Ecommerce & D2C startups in Melbourne

Kate Morris, James Height

Australia's largest online-native beauty retailer, founded 1999 by Kate Morris (then 21) out of a Melbourne garage with a A$12,000 loan. IPO'd on the ASX in 2020 (ABY). Long an online-only D2C marketplace of...

Energytech retailer giving households direct access to the real-time wholesale electricity price and smart automation of batteries/EVs/solar to shift usage to cheap, green periods. Melbourne-founded climate-...

Andrew Fallshaw, Matthew Fallshaw, Hadrien Monloup, Lina Calabria

D2C carry-goods brand (slim wallets, bags, phone cases) founded 2009; the name blends Bells Beach and Fitzroy where it keeps design offices. B-Corp; ships to 180+ countries direct via bellroy.com. Took growt...

Jason Wyatt, Sam Salter

Global online cycling marketplace founded in Melbourne in 2007 connecting bike brands, retailers and distributors; hosts 1,500+ brands and 900K+ products. Listed on the ASX (BEX) in 2021 via a ~$76M float, t...

Janine Allis

Retail Zoo is the Melbourne-headquartered multi-brand food & beverage franchisor behind Boost Juice (founded 2000 by Janine Allis), Salsa's Fresh Mex, Cibo Espresso and Betty's Burgers. Boost grew from a sin...

Gabby Leibovich, Hezi Leibovich

Launched 2006 out of a Moorabbin warehouse as 'Catch of the Day', pioneering daily-deal and marketplace e-commerce in Australia. Acquired by Wesfarmers in 2019 for ~$230M (part of >$1B in total founder exits...

Dean Mintz

Online luxury fashion marketplace founded 2017 by media-shy founder Dean Mintz (via Ark Technologies incubator), aggregating 1,300+ high-end brands on a drop-ship model that holds little inventory. ASX-liste...

Ringo Chan

D2C 'bed-in-a-box' brand founded in Melbourne in 2015, selling adjustable memory-foam mattresses plus pillows, bedding and furniture; certified B-Corp. Expanded internationally to NZ (2016), Hong Kong (2016)...

Benjamin Young

Melbourne-born reusable-cups and drink-bottle brand founded ~2013–14 by Benjamin Young to cut single-use plastic, with locally manufactured components. Dominant in the Australian reusable market with reporte...

Will Richardson, Rachel Yang, Adam Milgrom

Melbourne-HQ'd, Australia's first 100%-impact-dedicated VC fund, backing scalable startups blending returns with social/environmental impact — including sustainable consumer, food and D2C brands. Relevant ca...

Zoë Foster Blake, Paul Bates

'Uncomplicated' D2C skincare brand founded 2014 by beauty editor Zoë Foster Blake and Paul Bates. Sold a majority stake to Melbourne-based BWX in 2021 (valuing it ~A$89M); after BWX's collapse, the founders ...

Athan Didaskalou, Richard Li

D2C premium luggage and travel-accessories brand launched 2018 by RMIT-connected founders Athan Didaskalou and Richard Li; raised ~$10.5M (backers include Lachlan Murdoch). Pivoted to drink bottles during th...

Ruslan Kogan

Founded 2006 out of Ruslan Kogan's parents' garage selling private-label TVs; became one of Australia's largest pure-play online retailers and marketplaces. Listed on the ASX in 2016 and expanded into Kogan ...

Creator-economy 'link-in-bio' platform used by tens of millions of creators, brands and businesses worldwide; grew out of Melbourne's inner-north creative scene. Raised a US$110M Series C (2022) at a ~US$1.3...

Jason Wyatt & Sam Salter

Marketplace-as-a-service platform spun out of the founders' BikeExchange marketplace technology; launched as a standalone SaaS product in 2016–17. Lets retailers, brands and loyalty businesses build and scal...

Sean Senvirtne

Founded 2011 in Melbourne by Sean Senvirtne (South-Asian-origin founder), pivoting from a daily-deals site to a third-party online retail marketplace for SMEs. Listed on the ASX in 2020, then acquired by Woo...

Paul Naphtali, Jim Cassidy

Melbourne-based seed-stage VC founded 2013 backing early ANZ founders across SaaS, marketplaces, consumer, martech and digital health. An active early-stage capital source for Melbourne consumer and e-commer...

Martin Hosking, Peter Styles & Paul Vanzella

Founded 2006 in Melbourne as a three-sided print-on-demand marketplace letting independent artists sell designs on apparel and homewares. Listed on the ASX in 2016 and acquired TeePublic in 2018. Rebranded t...

Paul Bassat, Tony Holt, Justin Liberman

One of Australia's largest VC firms, Melbourne-HQ'd, investing across fintech, SaaS and consumer/marketplace tech (Series A/B focus, plus AU/Israel/SEA). Relevant consumer-tech backer in the Melbourne ecosys...

Melbourne-born online wine marketplace / D2C 'wine deals' community, one of Australia's best-known consumer-ecommerce brands of the 2010s. Included as a notable Melbourne consumer-tech name (has since restru...

Melbourne-founded (2012, Simon Griffiths + co-founders) social-enterprise consumer brand selling recycled/bamboo toilet paper, tissues and paper towels D2C and donating 50% of profits to sanitation charities...