Australian and New Zealand startup space The Community Collective and its founder Paz Pisarski, are among 60 finalists in the fourth annual Startup Daily Best in Tech awards.
More than 265 entries were submitted across 15 categories, which features three new awards in 2026 – Best Startup Marketing, Startup Employee of the Year, and Best accelerator, Incubator or Startup Workspace.
Once again the most popular categories were once again Startup of the Year , Best New Idea and Most Innovative Startup, with the AI Gamechanger also a rising star attracting a record number of entries in its third year.
Startup Daily editor and chief of judges Simon Thomsen said that once again in 2026, the standard of entries demonstrated the breadth, depth and diversity of the ANZ ecosystem.
“It was wonderful to see a large number of female founders and people from diverse backgrounds entering the 2026 awards,” he said.
“A huge thank you to the diligent judges who were once again impressed by the standard of entries as they made some difficult decisions in deciding who were the very best. As one said to me: ‘they’re all excellent’.”
The winners will be announced at a gala dinner at the ivy ballroom in Sydney on September 10. Tickets are now on sale here.
The Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards are supported by Major Partner: AWS Startups.
Startup of the Year
- Doccy
- Xefco
- SiteHive
- Nomad Atomics
Scaleup of the Year
- Gilmour Space
- Quillio
- Heidi Health
- CorePlan
Most Innovative Startup
- Nomad Atomics
- Aquila
- Xefco
- Nutromics
Best Regional Startup
- The Laundry Lady
- The Community Collective
- Artemis Structural Intelligence
- Waterzyme
Industry Champion
- Judy Anderson-Firth, Euphemia
- Kayla Medica, Mehdeeka
- Julian Fayad, LoanOptions.ai
- Paz Pisarski, The Community Collective
Best Sustainability Startup
- Algenie
- DiaperRecycle
- Waterzyme
- Aglantis
Best New Idea
- PredicTx Health
- Gega Elements
- Decoda
- Junbell
Best technical leader
- Jordi Hermoso, Doccy
- Hermant Chaurasia, Fleet Space Technologies
- Patrick Nappa, Kashcade
- Mikolaj Makuch, DGXpert
Best new founder
- MJ Akter, Spiral Blue
- Dr Ariella Heffernan-Marks, Ovum AI
- Alur Saguinsin, OneKidney
- George Spink, Decoda
The AI gamechanger
- Heidi Health
- Doccy
- Sophie AI
- Junbell
Best Startup Marketing
- The Laundry Lady
- DGXprt
- The Community Collective
- Qwilr
Startup Employee of the Year
- Luke Sheehan, Balo
- Benjamin Martin, Visibuild
- Stephanie Larson, Nutromics
- Abby Durbridge, Visibuild
Best Accelerator, Incubator or Startup Workplace
- Cicada Innovations
- Sell Anything
- UNSW Founders
- Enterprize Tasmania
Future Leader of the Year
- MJ Akter, Spiral Blue
- Dr Jehan Kanga, Rux Energy
- Annie Liao, BuildClub AI
- Paloma Newton, Elita Pet
The GSD award
- Emily Junker, SquareBySquare
- LocumLinks
- Indea Leary, 1IndyGo AI Solutions
- 1000 Women in AI
More at 2026 Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards.
