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Tech23 finalists revealed

Software providers feature heavily in competition to secure venture capital funding for emerging companies

On 19 August, 23 young and innovative Australian companies will have the chance to present their products and services to a Sydney audience of IT industry leaders, successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

The Tech23 event, organised and held annually by Slattery IT, is one of the foremost Australian forums for technology companies to make their pitches to high profile investors and industry leaders.

At stake this year is $150,000 worth of prizes including $50,000 and $25,000 in cash bundles and chances to meet with local venture capitalist and IT industry stalwart, Roger Allen, and former Unwired and OzEmail chief, David Spence.

Of the the companies to make the grade this year, software developers feature prominently. One such company, Cocoon Data, has developed a secure file transfer system that simplifies the act of securing sensitive data. Cocoon already has clients in banking, health, and defence.

Scalify, has developed a peer-to-peer networking engine which it plas to sell to video game developers producing massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) such as World of Warcraft and wider virtual worlds. The company has released a beta product and has won customers in the US and Europe.

But not all of the Tech23 entrants are so heavily into software; some are innovators in the hardware field.

Solar-Gem, for example, has developed a solar energy product for lighting, charging a laptop and a mobile phone or even for TVs and small appliances. The product also has potential to supply energy to rural and remote areas, as well as in developing nations.

Marathon Robotics has developed robot targets that can be used for live fire training by the military. According to Tech23’s website, the robots look, move and behave like real humans. The Australian Defence Force has been training with the robots since 2008.

Tech23 also has its share of Web 2.0 companies.

Portable is a digital fashion studio which has developed a platform for fashion industry types to host their own web sites and sell products online. And biNU has developed a platform that allows customers to deliver low-cost Internet services to low-end mobile devices.

These and other companies will present in front of an audience of some of Australia’s most respected technology luminaries, such as former Telstra and Qantas chief information officer, Fiona Balfour.

Alongside Southern Cross Ventures Partners managing director, Bill Bartee, will be a number of other venture capitalists.

Atlassian co-founder, Scott Farquhar, will also attend, as will RedBubble excutive chairman, Martin Hosking, and Ryan Junee, who several years ago sold the company he co-founded, Omnisio, to Google subsidiary YouTube.

More information is available on the Tech23 website.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Atlassian, Australian Defence Force, Bill, Google, NU, OzEmail, Qantas, Telstra, Unwired
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