Sam Kroonenburg awarded for tech leadership & global impact
Sam Kroonenburg has been named as the recipient of the 2025 Pearcey Victorian Entrepreneur Award.
The Pearcey Foundation presented the award to Kroonenburg, the co-founder and co-CEO of Cuttable, co-founder and CEO of A Cloud Guru, and founding partner of Glitch Capital, in Melbourne. The award was presented by Professor Ed Hovy, executive director of Melbourne Connect. The ceremony also included the 2025 Pearcey Oration, delivered by Victor Dominello, a figure noted for his work in the field of digital government.
Pearcey Foundation recognition
Kroonenburg was selected for his ongoing commitment to technology entrepreneurship in Victoria. Jordan Green AM, Chair of the Victorian Committee for the Pearcey Foundation, said, "Sam built a global success from scratch right here in Melbourne that has helped millions of students grow their careers and advance the cloud computing technologies that we all rely upon today. What stood out for the Pearcey Foundation in recognising Sam for this year's award are his continuing efforts and passion for technology and building companies with Cuttable, and in funding new founders and guiding our tech ecosystem with Glitch Capital."
Cuttable, founded by Kroonenburg in 2023, is an AI advertising platform focused on automating the creation of online advertisements. According to the Pearcey Foundation, the company is preparing to expand its operations to the United States, entering one of the world's largest advertising markets. Kroonenburg said, "Cuttable is showing the world that the future of creative AI is being built in Australia. This award recognises the journey the team at Cuttable has been on, and now we're ready to take it global, starting with the USA. I feel very honoured to receive this award in a state and country with so many incredible technology founders and leaders."
Career background
Originally from Perth, Kroonenburg began his career early, working in a computer store at the age of 14. He obtained a software engineering degree from Curtin University in 2005. His early professional experience includes work at Microsoft in the United States, where he contributed to the development of operating systems and system utilities and later worked in Oslo on advanced search and SharePoint technologies.
Returning to Melbourne in 2010, Kroonenburg joined Kiandra IT to focus on custom software development and gained experience in full-stack development, Azure, user experience, and project management, alongside commercial and account management responsibilities.
In 2015, Kroonenburg co-founded A Cloud Guru with his brother, Ryan, after identifying a need for online training in AWS technologies. Their first courses, posted to Udemy, quickly attracted thousands of students. The brothers then decided to develop their own platform using serverless AWS infrastructure, extending functionality to include video hosting, payments, onboarding, and more. The venture grew, opening an office in Austin, Texas, and transitioning to a business-to-business sales model to secure enterprise clients.
Kroonenburg raised AUD $7 million in Series A investment to support expansion and subsequently raised AUD $40 million in Series B funding to further grow the business. The eventual acquisition of A Cloud Guru by Vista Equity Partners in 2021 saw the company merged with Pluralsight in a deal valued at more than AUD $2 billion. By this stage, the business had amassed 2.5 million students and 4,500 customers globally. Kroonenburg's leadership was noted through significant growth phases, a major acquisition, and gaining recognition as an AWS Hero organisation.
Recent ventures
In 2023, Kroonenburg co-founded Cuttable, focusing on AI-powered creative tools for eCommerce brands to produce large numbers of social media adverts efficiently. The aim is to support smaller brands in competition with large corporations. The company recently closed a funding round of AUD $10 million, led by Square Peg.
This year, Kroonenburg also became a founding partner of Glitch Capital, a AUD $50 million venture fund formed by Australian tech founders with previous successful exits. Green commented on this collaborative approach, stating, "It's a 'founders-for-founders' approach that echoes the ethos and character of our recipient. Those close to Sam assure us his success hasn't changed him. They know him as supportive, gentle, enthusiastic, confident, and humble; always a collaborator and an open-minded problem solver."
With this recognition, Kroonenburg will represent Victoria at the Pearcey National Awards later in the year.
2025 Pearcey Oration
The event also featured the 2025 Pearcey Oration delivered by Victor Dominello, a former NSW Minister for Customer Service and Digital. Dominello, who works with a range of government and academic bodies including ServiceGen and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, emphasised the need for digital public infrastructure in Australia.
Other state awards
The Pearcey Foundation is conducting state awards across Australia, including in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia. Chris Morrissey, founder and CEO of Ever Nimble, received the 2025 Western Australian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award as part of the WAITTA INCITE Awards.