They’re young, they’re wealthy and they know how to code.
Australian tech millionaires – not to mention a few billionaires – are continuing on their mission to disrupt by taking over the country’s rich lists. And they have plenty of years left in them yet.
This year’s BRW Rich List released in June showed tech entrepreneurs were the fresh faces shaking up the names in big money and the BRW Young Rich List, released this morning, proves tech is the word for the under 40.
From the top 10, eight of the young rich had made their money in the tech sector.
Topping the index by a country mile was Australia’s biggest tech names, and former Smart50 winners, Atlassian founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes. The pair, both 34, has notched up a combined wealth of $2.1 billion, the only billion-dollar business on the list.
Other Smart50 Alumni to feature on this year’s list include 39 year old Catcha Group founder Patrick Grove, who is worth a cool $344 million, and Catch of the Day chief Hezi Leibovich, who is sitting on a $213 million fortune.
Beyond the big bucks and their youth, SmartCompany takes a look at what else Australia’s wealthy youngsters have in common.
They are not that young
Just like last year, almost all of the Young Rich 2014 are aged from 30 to 40, proving again that it is difficult to make a killing in your 20s.
In fact, 16 of the Rich Listers are aged 40, meaning they only scrape in to the list this year.
The youngest entrepreneur to make the cut is 18-year-old Nick D’Aloisio, founder of news reading and summarising app Summly. Worth $23 million, he earned his fortune from selling Summly to Yahoo last year for a reported $30 million.
Education entrepreneur Jack Delosa, founder of The Entourage, is 27 years old and worth $25 million, while basketball star Andrew Bogut is just 29 and worth $53 million.
There are a lot of men
Perhaps unsurprisingly, and disappointingly, the young rich are overwhelming male.
Carolyn Creswell, the 40-year-old founder of Carman’s, was the highest ranked woman at number 25. Creswell is worth $83 million thanks to her breakfast cereal empire.
Former model Erica Baxter, 36 years old, is worth $73 million, while the 36-year-old founder of MyBudget, Tammy May, has a wealth of $26 million.
Model Miranda Kerr (worth $24 million), golfer Karrie Webb ($24 million) and musician Sia Furler ($20 million) rounded out the females on the list.
They like to partner up
As well as the Atlassian partners, another nine entrepreneurial pairs made their wealth in tandem.
Third and fourth spot (one and two were taken out by Atlassian) went to Campaign Monitor founders Dave Greiner, 36, and Ben Richardson, 35. The friends have worked together since 1999 when they were still in university and are now worth a combined $500 million.
Gavin Fernandez, 40, and George Nakas, 39, also made the top ten. The pair sold True Value Solar and are now estimated to be worth $188 million.
The top 10
1&2. Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar ($2.12b)
3&4. Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson ($500m)
5. Simon Clausen ($487m)
6. Ruslan Kogan ($349m)
7. Patrick Grove ($344m)
8. Owen Kerr ($256m)
9. Hezi Leibovich ($213m)
10&11. Gavin Fernandez and George Nakas ($188m)
The full list can be seen here.
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Kirsten Robb is a former journalist at SmartCompany. Previously, she worked at News Corp as a property reporter for Leader Newspapers and the Herald Sun, and holds a Masters of Journalism at Melbourne University.
