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AFR Fast Starters List 2025
The Fast Starters List recognises the growth of Australian standalone companies that began trading after July 2020. Find out what has made them a success.
Why an ASX IPO is prestigious and transformative for local companies
Listings facilitate a liquid market, give existing shareholders an ability to sell their shares and allow new investors the chance to buy.
Young entrepreneur’s $2000 ‘tricky’ idea to change school science
Edward Robinson loved science at school but not the way it was taught. So he decided to change it.
Serial founder returns as an AI ‘bot wrangler’
Karl Redenbach is back in the Fast list for the third time with an army of bots by his side at Agentiscale.ai.
How homegrown tech helps solve mental health crisis
A family loss inspired the founder of software platform Talked to offer thousands of Australians access to high-quality care online.
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This Month
Cheeky skincare start-up knows how to catch the eye
Boring Without You has just three products – but has attracted more than 400,000 followers on its social media platforms.
Dabble’s social betting playbook
This wagering start-up has scaled to more than a million users by building a product that blends sports betting with social media and game design.
The $15.5m playbook for beating ‘cowboy’ recruiters
Recruiters Sam Hope and Jory Humphreys say their agency upholds two values often missing in the world of recruitment: honesty and transparency.
The start-up getting Aussies to Wall St by partnering with Harvard
Spark Finance is breaking down wealth as a barrier to great education, offering financing to Australians studying overseas.
Two Aussie Fast Starters are using US ideas to modernise home building
Victoria-based Buildlab and Queensland’s Avia Homes have found a competitive advantage in home building that is driving their revenue sky-high.
What fast-growth companies must get right to attract premium valuations
Four priorities stand out for investors looking for companies with the ability to scale up with both agility and control.
November 2024
Revealed: Australia’s fastest-growing companies in 2024
In a tough consumer environment, this year’s Fast 100 and Fast Starters finalists have managed to find their niche.
Why this entrepreneur does tech differently
From food to climate, innovators saw problems in the tech sector and took action to make things right.
The ‘bad habit’ that turned into a $7.5m business opportunity
Using refurbished components to overcome supply shortages for renewables projects turned into a lucrative business.
The fast movers’ secret to beating their rivals
The best of the nation’s small companies love their customers and know them well.
Trust is the key for this mining recruiter
Launched in the depths of the pandemic, recruitment firm Mergent has grown by 348 per cent to make the Fast Starters List.
This start-up grew by 2300pc in a year
Blake Thompson, who says he was once a little “off the rails”, and his business partner pulled in revenue growth over 2300 per cent.
Meet the lawyer who set up his own cannabis company
A potential career crisis sparked the founder of this medicinal cannabis company, which comes in at No9 on The Australian Financial Review Fast Starters List.
Google reviews ruined Ed’s company. Now he’s making $15m fighting back
Ed Butcher and Ed Godfrey set up a no win, no fee online review removal company called RepSpert in 2020. It’s grown by 300 per cent each year.
How this music tech start-up attracted Sony as anchor investor
An online portal of ready-made music lessons that any primary school teacher can use has won a major investor.
Is the IPO route right for your business?
While sharemarket floats can access deep capital for growing businesses, it’s essential to explore all available options to determine the right investment path.
Three challenges that fast-growing companies need to meet
Staying on an accelerated growth curve will come down to fostering a culture of restless innovation and agility.
Meet the skincare company with 460pc growth
Identifying a niche is easy. Filling it – at scale – is the challenge, as these successful founders discovered.
The start-ups challenging big banks on loans and payments
These top 5 fintechs on the Fast Starters list have found gaps in the market where the big banks fear to tread.
November 2023
Finance upstarts step in where banks fear to tread
Making it easier to send money back to family overseas was the key driver for the founders of EzyRemit.