Startup magnet, global impact: Why founders are choosing to build in Wollongong

For generations, Wollongong has been shaped by steel and heavy industry.

Those industrial strengths have paved the way for a new generation of businesses drawing on the region’s skills, infrastructure and problem-solving culture.

“The digital economy means you can base a business wherever you like,” says Mark Swinnerton, founder and CEO of Green Gravity. “So why not pick places that actually have the right kind of DNA for your business?”

Wollongong’s DNA is one of innovation and growth. The region is growing quickly, with 130,000 more residents forecast by 2041, a target of 20,500 new jobs by 2035 and $1.3 billion worth of projects in the pipeline.

As their reach stretches far beyond the Illawarra, globally minded businesses like Green Gravity and Binary Tech are challenging the idea that far-reaching ambition still needs a capital city base.

For some businesses, Wollongong’s next chapter is being built on the foundations of its industrial past.

Clean energy startup Green Gravity has developed gravitational energy storage technology that uses disused mine shafts to store energy generated from renewables and release it back to the grid when it is needed.

It’s a simple but transformative idea that repurposes the infrastructure of mining to help accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

“What we’ve been able to do is put Wollongong at the front and centre of the gravitational energy storage market globally,” Swinnerton tells SmartCompany. “And while that’s a niche market, it’s also at the front end of a $3 trillion global opportunity.”

For Swinnerton, the opportunity is also about putting existing assets and expertise to new use, or as he puts it “to not throw out what we’ve had, but to reuse it”.

The appeal of building Green Gravity in Wollongong extends well beyond the mine shafts themselves. The region also brings together significant electricity demand, an established industrial base and the advanced engineering, manufacturing, fabrication and research capabilities the business needs.

“It builds on Wollongong’s identity of being adaptable, being forward-leaning and being a significant contributor to the economy,” Swinnerton says. “This is a new take on those skills and history that Wollongong has already delivered.”

Green Gravity is now in final engineering design and procurement for a GESS (Gravitational Energy Storage System) demonstration plant at the Russell Vale mine in Wollongong, after securing binding access to the site in 2025.

Swinnerton describes the project as something that has never been done globally, and a major step towards proving the technology at scale.

Part of Wollongong’s appeal, Swinnerton says, is what he describes as its “right size”.

“You could land in the centre of Sydney with great talent and all of these other services options, but you’re a very small fish in a very big pond and getting attention and getting traction is that much harder,” he says.

In Wollongong, Swinnerton says Green Gravity was able to quickly connect with council, industry networks and the broader business community.

“It’s got the right kind of urban lifestyle, big enough and connected enough to be able to do any form of business that you want,” he adds.

The region also offers access to talent through the University of Wollongong and programs like iAccelerate, Australia’s largest and longest-running university-backed startup incubator.

That local connection does not have to come at the expense of global reach.

Binary Tech began as an idea to automate homebrewing and has evolved into an Internet of Things (IoT) business working across beer, pathology and asset tracking.

Today, its technology is used by major global companies including Heineken, Asahi and Roche, with the business also working with pathology organisations across Europe.

For co-founder Michael Burton, the bigger opportunity lies in connecting physical assets – like beer kegs – to the cloud, giving businesses greater visibility over where they are, how they are being used and what is happening around them.

“If you want to be the person who takes millions of assets to the cloud, it’s a really exciting niche market,” he tells SmartCompany.

In beer alone, Burton sees significant room to grow: “We see a future where every keg on the planet will eventually be a smart keg.”

And for a business with global ambitions, Burton sees Wollongong as a base that offers connection without constraining scale.

“If you’re going global, truly global, it doesn’t matter if you’re from Sydney or Wollongong.”

The appeal of building a business in Wollongong also comes down to lifestyle.

As Binary Tech has expanded across industries and into international markets, co-founders Michael and Brooke Burton have also been raising their young family in the region.

“I think it makes the work-life relationship less transactional and more of a lived connection,” adds Michael.

That balance, Michael says, is part of what makes building a business sustainable over the long term, particularly when success can take years to materialise.

“The overnight successes tend to take several years to happen,” he says. “It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint.”

Lifestyle also feeds into the talent equation. Wollongong already draws on a sizeable local workforce and a steady pipeline of graduates, while its quality of life can help businesses keep that talent in the region and attract experienced workers from elsewhere.

Swinnerton sees that as a business advantage.

“We have brought multiple people from our team into Wollongong. They’re relocating here,” he says.

“To me, it’s a talent attraction location, and that makes a lot of sense. And so that’s a good place to be running a business.”

Thinking about building or growing your business in Wollongong? Discover the opportunities, support and connections available through Invest Wollongong.