Global Entrepreneurship Week is a celebration of innovators who dream big and launch startups that bring ideas to life. This Global Entrepreneurship Week, we’re highlighting 15 Gold Coast founders who have taken the leap and are creating successful, sustainable startups.
Gifting Owl
Gifting Owl is a global experience gifting and booking platform that allows users to browse through thousands of activities and instantly send gift certificates to friends, family or colleagues wherever they are in the world.
Based in Queensland, the Gifting Owl founders have over two decades experience delivering tours and activities. Co-founder and CEO Jackie Babbage launched the world’s first international experience gifting platform at just 24 years old.
Visit: https://giftingowl.com/
Little Phil
Little Phil (short for little philanthropy) is a micro-philanthropy platform designed to help empower charities for the future. Little Phil applies blockchain technology so those who are donating can know the receiver is real, track their money, and maximise their impact.
CEO, Josh Murchie is also the co-founder of the Griffith University Entrepreneur Club, and current Social Entrepreneur in Residence for the Griffith University Yunus Centre for Social-impact.
Visit: www.littlephil.org
Bean Ninjas
Meryl Johnston launched Bean Ninjas back in 2015 with $1000 and a dream of changing the global bookkeeping game.
Meryl is the Founder and CEO of the now award winning Xero bookkeeping and financial reporting firm, Bean Ninjas, a platform that takes the stress out of managing business finances, so entrepreneurs have the freedom to live happy, healthy, productive lives.
Visit: https://beanninjas.com
Crockd
Founded by Gold Coast locals Rosa-Clare Willis and Andrew Ford in February 2020, Crockd provides consumers with at-home pottery kits designed to get your hands dirty and your mind clear.
The mission of Crockd is to move beyond the labels and judgements that exclude us from getting creative, and to allow users to disconnect from technology and connect through real, meaningful conversations.
Visit: https://www.crockd.com/
Cake
Cake is a digital equity management platform that is helping small to medium-sized companies raise capital, set up employee share schemes and manage their investors. Co-founder and CEO Jason Atkins has a background in accounting and finance, holding several CFO and director positions prior to launching Cake.
This Gold Coast-based startup recently took out the Emerging FinTech Organisation of the Year Award in the 2020 FinTech Australia Finnies.
Visit: https://cakeequity.com/
SecureStack
SecureStack is fast-growing DevSecOps startup who recently represented Australia at the AustCyber Austrade Australian Cyber Security Mission to the USA.
Earlier this year, the Gold Coast based startup SecureStack announced they will join Cybermerc, Australian National University, Vault Cloud, Anomali and Countersight to build AUSHIELD Defend, a world-first Threat Sharing Platform with support from AustCyber’s $15 million Project Fund.
Visit: https://www.securestack.com
Secluded.io
Engineer, technology mentor and founder, Steve Dalton heads up Secluded.io, a start-up that makes sensors for a variety of different verticals.
Their products all share similar characteristics; they are secluded and have limited access to power and network. Secluded’s vision is to create simple and easy to integrate sensors that use very little power and connect in smart ways. The team leverages existing commodity electronics platforms, adding their own industrial grade improvements to make unique solutions.
Visit: https://www.linkedin.com/company/secluded-io/
Kynd
Gold Coast founder Michael Metcalfe is the brainchild behind Kynd, a healthcare app that is changing the NDIS landscape and empowering people to choose the right carer based on their unique needs.
This innovative solution cuts administration costs and simplifies the way that people find disability support services. This fast growing tech startup with a social purpose has changed thousands of lives, with a collective $3 million saved by people using Kynd already.
Visit: https://kynd.com.au/
Superdraft
From small renovations to new homes and commercial fit-outs, Superdraft coordinates thousands of design and build projects across Australia every year. Founders Mark Deacon and Jake Robinson built the fast growing, multi-award-winning company after recognising a gap in the building industry.
Superdraft has become Australia’s easiest and most affordable way to design, draft and build, providing an end-to-end design and drafting solution for residential and commercial projects of any size.
Visit: https://www.superdraft.com.au
Benchon
BenchOn is a world first platform that is revolutionising and streamlining the way organisations collaborate with their contingent resource and supply chain partners.
The idea for BenchOn was born when founder Tim Walmsley realised that the problem of employee underutilisation was two sided. Tim created a business only, sharing economy platform that allows businesses to earn extra revenue by loaning their staff to other businesses in need.
In 2019, BenchOn were announced the winners of the Defence Connect Australian Defence Industry Start-Up of the Year.
Visit: https://www.benchon.com
Synnch
Synnch is a cloud-based software suite that allows users to confidently report on all R&D activities to increase the likelihood of achieving the compliance required to claim the R&D Tax Incentive in Australia.
Synnch uses simple language and provides an intuitive user experience, removing the complexities and time-wasting barriers that users often struggle with when completing claims themselves.
Founder, Andrew Antonpolous is also the Director and Founder of Burleigh-based ABA Legal.
Visit: https://www.synnch.com.au/
Virtual Mgr
CEO and co-founder, Anil Patel started Virtual Manager in 2013, with the app-based software now enabling companies to manage risk and maintain staff compliance across a magnitude of different industries, including, hospitality, healthcare, oil and gas.
Designed to resolve issues such as food safety, employee mismanagement, task delegation and labour inefficiencies, Virtual Manager’s products have been adopted by a host of Fortune 500 companies such as Compass Group, Emirates and Robertson and Medstar.
Visit: https://virtualmgr.com
Datarwe
Datarwe was established in early 2020 as a public-private partnership with the aim to partner with government, industry and healthcare providers to develop the world’s most comprehensive acute care medical research data platform.
Co-founded by Kelvin Ross of national technology firm KJR, Datarwe received $1.5 million in Advance Queensland funding for their Precision Medicine Data Platform and recently opened their AI headquarters in the Gold Coast Health & Knowledge Precinct.
Visit: https://datarwe.com/
HereTask
HereTask is a Gold Coast based startup that develops intelligent task and workflow management Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for the healthcare industry. Founded by Martin Haubek, HereTask is a spinoff of a successful Danish company that has developed software for public and private healthcare organisations since 2011.
HereTask are a small and dedicated team that have a strong commitment to developing quality and user-friendly software for the healthcare space.
Visit: www.heretask.com
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The above 14 startups are participants in the Lumina Founders Club, a 6-month program delivered by Cohort Innovation Space.
The Lumina Founders Club is a networking & learning club designed for leading founders of startups and scaleups who want to share their experiences, learn from their peers, and connect with fellow entrepreneurs. Six peer-to-peer learning sessions held once per month, through the exchange of experiences between founders and experienced entrepreneurs
To enquire about the next intake of the Lumina Founders Club, please contact our friendly community team at hello@cohortspace.com.au