Tech dominates young rich list

This year’s BRW Young Rich List is dominated by players in the technology sector with the 27 of the 100 richest Australian’s under 40 involved in the industry.

Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar top the list for the fifth year in a row due to a combined wealth of $4.6 billion which was boosted by the float of the software company – the makers of Confluence, Jira and Bit Bucket – on the NASDAQ exchange in the United States late last year.

The duos dominance of the top spot looks secure. Speaking in August, co-CEO and co-founder Scott Farquhar said: “Fiscal 2016 was a landmark year for Atlassian…we are still early in our growth trajectory and expect fiscal 2017 to be another great year for the company.”

Third and fourth spots go to another technology duo Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson, founders of Sydney company Campaign Monitor. Placed sixth on the list – which is based on valuations made by BRW researchers using a range of data and estimates – is technology investor Simon Clausen, who is involved in tech businesses such as Chinese real estate portal Juwai.com and Freelancer.

Earlier this year the ASX-listed Freelancer hit 20 million total users.

Although technology is the dominant sector for 2016, financial services and retail each had 11 young rich people on the list.

The total wealth of Australia’s self-made richest 100 people under 40 reached a record $12.3 billion this year, up from $10.6 billion in 2015. The average wealth per person on the list rose to $123 million, up from $106 million last year.

Victoria was the state home to most of the list members, followed by New South Wales.