The valuation of Victoria’s startup ecosystem has increased from $91 billion to $103 billion in the last year, according to a new analysis by LaunchVic and venture capital (VC) platform dealroom.co.
Victorian Healthtech and Biotech startups are the most funded sub-sectors in 2023, followed by Fintech
After a couple of record years, VC investment in Victorian startups has returned to 2018 levels, This is indicative of a worldwide decline in venture capital funding.
While rounds between $15M and $100M continue to surpass pre-pandemic levels, no massive rounds of $100M+ have occurred in 2023. Annual investments in early-stage funding have remained stagnant at or below $100 million since 2016, with little movement.
The valuation shows the local startup ecosystem has grown in value 18X since 2016
Victorian Healthtech and Biotech startups are the most funded sub-sectors in 2023, followed by Fintech. These sectors are also capturing a slightly larger amount of VC than the rest of Australia.
Victorian startups employ 56,000 people globally, of which 35,600 (63%) are located in Australia, a 12.6% increase in local startup jobs from 2020. Of these 26,400 jobs are located in Victoria.
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Of the locally created jobs 43% are in one of three sectors: Healthtech, Fintech and Real Estate. Fintech is responsible for creating the highest number of local jobs, with job creation driven by unicorns MYOB, Judo Bank and Pexa. Healthtech is the second largest job creator, driven by the large number of smaller startups and scaleups hiring new roles. 60% of Real Estate jobs are created by REA Group.
LaunchVic CEO, Dr Kate Cornick said 2023 had been a tough year for investment, however, Victoria’s startup ecosystem continued to grow in terms of startup numbers and startup jobs.
“Early-stage investment continues to be a concern for LaunchVic, as it is essential startups get capital to support their early growth.”
“It is pleasing to see the work we have done to bring new investors into the startup sector pay off; however, we remain laser-focused on increasing access to early-stage capital.”
For more on the trends, please visit LaunchVic.
