Following Australian Startups and Tech Trends

Today we showcase an exciting and successful venture co-founded by David Jones in 2005, ThreatMETRIX - Security for eCommerce Applications. In a recent email-based interview with David, he gave insights into his venture and how he is progressing with it. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about your venture/company? We created ThreatMetrix to deliver a new layer of security protection specifically for the explosive growth of eCommerce transactions. With the growth of over 20% pa of online credit card transactions and web 2.0 applications now monetizing, the fraudsters have taken advantage of their anonymity on the internet to steal credit cards, fraudulently purchase products and launder money. ThreatMetrix delivers intelligence to eCommerce sites to detect both good customers and fraudsters using stolen identities. • Who are the people behind this and how it started? The founders and core team previously built security products for SurfControl (now WebSENSE) - we saw the u...

Today we showcase an exciting and interesting startup from Sydney, Australia, Sticky Tickets - an online ticketing and event registration web portal. It is co-founded by Matt Freedman, J ay Gaibisso and Dany Gruosso. I further explored Sticky Tickets and how Matt is progressing in a candid interview with him. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I’m Matt Freedman and I’m the CEO of Sticky Tickets , an online ticketing and event registration web portal. We are based in Sydney, Australia and our site currently services all of Australia. I am also the Chairman of eMarketing business Redback Solutions which I founded in 1999. • Who are the people behind this and how it started? The business was co-founded by myself and Sydney entrepreneurs Jay Gaibisso and Dany Gruosso. Jay hired the IMAX during the FIFA World Cup in 2006 to watch Australia v Brazil but couldn’t find a simple-to-use, self-service online system to...

In our ongoing coverage of startups coming out of Australia and interviews with CEOs, Media Personalities, Philanthropists, and VCs, today we showcase a startup in the eCommerce segment from Manly, Tjoos.com - Compare Prices For Better Choice While Shopping. It is co-founded by Kim Chen and Bart Jellema. Let us explore how Bart, co-founder of Tjoos.com , is progressing with his venture. This is what he has to say: • Who are the people behind this and how it started? Back in July 2007 my partner and I were looking to purchase contact lenses online. Having done comparison shopping a few times I expected it to be easy to find the lowest price using one of the price comparison sites. We spent all day looking at every comparison site we could find and got some upsetting results. Shopping comparison engines rarely list the lowest price, and if they do it's merely a coincidence. Shopping comparison sites only list stores that pay them, making most sites nothing more than PPC product se...

In our ongoing coverage of startups coming out of Australia and interviews with CEOs, Media Personalities, Philanthropists, and VCs, today we showcase a startup from Melbourne, Australia, to be launched in October, 2008, Trickytix - an online event registration company. Trickytix allows a customer to create an account, set up and style their event page and then begin selling tickets without any manual intervention from us. This is all achieved through a self-service interface. Typical events include lunches, meetings, fun runs, cycling or triathlon events, dinners, conferences, etc etc. It will be running under a closed beta trial with a number of companies from July 2008. Let us explore what Scott, co-founder of Trickytix , has to say about his venture and innovation coming out of Australia. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? My name is Scott Handsaker, and I am the Managing Director and co-founder of Trickytix, an online...

Today we showcase the story of another successful startup and entrepreneur, Phillip Kingston, Co-Founder & CEO, of  Flogd Flogd is an Australian-based company that allows anyone to create a shop to sell stuff anywhere you can paste code. Sell from blogs, websites, and social networking sites like MySpace. It provides its users with a shopping cart system that handles postage, taxes and processing of the sale. It also partners with other companies to offer Flogd services natively in other applications. Let us explore what Philip has to say about his venture Flogd and his thoughts on entrepreneurship and innovation coming out of Australia. This is what he has to say: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I am a 22-year-old student at the University of Melbourne studying a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Commerce. I am interested in human behaviour, social and environmental sustainability, and, I suppose, technology. I am a programmer by trade but m...

Today we showcase the story of a young woman entrepreneur, Susie Hambleton, founder of Kahuna Bay , from Gold Coast, Australia. Kahuna Bay - is a brand of tropical-styled homewares and accessories. The Kahuna Bay products are sold in boutiques and homewares stores in Australia as well as online in the web boutique. The products are made from natural materials such as sea shells, mango wood, sandstone, mother of pearl, freshwater pearls and silk. We explored a bit further about Susie and her journey as a woman entrepreneur. This is what she has to say in her interview with us: • Please tell us about yourself, your background and interests? I live on the Gold Coast. I am Australian but grew up in California. I have an MBA from California State University and a Bachelors in Management and Marketing. When I’m not consumed with my business…you’ll usually find me at the beach, in yoga class or hanging out with friends. I’m learning to surf and always surround myself with people. The...

The 27th participant is OurWishingWell.com Founded by Joseph Renzi, OurWishingWell.com is an online gift registry that allows hosts of any occasion to list items that they need/want and invite guests to view the registry and request contributions toward these gifts. Hosts can list any item – from homewares, honeymoons, a holiday or a house deposit. Guests can view the registry and contribute any amount towards any gift on the list. It allows multiple guests to contribute different amounts to larger/significant gifts that would otherwise not be possible. This is Joesph's 2nd venture entry in this carnival, first one was SwapAce.com . He tells us a bit more about this intriguing venture: • How it started? It started with his team in 2007. The successful site has now expanded into other sites such as; BabyWishingWell.com, BirthdayWishingWell.com and BestFundraiserWebsite.com. • How long it took before it was up and running? The site took less than 6 months to develop before it was ...

The 26th participant is SwapAce.com Founded by Joseph Renzi, SwapAce.com is an online marketplace that allows people from all over the world to swap, sell, meet, and buy almost anything in a secure environment. It allows you to barter for goods and services; negotiate until you get the deal you want; and make offers to multiple ads without the risk of having to buy everything. It creates and connects communities – both geographically and by interest. This enables you to meet like-minded people and trade within a special interest group. SwapAce.com also has personalised features which allow users to create a list of items they want and when someone posts something on SwapAce.com that is on your list, will suggest potential matches – increasing your chance of success. Let us learn more about SwapAce.com from Joseph, this is what he has to say: • How it started? A gap was identified in the eBay net-based buy and sell model, so I set out to offer net users a unique village marketplace...