Smart50 winners revealed: Travel brand July crowned fastest-growing SME in Australia

After a rocky period at the beginning of the pandemic, luggage startup July has gone from strength to strength as the travel sector spurred back into life, taking out first place in the 2022 Smart50 Awards. 

Founded by Athan Didaskalou and Richard Li in 2018, July has developed a strong following for its beautifully designed luggage that’s even been endorsed by the country’s leading athletes. The company, which employs 23 full-time employees, has grown by 640% over the past financial year to reach revenue of $21 million in 2021-22. 

This growth was enough to earn July the top spot in SmartCompany’s list of the 50 fastest-growing companies in Australia. 

July now joins luminaries of Australian business, including Hunter Mason, Prospa, Cover Genius and Choice Energy as an overall winner of the Smart50 Awards, which have been presented for the past 15 years. 

Freight logistics startup Ofload secured the second spot on the 2022 Smart50 list, with a growth rate of 397%, followed by Untitled Group in third place, with revenue growth of 363% over the past financial year. 

In fourth position is Mad Paws, with a revenue growth rate of 251%, while Quantaco nabbed the fifth spot after growing by 202% over the past financial year. 

The Smart50 finalist with the largest revenue this year is Quad Lock, with more than $106 million in revenue recorded in 2021-22. 

This year’s list was revealed during a live in-person event in Melbourne on Wednesday evening, supported by platinum sponsor Employment Hero and silver sponsors Fifo Capital, Aiven, BlueRock and We Make Online Videos (WeMOV).

More than 100 guests attended the awards ceremony, which was emceed by comedian Kirsty Webeck. It was the first in-person Smart50 Awards since 2018, following a break in 2019 and 2020 and an exclusively online program in 2021. 

This year’s Smart50 list was dominated by the professional services and retail and consumer goods industries, with software among the other sectors well-represented on the list. 

Combined, this year’s 50 finalists booked more than $690 million in revenue for the 2021-22 financial year, which compares to $587 million recorded by last year’s finalists, and $857 million in 2017-18. 

To be eligible for the Smart50 Awards, businesses must be independent Australian businesses with revenue growth over a three-year period. The order of this year’s Smart50 list was determined by the revenue growth rates for the 2021-22 financial year.

The 2022 Smart50 finalists come from all across the country, with 21 finalists based in New South Wales and 21 based in Victoria. The list also includes six Queensland-based finalists and two located in Western Australia. 

The majority of this year’s Smart50 finalists were founded before 2016.

Fifteen of this year’s finalists have appeared on the Smart50 list in the past, including last year’s winner InstantScripts, which secured the seventh position this year. 

Other repeat finalists include hipages, Zoom2u, Quad Lock, Megaphone, Neolink, Cube Online, Signifi Media, Hardware Box, Vivi International, Buttoned Up Events, Association of Professional Builders, Trikon, LINK and Rubix.

The winners of the Smart50 category awards were also presented on Wednesday evening, with hipages winning the inaugural People Power award and Mad Paws scooping the Innovator field. 

Sustainable businesses shone in three other categories, with Zero Co winning the Resilience Award, Hero Packaging being named the Retail Champion and River Stone Aquaculture Innovations taking out the Sustainability Award category. 

Code Like a Girl received the Community Hero Award; Botanicals by Luxe picked up the Marketing category and Victorian-based Higher State Co secured the award for regional businesses.

To read more about these category winners or see the full 2022 Smart50 list, click here.