2014 saw some great local startups thrive in the Australian marketplace, with many entrepreneurs reaping the rewards of developing a successful business.
While Campaign Monitor’s $250 million funding from a group of US venture capital firms was the sector’s headline of the year, there were plenty of other businesses that met impressive capital raising and growth targets.
Here are some of the flourishing startups that Business Insider has been in contact with and what they achieved in the year of the horse.
Nitro
Document productivity company Nitro, was founded in Melbourne in 2005.
Since then it has established a customer base of more than 490,000 people in nearly 200 countries, including 50% of the Fortune 500.
This year Nitro added 75 new Nitronauts to its global team, and launched new offices in Dublin and St. Petersburg.
It secured a $15 million funding round from US firm Battery Ventures, and has raised more than $21.6 million.
ShowPo
This female fashion online retailers launched in 2010 and has since grown to 12 employees.
According to The Australian Startup Awards 2014, which awarded Showpo the Startup Daily Startup of the Year award, the company's revenue grew by 288% last year to $10 million, and profit was up by 381% on its results from 2013.
Last year Showpo also celebrated their first million dollar month in May.
The business also grew its social media - Instagram and Facebook - following from 550,000 to 875,000.
Stackla
Stackla is a social content marketing platform, allowing brands to discover and curate content from the social web.
Founded in 2012, Stackla last year established new offices in San Francisco and London, adding to its Sydney office.
Last year the company made $2 million in a capital raise round and grew its revenue by 300%.
Its staff numbers also grew from eight in December 2013 to 33 in December 2014 and it now has over 300 organisations as customers.
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