It’s great to hear that the consensus coming out of the Top 100 event today is that the Australian Web 2.0 scene is picking up some steam. It certainly does feel that way. Only a short while ago I would have had a hard time naming even 10 Australian Web 2.0 startups. Previously it was hard to find a cohesive list. There have been some valiant attempts recently though.

Vishal Sharma posted a list of 49 startups based on a startup carnival he ran recently and interviews he’s done since. Of course there was the Top 100 list that was released today. This was a comprehensive list but I’ve heard several stories of startups that weren’t considered because they were unknown to the organizers. Prior to announcing the top 100, Ross Dawson posted on his blog a link to a spreadsheet that listed 137 of the Web 2.0 companies that he (and other collaborators) were aware of.

Those are all great efforts, and I applaud them. Let’s remember though that we’re talking about web 2.0, and a big part of web 2.0 is community and collaboration. The lists I mention above were still, by and large, organized by one person.

That’s why I was so excited to come across startup-australia.org. It’s only been up for a few weeks but already has 73 startups listed. It’s an open wiki, so anyone can contribute.

If you have a startup, know of a startup, or have useful information that you can share with other entrepreneurs (about grants, valuation, etc), please add it to the wiki. If you don’t fit into any of these categories and still want to contribute, why not make sure startup-australia includes all the companies found in the other lists linked above?

It will be interesting to see how the wiki evolves. I’ll certainly be watching and contributing and I encourage you to do the same. It’s off to a great start so far, but, like many things, it will only remain valuable if it keeps its momentum.