The 13th annual Tech Trailblazers Awards are now open for entries as Melbourne-based PivotNine Founder Justin Warren joins the global judging panel.  

The awards are seeking submissions from Australian technology startups until September 6 that are less than seven years old and at C-series funding or below.  

"Hopefully I can raise the profile of these awards in Australia and entice more local startups to compete on the global stage,” Mr Warren said. 

Award category entries are artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, cloud, containers, developer, diversity, male and female chief experience officers, financial, internet of things, investment, networking, security, storage, sustainable, telecoms and firestarter for non-venture capital backed start-ups up to three years old. 

Tech Trailblazers Founder Rose Ross says there is a great opportunity for Asia Pacific startups to join the swell of startups well represented from the US and Europe.  

"Australia has elevated its standing in cyber, and in parallel we are seeing a lot of innovation being driven by startups there,” she said. 

Tech Trailblazing alumni have raised over $4 billion in funding and more than 20 have successfully exited for a total of over $1 billion through acquisition to firms such as Cisco, Dropbox, DXC Technology, Ericsson, HPE, Lookout, Microsoft, NetApp, Oracle, Western Digital and Zimbra. Two alumni, Nutanix and Zscaler, have successfully listed shares. 

Enter here.