"There are a bunch of companies now that are choosing to stay (in Australia)," Rebekah Campbell, founder and CEO of Australia-based Posse, tells Business Insider. "Whereas just a few years ago, everyone thought that you just have to move over (to the U.S.) straight away."
Some of that is in part thanks to a software company called Atlassian, which has proved that it's possible to start a hugely successful, global brand in Australia.
Still, Campbell says there's a funding problem in Australia. There's a pretty good angel investing scene in Australia, and also some VCs who will fund post-revenue, growing companies, Campbell says.
"But there is a huge gap in the middle where you're post-seed, you've done well and you have a little bit of traction, but you're not profitable," Campbell says. "There's not really any funding for those companies in Australia."
On the flip side, Australia is great for finding talented engineers because there's less competition as compared to the U.S., Campbell says.
That's likely why we see a fair amount of Australian startups with additional offices located in the U.S. After scouring websites like Startup Smart, and speaking with VCs and Australia-based entrepreneurs, we came up with a list of some of the hottest startups in Australia.