Australia may not be home to tech giants like Apple, Facebook, Netflix and Google, but we nonetheless have some very impressive technology companies of our own.
While they may be less well known than their international counterparts, the ASX100 features several technology companies with serious clout.
Here we take a look at some of the biggest technology companies in Australia, including many that we invest in through the Spaceship Voyager portfolios, to find out what who they are and what they’re all about.
1. Atlassian – market cap US$65 billion, as at July 2021
Although listed on the NASDAQ, not the ASX, Atlassian has garnered worldwide attention for its rapid rise up the ranks of global technology stocks and with a market cap in excess of $65 billion it would sit safely in the S&P/ASX50. Founded by two Australians, Atlassian is a software company that builds platforms and tools for businesses.
Among its products are JIRA – a platform for software developer teams to plan and project management, Confluence for team content creation, Trello for capturing and adding structure to team work and Bitbucket for team code sharing and management. Other tools include Atlassian Access, Bamboo, Crowd, Crucible, Fisheye, Sourcetree and Statuspage.
2. Afterpay – market cap $30 billion, as at July 2021
Afterpay is a buy now, pay later (BNPL) product that allows its customers to pay off purchases in four instalments split over six weeks. It’s a free service for customers who pay on time, and it’s got heaps of them – there are currently 3.5 million customers in Australia and New Zealand.
The company makes its money by charging merchant fees to participating retailers. The majority of its income comes from the merchants who offer it as a payment option. Afterpay is also going global, having expanded into the United States and the United Kingdom.
3. REA Group – market cap $21 billion, as at July 2021
A multinational digital advertising business specialising in property, REA Group operates a range of Australia’s leading residential, commercial and share property websites, including realestate.com.au, realcommercial.com.au and Flatmates.com.au. REA Group also owns leading portals in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong, with property-related sites also present in China and Thailand.
In addition, REA Group owns an Australian mortgage broking franchise group and Hometrack Australia Pty Ltd, a leading provider of data property services. The company was founded 1995 in Doncaster, in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne.
4. Xero Ltd – market cap $20.6 billion, as at July 2021
Xero provides accounting software to small businesses and their advisors and boasts over 2.7 million subscribers in over 180 countries. Often described as a cloud-based accounting software program, Xero is listed on the ASX but is headquartered in Wellington New Zealand.
Founded in 2006, the company now has a workforce of 3,500 people with offices in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Asia and South Africa. It allows users to streamline processes like invoicing, payroll and cash flow management.
5. WiseTech Global – market cap $9.8 billion, as at July 2021
WiseTech Global has a software program called CargoWise that gives its customers real time data visibility of their freight operations. It’s cloud-based and has customers in 160 countries, so it’s properly global, too. Huge businesses need this kind of supply chain oversight – and WiseTech Global’s customers are some of the biggest, with all top 25 global freight forwarders in their customer base.
6. Computershare Ltd – market cap $9.7 bilion, as at July 2021
One of Melbourne’s first start-up technology companies, Computershare provides specialist computer bureau services to Australian share registrars and today manages over 75 million customer records, has over 12,000 employees and operates in 21 countries.
In addition to its transfer agency and share registration services, Computershare offers employee equity plans, proxy solicitation, mortgage servicing, stakeholder communications, and a range of other diversified financial and governance services.
7. Carsales.com Ltd – market cap $6.03 billion, as at July 2021
Carsales, the largest online auto classifieds business in Australia, was founded in 1997 and has its headquarters in Richmond Victoria. In addition to its classified business, it offers vehicle inspections and history reports, car valuation, pricing tools and independent expert news and reviews.
The company employs more than 600 people in Australia and has operations across the Asia Pacific region. It also has interests in leading automotive classified businesses in Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Argentina.
8. NEXTDC – market cap $5.78 billion, as at July 2021
NEXTDC has a network of data centres and guarantees its customers 100% uptime. This is a big deal when its customers are businesses such as Telstra, Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud.
NEXTDC offers cloud, connectivity, technical service and data centre solutions to its customers. It’s recognised as Australia’s most reliable data centre provider.
9. Link Admin HLDG – market cap $2.58 billion, as at July 2021
Founded in New Zealand in2005, Link Administration Holdings, also known as Link Group, was originally a share registry business within an accounting firm. Today, it has its headquarters in Australia and administers financial data and delivers information solutions for companies and large asset owners globally.
Link Group’s core business consists of fund administration and securities registration and it is the largest provider of services in Australia's superannuation fund administration industry. It has over 7,000 employees working across 18 jurisdictions.
The Spaceship Universe Portfolio invests in Afterpay, WiseTech Global, NEXTDC, REA Group, Xero, and Carsales.com at the time of writing.
The Spaceship Origin Portfolio invests in Afterpay, WiseTech Global, Computershare, REA Group and Xero at the time of writing.
The Spaceship Earth Portfolio invests in Atlassian and Xero at the time of writing.
Important! We’re sharing with you our thoughts on the companies in which Spaceship Voyager invests for your informational purposes only. We think it’s important (and interesting!) to let you know what’s happening with Spaceship Voyager’s investments. However, we are not making recommendations to buy or sell holdings in a specific company. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator or guarantee of future performance.
