Perth: the Hidden Gem of Australian Innovation

We, Brenda Xu and Abhyuday Bhartia: the Outback Oddities, weren’t sure what to expect when we landed in beautiful Perth. Having both lived in Australia, we were generally used to the lifestyle, but we didn’t know what we would learn about the innovators of Western Australia. We knew there was something brewing and were keen to find out more, and what we found was a pleasant surprise.

What we found was that while being grounded in reality, Perth’s founders were coming up with creative innovations that we could see inspiring a generation of entrepreneurs. The founders we interviewed had brilliant ideas, but clearly lived their company’s problem every day, and had their solutions rooted in practicality. Each founder showed a sense of grit, discipline and focus on their problem, which we admired. We selected a few to highlight here.

Everclime

Everclime’s Founder and CEO, Sebastian Gray, created Everclime as a way of bringing carbon credits into everyday reality. He wanted to create a profitable platform where users could buy a contribution towards both carbon-negative projects and social projects. While visiting Busselton Jetty, we got the opportunity to see this in action.

Roborigger

Derick Markwell, director at Roborigger, took us through the story of his creation. Born out of necessity, Roborigger tackles a very niche but important and difficult problem: controlling the rotational position of heavy crane payloads so they can be guided into position with precision. Roborigger comes with a suite of software and analytics tools to manage the entire process of rigging operations. They already have a fleet of robots deployed all around the world and are poised for strong growth.

Foody Bag

We were lucky to meet Stuart Kidd, Founder and CEO of Foody Bag, who took us through the story of his startups. A serial entrepreneur, Stuart has shown grit through his entire career, having also started an accelerator program for neurodivergent entrepreneurs and IT professionals, ProFound. His latest startup, Foody Bag, aims to reduce food waste by letting retailers sell their excess food at the last minute at a discount. He has already delivered substantial savings for his retail customers and is set to make a big mark in the Australian market.

Geo Oceans

Nick Veitch, the Managing Director at Geo Oceans, was kind enough to give a tour of the area. Geo Oceans specialises in subsea robotics – they deploy Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) that conduct subsea inspections, manage asset integrity and conduct environmental monitoring, among other things. There were many impressive things that stood out during our visit, including the trajectory of massive growth, the purpose-driven innovation, and the inclusive, friendly and efficient work culture. We got to meet many of his team members and they were all passionately able to tell us about what they were working on.

Whole.

When we arrived, we weren’t sure we were at the right place. Nestled in an unassuming location within the campus of the University of Western Australia, it would have been easy to miss it. We were greeted by Nick Stamatiou, Co-Founder and CEO at Whole., who generously showed us around the facility and some samples of what his technology could create. WINX^TM , pictured above, is a machine that can separate any whole food into its basic constituents. You can insert anything from oats to broccoli into the machine, and be given a shelf-stable slurry of the original. This allows food manufacturers to add whole plant-based ingredients to their products while maintaining shelf stability. At scale, this will help reduce food waste, improve public health, lead to more sustainable outcomes and reduce food costs. Operating out of their small Perth facility amidst Nick’s project cars, the Whole. team have been able to license their technology to significant market players and are on the path to becoming a major success.

We’re really excited to see how these startups grow. We believe that all the founders we spoke to have the potential to be great role models for future entrepreneurs. With limited funding, they’ve managed to fight their way into creating meaningful technology that’s improving the world.