Purpose-driven startups win big at Pause Awards

Purpose focused startups such as Great Wrap, Bare Cremation, and Separation Guide, are among the major winners of the annual Pause Awards.

Held in Melbourne and backed by VicGov, the 5th annual Pause Awards recognise innovation and people building Australia’s startup ecosystem, with 60 judges assessing hundreds of entries across 50 categories. assessing the merit and impact of a business as well as its growth. 

Among the 50 winners there were six double title winners went to Bare Cremation, Separation Guide, Wisr, Circlein, Pentanet, Evee and Tern-x.

Great Wrap and Verve Super won three awards each.

There were only 7x Grand Prix awards out of 32 categories, Grand Prix stand for best in category, awarded if the judging panel is unanimous. Those awards went to Bare Cremation, Great Wrap, Music Health, The Separation Guide, Midnight Health, Vanessa Doake and Verve Super.

Pause Awards chair Lee Tonitto said the companies entering this year were predominantly in small businesses with less than 10 employees, but there was significant growth in entries from companies with more than 100 employees. The average founder age this year dropped by eight years to 29, compared to 37 in 2021.

”The 2022 entrants showed businesses have a key role to play in creating a more equitable and regenerative world. Submissions were authentic and bold in their approach to tackling some of society’s biggest challenges and delivering real and measurable change where it matter,” she said

Event organiser George Hedon said they stepped up a notch this year with a new entry portal and website alongside 14 new categories.

“This award programme is not just about recognising the real winners, through excellence, performance and effectiveness in the Australian marketplace, we’re celebrating ingenuity and total commitment to tackle serious problems in response to local and global challenges and unstable markets,” he said.

In the Top 5 industry charts this year, the education sector jumped one spot up to fourth place, while notably the food & Bbeverage industr completely disappeared, replaced by health entered . The ‘Defiant Ones’ category, for new tech breakthroughs, took over leadership from ‘I Wish I’d Done That’ for sheer brilliance.

National Living Treasure and Perth-based plastic surgeon Dr Fiona Wood was named the 2022 Hall of Fame winner for the invention of her pioneering ‘spray-on skin’ technique, Recell, which is used to treat burns patients. Dr Wood founded Avita Medical to commercialise the procedure

“I’m honoured to be recognised. The Pause Awards build better ecosystems by recognising real people who do real things, and I’m so proud to be one of those,” she said.

The full list of Pause Awards winners is available here.