Dutch company Starware has defied the challenges of COVID-19 and established a subsidiary in Melbourne, Victoria.
The Australian subsidiary will serve as the Asia-Pacific headquarters for the warehouse management system developer.
Starware was searching for a location with highly skilled staff and a time zone that would allow the company to provide 24-hour, 'follow-the-sun' support to its growing client base worldwide.
Australia's location in the Southern Hemisphere means staff in Melbourne can take over support operations when the Dutch working day ends.
'The more we started to look into Australia, the more we noticed the similarities with the Dutch mentality and business climate,' says Roland Stilting, Co-owner, Starware.
'Besides, Melbourne is the logistical hot-spot and has a fast-growing tech sector, so in the end, it was an easy choice.'
Starware was about to send an employee to set up the business in Australia when the global pandemic hit. After a short pause, the company began hiring local staff remotely. Starware says it found excellent candidates that were a great match for the company's culture.
Starware is now running its European projects through multiple time zones. The company also intends to build its business in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Austrade has assisted Starware since mid-2019, providing in-depth industry insights and market intelligence on Australia's ICT landscape and ecosystem, as well as information on the warehousing, cold storage and logistics sectors, and potential key client groups.
Austrade also shared information on Australia's business and investment environment, legal and taxation regulations, workforce and migration processes. Austrade referred Starware to Dutch-Australian business networks to help the company establish business and industry linkages.
'We would like to thank Simone Greulich from Austrade and Tanja Buist of Invest Victoria for getting us started and greatly helping us with all the proper introductions along the way,' says Stilting. 'Without them, we could never have made this happen.'
