The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has backed US cryptocurrency exchange Gemini in a US$400 million (A$500m) capital raise. It was Gemini’s first outside financing, and values the business, founded in 2015 by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, at US$7.1 billion. The round was led by Morgan Creek Digital with CBA taking a minority stake alongside 10T,… Read more »
A Sydney client engagement platform for professional services companies has raised $US50 million ($A69m) in a Series C round. The raise for Practice Ignition was led by US-based JMI Equity, making its first Australian investment. Existing investors Tiger Global and EVP also backed the raise along with several strategic angel investors and family office groups.… Read more »
That Startup Show, the Melbourne-based webseries and podcast, returns for a new six-part season this Thursday, November 18. Series 3 is exploring the metaverse with the theme “reboot the world” from a virtual spaceship vibe for hosts tech journalist Rae Johnston and cultural commentator Benjamin Law. They’ll be talking to US businesswoman Randi Zuckerberg; UN Global… Read more »
Spark Festival – Australia’s biggest event for founders, business owners and anyone looking to hustle their way out of Covid, hits its third and final week this week. The full program is massive, so to help you out we asked Spark Festival director Maxine Sherrin to pick out 5 things worth putting in the diary for the week ahead.… Read more »
The possibilities of artificial intelligence are endless, but what’s the point if the social impact isn’t positive? In northern Canada, translator apps are helping researchers preserve a threatened Inuit language and connecting the remote communities that still speak it. In London, developers are working to make object recognition more personal for blind and low-vision individuals,… Read more »
Federal Industry, Science and Technology minister Christian Porter has resigned after just five months in the role over a blind trust that saw him take money from anonymous donors to pay the legal fees in his defamation case against the ABC. Porter came under pressure last week after listing the trust on his Members’ Register of… Read more »
Rod Sims, chair of competition watchdog the ACCC, has told his colleagues around the world that the dominance of Apple and Google in app marketplaces may need to be tackled globally with new rules and regulations. In a speech to the Global Competition Review webinar outlining how Australia has been tackling the issue through the… Read more »
Global influencer and content platform Vamp has put leading marketing exec Gabriele Famous into the CEO role. Former CEO Gill Findlay has moved to the startup’s boardroom alongside co-founders Ben McGrath and Aaron Brooks. The duo said they were thrilled with their new chief exec. “Her experience in high-growth companies is exactly what’s needed to… Read more »
Controversial antivirus software pioneer John McAfee has died. He was 75. McAfee was found dead in his prison cell in Spain earlier today just hours after the nation’s high court approved his extradition to the US to face criminal tax evasion charges. Spanish police say there were attempts to revive the prisoner and they are… Read more »
The ruling by Australia’s Fair Work Commission that online food delivery platform Deliveroo unfairly dismissed driver Diego Franco marks a major shift in the Australian “gig” economy. What’s most significant is the commission has ruled Franco was, in fact, an employee of Deliveroo, not an independent contractor – the legal strategy platform companies use to… Read more »
Entrepreneur Cyan Ta’eed has called time on the social enterprise she’d poured her heart into over the last three years, Hey Tiger, because she was unable to make the business financially sustainable. Hey Tiger produced a range of flavoured chocolate bars, and sought to shine a light on a range of social issues in the… Read more »
It’s Thursday and who knew buying an Xbox was a bargain? Here’s the news from around the world. Trump’s Facebook comeback? While Facebook’s independent oversight board may have decided to back the company’s January suspension of former President Donald Trump from both Facebook and Instagram, they added that an indefinite suspension “was not appropriate”… Read more »
Batch Brewing Co, from Sydney’s Inner West, has raised $1.5 million in an equity crowdfunding raise through Equitise just a day after the campaign went public. With a day of the two-thirds of the funds already pledged on the day the campaign opened, it closed fully subscribed just after lunch on Good Friday. The raise… Read more »
Each and every day is an opportunity to challenge biases and reset boundaries in the workplace. We have made much progress in recent years to create a more equal world, but there is still much further to go on our journey for true parity between the genders. It’s encouraging to see conversations about women in… Read more »
Hello all. How nice to make it to Friday. It feels like it’s been a tough week on many fronts, especially on the eve of International Women’s Day on Monday Don’t forget to tune in for the Startup Daily show on Ausbiz.com.au every weekday, 2-2.45pm. Watch online, download the ausbiz app or via 7Plus. Google gives up tracking Google… Read more »
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