Notable HD camera maker company, GoPro, has picked Melbourne for its Australia and New Zealand headquarters. This decision will create up to 50 fulltime jobs over the next five years.
GoPro executives were joined by Victoria’s minister for the employment of Jacinta Allen, who said the company’s investment in Victoria highlighted the growing strength of the state’s technology industry and follows similar investments from Zendesk, Eventbrite, Square and Stripe. She said the new Melbourne headquarters, in the suburb of Prahran, will be a base for GoPro’s operations across Australia, New Zealand, India and South East Asia and will oversee business development, marketing and management across the Asia Pacific region.
GoPro is a California-based action camera firm best known for its line of small, high-definition devices that are about the size of an ice cube. The firm sold about 6.5 million cameras worldwide in the last 12 months.
GoPro director Rodney Block said, “Our investment in the Australian office in Melbourne is to provide greater regional focus and support to our business partners across Australia, New Zealand & South East Asia. As the heartland of sport and passion for the great outdoors, many of our sponsored events such as Moto GP, V8 Supercars and the WSL (World Surf League) are based in Victoria. “Along with Melbourne being ranked one of the most liveable cities in the world, we chose this city for its diversity, awesome vibe and creativity — which provides us with a great cultural fit for the brand,” he added.
Minister for small business, innovation and trade Philip Dalidakis said he will announce allocation of the state’s $60 million innovation fund by the end of November, and it’s understood today’s announcement doesn’t involve those funds.
“Importantly, like a start-up the Victorian government is hungry for growth and we are not stopping here. We have a super exciting pipeline over the next six months including a massive week of announcements next week.”