Sydney is Atlassian’s home, and now Canva’s too

How Sydney’s tech scene grew

Two Australian tech landmarks, both built and kept in the same city.

Two landmarks, one city

Atlassian was founded in Sydney in 2002 by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, University of New South Wales classmates, and remains headquartered there — now building a $1.4 billion, 40-level hybrid-timber headquarters tower to house around 4,000 employees. Canva’s story is worth getting precisely right: Melanie Perkins began developing the idea in Perth from 2007, but Canva as a company was legally founded on 1 January 2013 by Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams, headquartered in Sydney from founding — and today employs 935 staff at its Sydney hub, with a new 12,000 square-metre Surry Hills campus opening in 2027. The idea is Perth’s; the company has always been Sydney’s.

Startup Genome’s 2025 Global Startup Ecosystem Report ranks Sydney 25th globally — the top-ranked ecosystem in Oceania — valued at $55 billion with more than 3,000 startups, giving it a clear claim to being Australia’s primary tech capital.

Where the work happens

Two of Australia’s best-known technology companies, both still headquartered where they were founded.

How Sydney businesses buy digital work

Sydney rewards genuine capability over local-market assumptions — this is the Australian city most likely to have seen comparable work already, so differentiate on substance. Sydney’s tech-adjacent population is internationally benchmarked and comfortable with technology as a normal part of doing business.

The full piece

Sydney: Atlassian’s home, and now Canva’s too

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Why FastSites works here

A market this internationally benchmarked notices a page that looks careless. A clean, fast, well-made single page competes on its own terms rather than trying to look bigger than it is.

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