We all need sunshine to survive, but it also seems to be doing wonders for startups on the Gold Coast, home to some of the nation’s brightest entrepreneurs.
It’s a place where founders come to make the most of business networks, mentoring opportunities and government support for small businesses, and rub shoulders with startup peers developing a huge range of big ideas.
The Gold Coast is home to countless startups – from the automated indoor farming business Stacked Farm to the viral toothpaste sensation Hismile.
Vertical growth
Launching a startup on the Gold Coast made perfect sense for the founder of Stacked Farm, Daniel Tzvetkoff, who established the company’s headquarters in Arundel, complete with groundbreaking research and development capabilities.
Photography By Paul A. Broben Photograph: Paul A Broben/Paul A. Broben
Tzvetkoff quit his job in IT to pursue his dream of planting, growing and harvesting food crops in large-scale indoor vertical farms. The early days were spent perfecting the indoor growing process and working out how to be profitable. Before long, investors were circling.
Tzvetkoff knew it could be done. He had been dabbling in hydroponics for years in his backyard as a hobby and saw a bright future ahead.
His fresh produce soon caught the attention of eagle-eyed restaurateurs keen to buy his goods. “One thing led to another, and we launched our first R&D facility, which was a 400-square-metre facility in Burleigh Heads,” Tzvetkoff says.
Stacked Farm grows produce without pesticides, which Tzvetkoff believes results in a higher nutrient content and better flavour. He says his automated indoor vertical farming technology is a cut above most organic production systems.
“You can optimise the flavour of the produce in a controlled environment because you can push a lot more carbon dioxide and oxygen into the plant roots and adjust the lighting to really tune the flavour of the products,” Tzvetkoff says.
A water recycling system reduces water consumption.
These advances in agricultural practices earned Stacked Farm a third-place ranking in the Australian Financial Review’s “most innovative companies” list in the mining, utilities and agriculture sector in 2023.
The support of established business networks and significant investment by the City of Gold Coast via its investment and business attraction program have enabled Stacked Farm to flourish, and it has plans to roll out facilities in other cities in the near future. The startup employs more than 50 people.
A bright future
The Gold Coast is also home to Hismile, which is primed to become one of the largest emerging brands in Queensland over the next few years.
The teeth whitening business has strategically used social media and celebrity endorsements from the likes of the influencer Kylie Jenner to help it get a foothold in the US, its largest market behind Australia, Europe and Asia.
With the support of introductions from Austrade, Hismile products are on the shelves of some of the biggest international retailers, such as Walmart in the US, Harrods in the UK and Galeries Lafayette in France.
Back at home, Hismile has signed a distribution agreement for one of its newest products to be rolled out to more than 800 Coles supermarkets.
“We’ve been around for nine years now, and we’ve been very fortunate to see continued and consistent growth every year,” general manager Justin Gaggino says.
The lifestyle factor
Being on the Gold Coast helps with hiring; both founders say the most talented people on the market crave lifestyles that enable them to settle down with their families.
Scientists from all over the world curious to see how Stacked Farm has been able to grow produce autonomously want to come and work for the startup, Tzvetkoff says. And Stacked Farm has been able to offer more work opportunities thanks to the support of the City of Gold Coast, which has fast-tracked the approvals process during the startup’s growth phases.
“Being based in a city recognised globally for the lifestyle it offers is helping us stand out as an employer of choice,” Tzvetkoff says.
Gaggino agrees. “As we’ve moved out of the startup phase, it’s been great for us to hire people who are motivated and hungry to grow with us,” he says. “We like to think that there’s a lot of untapped potential here and the business that we’ve built is a direct result of the people we’ve brought on board.
“Our goal is to become the largest oral healthcare brand globally; we feel that we are definitely taking the necessary steps to get there.”
And who can argue with the chance to start their day on the Gold Coast’s golden sand?
Each morning, Stacked Farm’s close-knit engineering team gathers on the beach before work for a surf, in a ritual that sets everyone up for a day of breaking new ground in global food production.
“It’s a team-building activity like no other,” Tzvetkoff says.
