Martin Cooperwaite | CTO & Co-Founder
Kiandra

My passion for technology began in childhood, inspired by the source code books my dad would bring home from the local electronics store back in the 1980s. By grade 2 in Primary School, I was writing adventure computer games for my friends to play on the school computers.

Fast forward to 1995, and while completing a Bachelor of Computer Science at RMIT, I partnered with my high school friend Cameron Brookes to modernise the technology at his uncle’s accounting firm. That successful engagement led to the founding of Kiandra for Cam and I, where our dedication to solving complex problems for clients quickly propelled the company beyond its two-person origins.

Kiandra expanded to over 50 staff with offices in Melbourne, Perth and Toronto, delivering high quality software solutions across government and enterprise sectors. Our commitment to excellence has earned us more than 18 awards for innovation, service and corporate culture, and recognition on both the ARN, CRN and Deloitte Fastest Growing Companies lists. Kiandra then joined the Svitla Systems global group in 2026, to expand our access to over 1000 engineers and a broader delivery offering.

To date, we have completed hundreds of engagements for some of Australia’s most prominent organisations, accumulating over 500,000 hours of development experience. We specialise in high-stakes engagements, ranging from statewide health platforms to national and global financial services solutions, and only pursue projects we are confident we can deliver. We leverage a broad technology base, including the .NET stack, enterprise-grade low-code with OutSystems, and GenAI / AppGen to rapidly accelerate development with AI.

Demonstrating “skin the game” is core to our values, and we do this by providing a complimentary working prototype and a 24-month warranty on our project work. Our robust governance framework and rigorous delivery processes ensure that solutions are fit for purpose and delivered on schedule.

With 90% of our full-time workforce based in Australia, an average tenure exceeding six years, and an engagement rate of 93%, Kiandra offers deep domain expertise and stability. After over 30 years at the helm, I remain hands on - collaborating closely with both our team and our clients to uphold our mission of transforming the software experience.

Outside of my professional role, I enjoy time with family, playing guitar and building custom gaming computers.

If there’s a particular project you have in mind, please get in touch as I’d love to see if we can help. We'd be delighted to provide a no-cost prototype - to enable you to assess both Kiandra, and our proposed tech, risk free.