Power Ledger tops Techboard’s quarterly Ranking for September 2016

A summarised version of this story appeared in the new investment-focused Tech Magazine Techinvest which had its first edition circulated with the Australian Financial Review on Wednesday 23 November 2016. Here is the full story along with the top 25 from that ranking period.

This and many more interesting stories on some of Australasia’s most innovative technology and innovation can be found in Techinvest, Australia’s most widely distributed technology and innovation focussed magazine which saw its first edition circulated via today’s Australian Financial Review to around 70,000 readers.

Techboard will be releasing its full year ranking following our Annual Night of Nights celebrating our highest trending Startups and Tech Companies on 6 December 2016 at Techboard 2016.

Power Ledger was the September quarter’s top trending startup. The company provides a decentralised marketplace for renewable energy – allowing consumers to trade surplus electricity directly with one another. The marketplace uses blockchain technology provided by a related company, Ledger Assets (ranked 67th), which develops blockchain systems. Both companies are co-founded by tech entrepreneur John Bulich.

“Blockchain is like an OS update for society while solar power will bring about an upgrade to much of its hardware,” said Bulic. “Power Ledger is the logical product of the convergence of these two powerful technologies.”

The company scored high in mindshare with strong social media engagement, press coverage and web rankings, and received several nominations from Techboard’s panel of Experts. Power Ledger also signed a deal with New Zealand network operator Vector, which will see it reaching 500 solar households, schools and community groups in Auckland. The company’s other co-founder is City of Perth councillor Jemma Green, who is also involved with a range of clean energy organisations including Future Super, The Green Enterprise, Carbon Tracker – as well as Heritage Perth.

Techboard’s startup and tech company ranking scores and ranks over 700 Western Australian companies on a fortnightly basis, and is due to launch nationally in 2017. The ranking seeks to acknowledge companies which are trending over a particular period, looking at press coverage, website ranking, social media engagement, staff count and share price, among other measures. The scoring is based on proportional increases in values rather than the values themselves, enabling young startups to compete with more established listed companies.

Fastbrick Robotics is ranked second, following significant news coverage and a continued increase in its share price. The listed company announced an agreement to deploy its brick-laying technology in Perth, and reached the finals of the WA Innovator of the Year awards.

Family Zone, which provides parents with tools to manage their kids’ online access, was both a WAIITA INCITE finalist in the Most Impactful Social Benefit category, and INCITE’s Startup of the Year. The listed startup is ranked third.

Fourth most trending company of the quarter is migme. The social media company announced it had raised $10m from a range of investors including Foxconn and the ‘Instagram of China’, Meitu. The $2m investment is app developer Meitu’s second investment in migme, following an earlier $7 million injection. migme also appointed new executives and entered into a partnership with mobile platform MOX.

Carnegie Wave Energy is ranked fifth, primarily as a result of a $2.5m grant for a wave and solar power microgrid on Garden Island in WA, which resulted in significant mindshare across the press and social media engagement.

Online share trading forum Hotcopper is ranked sixth, following its ASX float and a $12m capital raise. The company’s shares closed up over 30% on its first day of trading, attracting significant news coverage.

Other notable entrants in the top twenty five include Hazer, Optika Solutions and Shark Mitigation Systems. The latter is in negotiations to supply the WA state government with its Clever Buoy solution, which uses sonar technology to detect shark-sized objects in coastal waters.

Hazer (ranked eighth) is commercialising an innovative process for producing hydrogen and graphite. The UWA spin-out demonstrated growth in almost all metrics, with employee growth, social media traction (in particular LinkedIn and Techboard), international press coverage, ASX share price and website rank.

CEO Geoff Pocock is enthusiastic about the technology:

“We are confident that the Hazer process will have significant impact on the future of both the hydrogen and graphite markets globally, and TechBoard has been a fantastic platform to share our story with the Australian technology scene. It’s great that the team have built this hub where emerging companies can get noticed.”

Optika Solutions is ranked 25th. The software development company was recognised at the Australian Information Industry Association iAwards, winning the national innovation award and Big Data Innovation of the Year for its decision support software, Akumen. Optika managing director Matt Schneider said:

“Winning the 2016 iAwards Innovation of the Year for Akumen was a thrill for the whole team at Optika Solutions.  While we have been around for a decade, not many people knew about us due to the nature of our work and the confidentiality agreements that go with it!”

Second highest ranking unlisted company, and another WA Innovator of the Year finalist, is Tap Into Safety, ranked 16th. The interactive safety startup has reached the finals of numerous awards, including the Telstra Business Awards and the AIM WestBusiness Pinnacle Awards.

The company has only just celebrated its second birthday. “That milestone reinforced the brilliant work the whole team has achieved in developing the safety training platform, bringing on significant major clients and forming a second division in the company that focuses on mental health,” according to the company’s founder Sue Bahn. “Our networks and peers are also positively encouraging our continued success through award finalist nominations such as Telstra Business Awards, WA Innovator of the Year and WAITTA INCITE Awards. It is also great for our achievements to be recognised in Techboard’s Startup Ranking.”

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