Combining an international mindset with the post-pandemic priority of local lifestyle, the Gold Coast is fast becoming home to a rapidly developing rollcall of innovative new products and services.

Gold Coast-based entrepreneur Dr Kate Morgan said the home-grown problem-solving tech sector was booming.

Morgan, who with partner Kirk Reynoldson launched the Eggy app this year, said the number of tech solutions being developed out of the city was accelerating.

“It’s our absolute dream to have Eggy as a global company based on the Gold Coast,” Morgan said.

“We think it’s definitely achievable with the tech scene and the start-up scene booming here like it is.

“We’ve been really lucky that there’s other founders on the Gold Coast who we can have regular catch ups with, bounce ideas off, and come together. We have that support network and we get to do it all from the Gold Coast. We feel very fortunate.”

3 Gold Coast-based tech start-ups solving problems globally

Eggy
Born out of the frustration of trying to keep on top of life’s relentless admin tasks, mum and dad entrepreneurs Morgan and Reynoldson said the Eggy app aimed to help “unload the mental load” of bills, appointments and lists.

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“It really just started from a problem that we had that we couldn’t find a solution to,” Morgan said.

“It exploded for us when we started having kids and had multiple calendars and the dumping ground of our email inbox for things like bills and everything we had to do. We had stuff on the fridge and the kitchen bench and a pile of papers. We just had stuff everywhere.

“Then Kirk forgot to pay the car rego and we got hit with a fine. And we thought – enough.”

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Eggy doesn’t only help solve the headache of household bills but organises and categorises the overwhelming scheduling routines of busy families.

“Eggy is a place where you can easily dump all of life’s invisible stuff out of your head. You can store screenshots like recipes and manage calendar events like doctor’s appointments as well as share grocery lists with your partner,” Morgan said.

“It’s offloading the mental load, but it’s also helping you save money by avoiding late fees and fines.”

Morgan said Eggy had around 25,000 downloads since launching earlier this year.

The app also recently won industry recognition by securing a highly contested place with Australian start-up accelerator, Startmate, backed by Australian venture capital firm Blackbird.

Morgan said Eggy was launching globally next year.

BenchOn
Gold Coast technology provider BenchOn’s “staff sharing portal” helps companies manage their workforces in new ways.

The platform links businesses and helps them tap into another organisation’s under-utilised talent, or offer up their own staff, to help others fill the gaps.

The collaborative platform system allows businesses to request support or offer out staff if they have capacity, for a price.

Founder and CEO Tim Walmsley said the company hit its stride as massive change, from the decimation then recovery of sectors such as tourism and hospitality to ongoing skills and worker shortages, upended traditional workplaces and operations.

“The foundation of BenchOn is all around workforce management and ensuring that we smooth out the peaks and troughs in business so we can match the workforce capacity to where it’s needed across industry,” Walmsley said.

“Our AI algorithm matches companies that need staff with a company that has a person available at the right time and at the right price, and it works as a business-to-business subcontract, providing the support of a certain skillset for a certain period of time.”

The most recent innovation by BenchOn is a new portal that links businesses in a geographic area using the Gold Coast as a template. By applying the company’s match-making tech, the new Gold Coast portal allows local businesses to reallocate resources as demand changes, all while keeping jobs on the Gold Coast.

The portal aimed to continue to keep jobs local and keep revenue local, while still connecting with the rest of the BenchOn system, Walmsley said.

“It’s a local portal that does link into a national network, so if you can’t find what you need on the Gold Coast, you can then look across the country, or vice-versa. This is the true benefit for the Gold Coast portal, because we’re bringing in opportunities from outside the Gold Coast region to benefit Gold Coast businesses,” he said.

“Where I see this going is possibly every council region in south-east Queensland having a portal so we can report to these regional councils on the economic activity going on with those regional boundaries and how to keep jobs local,” Walmsley said.

CartonCloud
Burleigh logistics software company CartonCloud earlier this year raised $12 million to launch into the north American market.

An easy-to-use transport management system and a warehouse management system, the technology aims to help logistics companies do more with less.

By streamlining their workflows, removing manual data entry and automating processes, CartonCloud helps companies cut their operational costs.

As a result, smaller warehouse, transport and third-party logistics businesses are able to compete with major players in the industry rather than crumbling as other increases such as rising fuel costs and warehouse rents take their toll.

CEO and founder Vincent Fletcher said the financial investment in the software company was a milestone for the business, which began in 2012 in cold store and freight in Sydney’s western suburbs.

“We now have the ability to significantly increase our headcount, fast-track development to roll out new features and expand to North America,” Fletcher said.

“Entering the massive US logistics industry and building a team there opens up extraordinary opportunities for CartonCloud to secure new customers, build new industry partnerships and continue to improve our product for all of our global customers.”