This week it was revealed that local tech business, HealthEngine, had raised $26 million from global venture capitalist Sequoia Capital.
This is notable for a few reasons:
- it’s the largest private sector investment in a local tech startup
- the first such investment from this Silicon Valley VC in Western Australia, and their second in Australia (after investing in Melbourne-originated LIFX)
- the same VC that has invested in such global successes as Google, Apple, Whatsapp, Stripe and AirBnB
- the business is headquartered and will remain (as far as we know) in Perth
- the investment reduces the need for the company to do an IPO & keeps the business private
On so many levels, this is a knock-it-out-of-the-park deal, made all the the more notable in that the co-founder and CEO, Marcus Tan, has been a fixture on the local startup scene for 7 years or so.
I remember first meeting Marcus when he was a fellow mentor on Perth’s first Startup Weekend in September 2012. The 10th such event will be held next month. The more I got to know Marcus, the more impressed I was.
Not only a cofounder and CEO (he’d put together the HealthEngine startup in 2006, developing it from his lounge room), he was also an angel investor himself, and a philanthropist (being behind the Global Meridian fund raiser for local worthy causes). He was one of those who set up Perth’s second co-working space for techies, Sync Labs (now run by Spacecubed). He has been basically everywhere in and around the sector in the past decade, as well as a practising GP. Is there nothing he can’t do?
A week last Friday I moderated a session down at the Old Swan Brewery (see photo above), on the topic of digital disruption in health, and he was quite brilliant on the panel. His deep intelligence and soft spoken authority came across (as always), and anyone that met him and heard him cannot but be impressed.
A few years ago I invited him to be a guest speaker in my eBusiness MBA class. Along with many gems of advice, I remember him saying that that Australia is of a certain size that one online business can totally dominate a sector. Realestate.com.au (REA Group) has done this in real estate, and is one of the most profitable online real estate businesses globally. A larger country, such as the States, he argued, is almost too large to have one business dominate. It was clear he was out to dominate Australia, and this week’s funding probably allows him to complete that mission, while looking out for regional and global market expansions.
It could not happen to a better person, and I wish him and HealthEngine all the best.
What this also does is demonstrate to other local tech startup aspirants that a good tech idea, well executed, can be built from Perth. Apart from traditional ICT businesses like Amcom and iiNet, we’ve not seen evidence of this being done. You can also bet Sequoia and others will be looking at Australia, and maybe even Perth. To Atlassian and Canva (Perth originated, but now Sydney based), HealthEngine is now added as the next possible Aussie ‘unicorn’.
Be inspired Perth tech startups up, for you could join the list sometime soon…
