Simply months after its valuation surpassed A$3 billion, Brisbane office studying platform Go1 has raced away with the 2023 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards’ Scaleup of The Yr award, offered by AWS Startups.
Taking out one of many prime trophies from the 2023 Startup Every day Finest in Tech Awards gala occasion in Sydney, Go1 was voted Scaleup of The Yr, forward of finalists, Melbourne high-speed 3D metallic printing innovators SPEE3D and fast-growing fintech Shift.
Judged by business leaders throughout Australia’s startup ecosystem, Go1 was chosen for its game-changing impression throughout eLearning on a worldwide scale. Greater than eight million folks have taken their programs for office studying and improvement in what Go1 dubs ‘the world’s most complete on-line library of studying sources’.
Chatting with Startup Every day after accepting the award on behalf of the corporate, Mark Dick, Head of Gross sales at Go1, stated the enterprise has met the market the place it’s at.
“There’s simply a possibility now inside the studying house. It’s a scorching subject,” he stated.
“We have now the challenges of the workforce almost about reskilling and upskilling to cater for the way forward for work for organisations. Our resolution immediately helps organisations meet these wants and rising calls for.”
Co-founded by faculty buddies Andrew Barnes, Vu Tran, Chris Hood and Chris Eigeland in a storage in Brisbane, the edtech unicorn acquired its large break in 2015 when their internet improvement firm was accepted to the American tech Y-Combinator accelerator.
Go1’s software program was rapidly snapped up as on-line studying exploded all through the pandemic. Integrating with HR platforms and office apps, the tech is now broadly used to assist with worker engagement (and because of this, employees retention and productiveness), in addition to addressing the talents hole.

Award presenter John Kearney, Head of Startups AWS, ANZ, giving the Scaleup of The Yr award to Go1, accepted by Mark Dick, Head of Gross sales. Picture: Startup Every day.
On being voted Scaleup of The Yr, Dick stated: “I believe it’s as a result of progress that we’ve managed to attain as an organisation over the previous couple of years, amid the difficult backdrop of the financial system. We’ve been very privileged that our prospects, our inner crew and the relaxation of studying ecosystem has helped us develop even by way of these difficult occasions.”
The edtech scaleup’s investor base consists of M12, Microsoft’s enterprise capital arm, Madrona Enterprise Group, Salesforce Ventures, AirTree and SEEK.
In June 2022, Go1’s US$100 million (AUD $154 million) raise positioned the corporate’s valuation to greater than US$2 billion (A$2.86 billion at alternate charges on the time), having change into a ‘unicorn’ (price $1bn) with a Softbank-led Series D raise in mid 2021.
After acquiring UK content curation startup Anders Pink in the beginning of 2023, Go1 topped up the capital reserves again in May with an undisclosed round backed by Perception Companions, alongside buying German learning app Blinkist.
With that form of gas within the tank, they’re not quick on the ‘assume large’ mentality.
“We hope to succeed in one billion learners,” Mark Dick stated.
“Our mission is to unlock folks’s optimistic potential by way of a love of studying. If we are able to unlock a billion learners’ full potential, then hopefully someday we are able to even have a optimistic impression on the world.”
It’s honest to say they’re effectively on their means, in lots of locations world wide. Their largest market is at the moment North America, adopted by Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Center East.
Reflecting that, Go1’s workforce has soared previous 1000 workers throughout 13 workplaces together with the US, South Africa, Vietnam, the UK and Malaysia.
Bringing collectively content material curated by 250 content material suppliers, one other main component of Go1’s scaleup success has been its strategic acquisitions and partnerships. Go1 has indicated that its will improve using AI in Blinkist’s textual content summarisation course of for higher studying.
Its vary of different content material suppliers consists of Thrive, Skillsoft, Pluralsight and Harvard Enterprise Publishing.
They’ve additionally been working with the Australian, Malaysian and Singaporean governments to assist upskill residents in key areas of social change. A latest instance is Go1’s eLearning program with social enterprise Problem DV and the Queensland Authorities to coach public sector workers on home and household violence. Greater than 85,000 Queensland Authorities workers enrolled within the coaching between 2021 and 2022.
Congratulations to the Go1 crew, and the Australian scaleups seeking to be a part of them subsequent on the unicorn checklist.
See the full list of 2023 Startup Daily Awards winners here.
This text is dropped at you by Startup Every day, with the assist of AWS Startups.