Latest
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.
- Victoria Thieberger
Why this entrepreneur does tech differently
From food to climate, innovators saw problems in the tech sector and took action to make things right.
- Christopher Niesche
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.
- Agnes King
Upcoming publications
Best Places to Work
April 10, 2025
November
A one-woman firm becomes a $29m national recruiter
Kay Reynoldson says loyalty underpins healthy growth for this nursing recruiter where revenues have tripled.
- Michael Smith
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.
- Sian Powell
- Opinion
- Fast 100
The fast movers’ secret to beating their rivals
The best of the nation’s small companies love their customers and know them well.
- Victoria Thieberger
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.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
How a yearning for travel grew a 35-year-old overnight success
Diversification has been key to the success of these three fast-growing retail and travel businesses.
- Sue Mitchell
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.
- Primrose Riordan
- Overall Winner
- Fast 100
This is the fastest-growing company in Australia
Founded by an ex-banker, this air ambulance start-up has achieved 700 per cent revenue growth thanks to business from the cruise industry.
- Primrose Riordan
Why this FIFO construction firm ‘never loses a client’
Fostering long-term relationships with clients such as gold miner Newmont has helped this business more than double revenue to $80m in a year.
- Larry Schlesinger
Meet the frequent flyer fintech targeting a $2.6 trillion market
The fastest growing fintechs in this year’s Fast 100 are an eclectic mix with a common trait: they’ve carved out niches for uniquely Australian audiences.
- Ayesha de Kretser
‘Find your niche’: The hard lessons of building tech companies
IND Technology has made the rare leap from academia to commercial success, while legal tech start-up Nexl nearly failed but is now growing rapidly in the US.
- Paul Smith
How a mother-in-law helped keep this ASX miner afloat
Nickel Industries revenues have topped $2.7 billion, but early on some family help was needed to finance this Fast 100 company.
- Prashant Mehra
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.
- Amelia McGuire
- Opinion
- Fast 100
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.
- Mark Summerhayes
Meet the skincare company with 460pc growth
Identifying a niche is easy. Filling it – at scale – is the challenge, as these successful founders discovered.
- Lauren Sams
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.
- Alexandra Cain
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.
- Richard Pullin
Brisbane military supplier sailing with a tailwind
Being portside ready to stock military ships is a niche sector that takes strategy and sharp negotiation skills to win the race.
- Nina Hendy
- Opinion
- Fast 100
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.
- Gavan Carroll
These three scenarios show how HECS debt hits your borrowing capacity
Instead of paying his student loan down faster with extra repayments, this 26-year-old chose to divert his savings to build a house deposit. It paid off.
- Updated
- Bianca Hartge-Hazelman and Lucy Dean
- Overall Winner
- Best Universities Ranking
Here’s the overall winner in the AFR’s Best Universities Ranking
For the second year in a row, UQ has taken out pole position in The Australian Financial Review Best Universities Ranking.
- Julie Hare
