart Company.
“In times like this, you get a real impetus to move away from what is fundamentally the industrialised offering of the major banks, to one that is actually very relational in its approach.”
Analysis from US fintech company Tipalti found fintech, e-commerce and online software and services were the industries that brought the most unicorn companies.
Unicorn Start-Ups
About half of the world’s unicorn companies are based in the US, followed closely by China, boasting the popularity of TikTok developer ByteDance and the world’s only ‘hectocorn’ with a value of more than $ 100 billion.
Rob Israch, CMO at Tipalti, said Australia sits in 17th place in the world for the number of unicorn companies, alongside South Africa, Colombia and Canada.
“Some of the major factors when aiming for unicorn status include venture capital, team, strategy, size of the team and much more,” he said.
“Given that the Australian market alone may not be big enough to support this level of growth, it’s critical that Australian companies create go-to-market strategies and business models that enable them to expand globally, and to proactively put in the infrastructure that supports this type of global scale. Australian unicorns like Canva have done a great job of this.”
But Ms Perkins has been quick to point out that it was a hard slog to make the business a success.
“I’ve never heard of a company that’s an overnight success, not when you hear the real story,” she told Business Insider back in 2016.
“Every single company goes through a lot of trials and tribulations, and faces a lot of rejection and has a lot of really hard times and huge roller-coasters that they have to contend with. It’s really important just to continue to persist and to see it through.”
