QUEENSLAND - THE AUSTIN, TEXAS OF AUSTRALIA (WITHOUT THE COWBOY HATS... YET)

A joint opinion piece by Fee Barry (Tidal Ventures) and Matiela Baker (QIC), two VCs who swear they didn't coordinate their Patagonia vest purchases.

Is Brisbane the Next Austin? Yeehaw, Partner - We're All In On This Rodeo!

Let's start with an uncomfortable truth that makes Sydney VCs nervous: some of Australia's greatest startups like Go1, Safety Culture, and Octopus Deploy were created in Queensland. That's right – real unicorns emerging from a state most Sydney investors previously assumed was just a giant theme park with occasional coal mines.

While talent is distributed evenly across Australia (a polite way of saying "smart people exist outside of Sydney and Melbourne"), opportunity historically hasn't been. Queensland's startup and VC community has been about as developed as a Polaroid picture thrown into the ocean – you can see something's there, but good luck making it out clearly. For decades, founders and operators migrated south, seeking access to funding and higher salaries.

But something has shifted, and it's not just the tectonic plates under Brisbane's rapidly multiplying co-working spaces.

The Austin-Brisbane Connection: More Than Just a Shared Fondness for Beer and Sunshine

Queensland and Austin, Texas have more in common than you might think, and we're not just talking about the locals' puzzling pride in their respective humidity levels. Both regions built their foundations on natural resources, infrastructure, and industries that involve people wearing actual hard hats but only relatively recently has this industrial history begun to pivot.

Consider the parallels:

1. Traditional Industries With Identity Crises: Both regions have transitioned from "stuff you can touch" industries to "stuff that exists in the cloud." Austin evolved from oil and agriculture; Queensland from mining and manufacturing. This creates a unique environment where startups can disrupt traditional practices, mainly because the traditional practitioners are still trying to figure out what a blockchain is.

2. Universities That Actually Produce Useful People: Austin's higher education ecosystem is matched by Queensland's impressive university landscape. These institutions continuously pump out graduates with commercially viable skills, some of whom even stay in the region instead of immediately fleeing to established tech hubs.

3. The "Life's Too Short" Mentality: Both regions embrace a more balanced approach to existence. While Sydney and Melbourne founders boast about their 80-hour workweeks, Queensland and Austin entrepreneurs somehow manage to build unicorns while still maintaining their beach tans.

4. Government Money That Doesn't Come With A Novel's Worth Of Conditions: The Queensland government is actually putting real money where its tech-hub aspirations are. QIC is injecting $130 million into VC funds specifically for Queensland startups, which is the kind of commitment that makes even the most skeptical founders consider whether the grass is really greener over the border.

The Pandemic Plot Twist Nobody Saw Coming

COVID-19 did more for Queensland's tech scene than any government initiative or VC fund ever could. As Australians collectively realised that Zoom works just as well beside a pool as it does in a grey office cubicle, Queensland experienced record rates of interstate migration. High-income professionals – the exact demographic that fuels tech ecosystems – have been flocking to Queensland. These professionals bring with them expertise, networks, and capital that are the essential ingredients for a thriving tech hub.

Our Definitely-Not-Biased Prediction

Our thesis is simple and not at all influenced by the fact that we both have vested interests in Queensland's success:

Brisbane is becoming the Austin, Texas of Australia.

With skilled migration surging northward, remote work proving sustainable, and government capital flowing into the ecosystem, Queensland presents a rare opportunity. The tech scene is developed enough to have infrastructure but nascent enough that you don't need seven prior exits and a Stanford degree to get a meeting with a VC. For investors, the math is compelling: lower valuations, less competition for deals, and startups with surprisingly practical approaches to unit economics (turns out building a company outside of a hyper-competitive tech hub teaches you fiscal responsibility). For founders, the proposition is equally attractive: lower burn rates, access to talent that isn't being fought over by 500 other startups, and the ability to actually enjoy some semblance of a work-life balance.

Action Items For The Skeptics

If you're still not convinced that Queensland deserves your attention, we suggest:

1. Talk to Austin tech veterans about what made their ecosystem work. You'll likely hear about the importance of lifestyle, affordable living, and a collaborative community – all factors that Queensland has in abundance.

2. Look at the migration data. The numbers don't lie, even when they're presented in colourful charts with suspiciously optimistic trend lines.

3. Consider the counterfactual: What if Queensland does become Australia's next major tech hub, and you missed getting in on the ground floor?

The time to invest in Queensland is now – before everyone else reads this article and decides to do the same, driving up valuations and making us look like genuine visionaries instead of just optimistic regional boosters.

---

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and definitely not a coordinated attempt to increase the value of their existing Queensland portfolio companies. Any resemblance to actual investment advice is purely coincidental. Fee Barry is a Principal at Tidal Ventures who hasn't gone three minutes in any conversation since 2023 without mentioning her Queensland investments. Matiela Baker is a VP in QIC's Private Equity team and is contractually obligated to believe in Queensland's potential.

The Rocket Advocate: Reporting on Queensland VC theses with all the objectivity of a founder's revenue projections.