Kate Pounder on why Australia’s tech sector struggles more with deep tech than SaaS

Over the past 10-15 years Australian startups have seen massive success in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) space. Unicorns like Atlassian, Canva and Culture Amp have led the charge, but represent just a small portion of the plethora of successful Aussie businesses in the space. But when it comes to deep tech, we’ve struggled in comparison. Tech Council of Australia CEO Kate Pounder shares some thoughts on why that is.

Pounder took the stage at SXSW Sydney this week as part of the Screw Silicon: Welcome to the Global South panel. The session focused on the growth of the startup sector in Australia and the success it has seen, particularly over the last decade, when cloud computing really took off and more funding entered the ecosystem as additional VC firms opened up shop or expanded.