Tech company Altium joins the offshore withdrawal

Australian software corporation Altium is joining the wave of tech companies leaving Australian shores.

Altium’s departure comes off the back of successful Atlassian’s move to the UK earlier in the year and amid suggestions Australia is not doing enough to hang on to our tech success stories.

Altium announced overnight its plans to move its operations to San Diego, California in an effort to make it more accessible to its customers and partners.

“This move to the US will not only allow Altium to be closer to customers in key markets,” Martin Harris, chief sales officer at Altium said in a statement.

“It will also provide us the opportunity to work closer with our sales channels and strategic partners.”

The successful multinational company was founded in Tasmania in 1985 and focuses on 3D-printed circuit board design, electronics design and embedded system development software.

SmartCompany technology blogger Paul Wallbank said tech companies are moving away from Australia for a number of reasons.

“Firstly, the market in Silicon Valley is much bigger than Australia,” said Wallbank.

“Our market is about one-fifteenth of the size of the US and about one-twentieth the size of Europe, so there are more customers there.”

Wallbank said other reasons tech companies saw a brighter future in overseas markets included an easier access to capital, expertise and talent, as well as the benefit of an environment full of likeminded people.

He also said the lack of support from the Australian government played a big role in the recent departures.

“The federal government don’t care about attracting entrepreneurs,” he said.

Wallbank said many tech companies in Australia who boasted sizeable overseas customer bases couldn’t secure procurement in Australia.

“That is a constant gripe for entrepreneurs in this country, not only is the local market smaller, it’s harder to crack.”