After an admittedly late start, crowdfunding is certainly coming of age in Australia. As was rightly pointed out recently by Birchal Co-Founder Matt Vitale, that Australian crowdsourced funding (CSF) platforms have raised $240 million for 320 start-up companies over the past five years is an unqualified success. Accessing otherwise unavailable investment opportunities in high growth… Read more »
The team at Sydney VC firm Folklore are sharing some of their insights on the investment process to give founders, particularly early founders, an insight into how to approach VC engagement from your first conversation through to what to expect from your VC after receiving your first cheque, or even rejection. In part one of… Read more »
Australia was late to the game when it came to allowing startups to raise capital through crowd-sourced funding. But it grew quickly to become the second largest market per capita by 2021, according to the latest global research. Five years in, it’s undoubtedly a huge success, with over $240 million invested across 320 successful offers… Read more »
It took 10 years from the time I hoped to become a venture capital investor until the time I actually became one. Ten long years of hanging by the hoops, trying to crack in, a VC desperado. It’s a fairly typical story: I studied books and articles, listened to podcasts about the greats, built spreadsheets… Read more »
Jessy Wu, investment principal at AfterWork Ventures, is an unlikely venture capitalist. She happily admits it was “the furtherest thing from my mind” when she emerged with a ANU with a philosophy degree, also majoring in English literature. Next thing she knew, she was working at NAB Ventures. Within 18 months, Wu became part of… Read more »
Aside from questions on funding, there’s one other query that VCs seem to consistently field: How did you get into the venture capital industry? Layoffs from the major technology companies has triggered renewed interest in VC as a career path. With the sector’s strong push towards impact companies, there’s now a very real opportunity to… Read more »
As we embark on another year in the world of startups, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges that tech founders will face in 2023. This year, top performing startups will have an easier time raising capital than average performing ones. Startups that have extended their runway by making cuts must ensure that they have strong… Read more »
I’ve always struggled to write a year in review. Not at the end of the year, at least. The end of a year tends to involve a burned-out shell with no time or energy, too busy thinking about the future to focus on the past. But it is worth a quick look. What did I… Read more »
The “pre-money valuation” of your startup is the total value of your company before an investment is made: it determines both how much equity an investor will receive in exchange for their investment, and therefore, how much equity you, your team and existing investors will retain once the new round of investment is completed. Pre-money… Read more »
Startup lexicon can be confusing, with so many acronyms and buzzwords. But there is one word everyone should know: unicorns. It’s the crowning title for magical companies that are valued at more than $1 billion dollars. While unicorns are rare, Victoria has 20 that have created more than $100 billion of value between them. You… Read more »
Industry dinosaurs like me can still remember when there was no such thing as a startup pitch competition. But times have changed: the glaciers have retreated, bipedal mammals have become the dominant life form, and there are now more startup pitch competitions each year than coffee shops near Wynyard Station. Good for startups, right? Yes… Read more »
Last week we completed our end of financial year valuations for the Blackbird portfolio and communicated them to our investors. They’re down as you would expect in light of the public markets but with this blog post, we wanted to share in greater detail the process that we used to come to the valuations. The… Read more »
Welcome to Giant Leap’s Small Steps, a newsletter offering global insights and news on the impact startups landscape. We share an edited version with Startup Daily readers every fortnight. Giant Leap is Australia’s first impact venture fund, and they use this newsletter to surface the ideas and businesses that intrigue and inspire them and broaden… Read more »
Australian startups are having more international success than ever before and for Blackbird co-founder Niki Scevak, it comes as the Oz startup ecosystem has taken huge steps in development over the past decade. Speaking on The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem podcast, Niki talks about the changes he’s seen in Australia, how Blackbird approaches… Read more »
A new approach to investing in early-stage startups has been developed by former Stone & Chalk national head of community Cheryl Mack. Aussie Angels is an investment platform that lets sophisticated investors join experienced startup investors in syndicates backing the next wave of Australian startups. Investors can find and join angel syndicates to get access… Read more »
The lessons from Uber, Ola and rideshare’s disruption is that in the end, the consumer still pays 
Unicorn dehorned: Nasdaq-listed Brisbane EV charging venture Tritium collapses into receivership 
Here are the finalists in Fintech Australia’s 2024 Finnies awards 
‘Have I gone too far?’ How founders can beat their startup demons 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
