Building Momentum: HammerTech’s Journey From Melbourne Startup to Global Dominance in Construction Technology Case Studies Last Updated: Thursday 4 January A Melbourne-founded construction technology company that formed part of the first cohort of LaunchVic’s 30×30 program is charting a path to global leadership, whilst giving back to the next wave of innovative companies in the Victorian ecosystem. HammerTech, who works with large builders to solve field safety and site efficiency challenges to ensure everyone working on construction sites makes it home safely, has been going from strength to strength over the last 12 months, after being tipped to achieve unicorn status by 2030. Founded in 2013 by construction experts and technologists, and now led by CEO and Co-Founder Ben Leach, HammerTech’s journey started with five founders who saw a vital need within the construction industry for a paperless solution that would consolidate safety, compliance and site operations processes accessible in one digital platform. Today, HammerTech’s platform equips site and leadership teams with game-changing data insights so they can be more effective, improve subcontractor accountability and raise safety standards. In an environment where standards for efficiency and safety are higher than ever before, HammerTech has become the go-to solution for Australian builders. Leach said the company was delighted to receive endorsement of its potential through its participation in the LaunchVic 30X30 program as part of its inaugural cohort. “The program provided a support network of people and resources to guide HammerTech on its journey as it continues to scale and innovate its platform,” he said. “We gained valuable insight that to scale fast and effectively as a business, you need to have a point-person or dedicated Operations Leader, now Vice President of Operations, to drive initiatives within the business. “What we learnt from the mentors and speakers was that a dedicated role in this capacity can work with the CEO and knit together the disparate functions into a more cohesive whole.” “Our leaders were exposed to world-class mentors and speakers that gave them real insight into how to improve business from learned experience,” he said. “Another highlight for me as a founder and CEO was to meet other founders and CEOs and hear that most were experiencing similar challenges to what we are facing, albeit in different industries.” HammerTech’s Senior Leadership Team L-R Adam Hobbs, Wynand Stassen, Georgia Bergers, Ben Leach, Michael Goldstein, James Harris Over 3 million worker inductions have been completed through the HammerTech platform, and more than 400 domestic and international construction contractors currently use the software, with HammerTech supporting $100 billion in annual construction volume across more than 15,000 projects since its inception. HammerTech now serves 85% of the top 100 builders in Australia who are using its digital platform to consolidate safety and site management solutions and processes into a paperless system. In May 2023, HammerTech announced that it was expanding its global footprint, opening offices in the UK and Ireland. HammerTech has established a proven record of performance with strong YoY revenue growth and 100 employees across Australia, North America, Canada, UK, Ireland and New Zealand. HammerTech Vice President of Operations, Nick Peters, who participated in the operations stream of the 30X30 program, said after ten years HammerTech is now a dominant market leader in construction operations and HSEQ management software. “The program helped us analyse how we could improve internally and understand what we needed in order to chart a successful global expansion,” he said. “So we’ve embarked on a whole range of initiatives since the program, which has included optimising our strategy planning process, our performance management and global people capabilities. “It’s a program that is built to identify the next unicorns and it showed us what we needed to do right now in order to get to that unicorn status with the billion-dollar valuation.” Nick said the program helped with the opening of HammerTech’s office in the United Kingdom due to introductions provided by Global Victoria, who works with LaunchVic on the 30X30 program. “The 30×30 program helped HammerTech speed up the velocity of our entry into the market, via access to the greater Global Vic network of contacts in Melbourne and London,” he said. The introductions enhanced our due diligence and market readiness, from an operational, legal and compliance POV.” With the lessons they learnt from the 30X30 program and the drive to prove they have that strong unicorn potential under their belts, further global expansion and innovation is the next logical step for the HammerTech team as they continue to build on their success in the Australian and US markets. ABOUT 30X30 As many founders know, some of the biggest pain points to growth are in the day-to-day running of the business, often in the HR, Operations and Finance functions. 30X30 aims to free up founders to focus on key strategic priorities fundamental to your growth, while giving HR, Operations and Finance leaders the skills and exposure to common scaleup challenges and bottlenecks. For more information, visit https://launchvic.org/programs/30×30/.
