Enabling a Safer World: Fivecast Co-Founder Dr Brenton Cooper Receives the 2023 South Australian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award

The Pearcey Foundation today announced CEO and co-founder of Fivecast, Dr Brenton Cooper as the recipient of the 2023 South Australian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Brenton was presented with the prestigious award by the Chief Entrepreneur for South Australia Andrew Nunn at an event at Lot Fourteen in Adelaide today.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Adelaide, Fivecast is part of the Five Eyes alliance. Customers around the world are supported out of Fivecast offices in the US and UK. Born out of the Data to Decisions Co-operative Research Centre, a unique collaboration between government agencies and world-leading research institutions, Fivecast open-source intelligence technology was developed specifically to meet the ongoing challenges facing the intelligence community. 

The SA Pearcey Awards recognise outstanding ICT entrepreneurs making a significant impact in South Australia, who have taken a risk, made a difference and are an inspiration. Previous recipients include Flavia Tata Nardini (2022), Mohan Koo (2021), Dr Michelle Perugini (2020), Tony Clark (2018) and Geoff Rohrsheim (2017). The SA Pearcey Award was first presented in 2002.

"The South Australian Pearcey Committee were impressed with Brenton's outstanding leadership and drive in steering Fivecast to achieve exceptional growth in revenue and staff numbers across Australia, the US and the UK, and in securing AU$30m in venture funding in April 2023. Over a short period Fivecast has built a leading suite of unique products used by large customers in the security and defence markets globally," said Susan Andrews, chair of the South Australian Pearcey Committee.

Dr Brenton Cooper - CEO and Co-founder of Fivecast

As leader of Fivecast, Brenton is responsible for driving innovation in the security industry through the application of world leading data science techniques to the field of open-source intelligence (OSINT). Brenton was formerly CTO of the Data To Decisions CRC, a $100 million collaborative research initiative to address data analysis challenges facing Australia's national security agencies. This work led to the formation and spin-out of Fivecast, where he and the team are working toward their mission to enable a safer world by providing digital intelligence solutions that help protect global communities. Brenton has a Ph.D. in neural networks and his 30+ year career spans technology and management roles for companies including BAE Systems, Tenix Defence and Motorola.

"As Fivecast works globally with our customers to help them leverage AI innovations to enable a safer world, we are also striving to support the growth and development of the high-tech sector in Australia," said Dr Cooper. "This award is a valued recognition of our achievements in both regards. Fivecast now has over 100 employees across our global locations with operations in Australia and the US and has recently established an office in London to serve the UK and Europe market. Combined with the AU$30 million series A investment we received earlier this year, Fivecast is well positioned to continue to support our customers and drive revenue growth with cutting edge open-source intelligence technologies."

For more information about previous SA Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipients, go to https://www.pearcey.org.au/awards/state/sa.

Other State Award Recipients

ACT: Marcus Dawe, co-founder and CEO of MCi Carbon

NSW: Emma Weston, co-founder and CEO of AgriDigital

QLD: Yas Grigaliunas, founder and evangelist at Circonomy

TAS: Damian Ivereigh, founder and CEO, Launtel

VIC: Didier Elzinga, founder and CEO of Culture Amp

WA: Pia Turcinov AM, Fund WA director

National Pearcey Awards

The recipients of the prestigious 2023 Pearcey National Awards - including the Pearcey Medal, Hall of Fame and National Entrepreneur Award - were announced at an event in Sydney on Monday 30 October. David and Aidan Tudehope were jointly awarded the 2023 Pearcey Medal; Professor Jean Armstrong and Richard White were inducted into the Pearcey Hall of Fame; and Didier Elzinga received the National Entrepreneur Award. More information on these awards can be found at https://prwire.com.au/pr/112095/achieving-a-25-year-milestone-pearcey-foundation-presents-its-2023-national-awards.

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About the Pearcey Foundation

The Pearcey Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to raise the profile of the Australian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and profession. It was created in the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of the Australian ICT industry, Dr Trevor Pearcey. By celebrating the heroes in our industry, past, present and future, the Foundation is looking to attract and encourage young Australians into this most exciting of global, high technology sectors of our nation.

Web: www.pearcey.org.au

Twitter: @Pearcey_org #PearceyAwards

LinkedIn: Pearcey Foundation #PearceyAwards