Applications for the mid-year intake of AO StartUps, the pioneering sports and entertainment tech program powered by Tennis Australia and the Australian Open, are open until the end of May AO StartUps launched in 2022, and has now supported more than 30 startups across verticals including participation, fan engagement, high performance and event operations. The… Read more »
The administrators of medication management startup StrongRoom AI have recommended putting the business in liquidation ahead of a 2nd creditor’s meeting on Tuesday. The decision comes a fortnight before the Federal Court is due to hold another hearing in the legal action by VC firm EVP to recover $10.4 million it invested in the business… Read more »
Sydney startup organisation Fishburners has added investor and tech M&A lawyer Jason Maletic and fintech entrepreneur Paul Umbrazunas as Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), taking its board to five. The move comes follows a recent changing of the guard with Majella Campbell takes on the CEO role in February. Chair Bilyana Smith said they join the board… Read more »
Five Australian startups from Australia’s eastern states have been selected for the 2025 LawTech Hub by Lander & Rogers. The accelerator program’s eighth cohort is focused on AI solutions for legal issues such as drafting and negotiating, legal research, due diligence, and agentic AI. The five startups are: Amender, Courtaid, DDLoop, Lawme, and Mobius. The… Read more »
Industry and science minister Ed Husic has been dropped from the new federal government’s cabinet as Labor’s factions jostle for position amid a swathe of new MPs heading to Canberra. Husic was widely admired in the startup and tech sector, implementing a series of reviews into the sector during his three years in the role,… Read more »
Four years after it launched, New Zealand VC fund Phase One has fully deployed its NZ$2.1 million (A$1.94m) early stage fund into 14 tech startups, including five (36%) with female founders. The fund, launched in April 2021, following the establishment of its early stage incubator community in 2020, the attracted GD1 as its anchor investor… Read more »
Comparison site Finder is closing down its crypto trading platform, Wallet Ventures, after four years, signing a deal with Swyftx to transfer users to the digital assets exchange. Wallet Ventures (formerly Finder Wallet) offered customers access to 18 cryptocurrencies through the Finder App. It launched in 2021 Finder notified customers on Wednesday, saying it will… Read more »
Tech Council of Australia chair Scott Farquhar has another board to run since stepping down as Atlassian co-CEO, taking on a role close to his heart as chair of the global social impact movement Pledge 1%. Farquhar was one of the founding members of Pledge 1% started in 2015 via the Atlassian Foundation. Pledge 1%… Read more »
An R&D finance fintech based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has raised $2.3 million towards a $25 million fund to lend as non-dilutive capital to Australian startups. Founder Alex Knight moved home to Coolum three years ago to raise a family, having previously worked at crowdfunding platform VentureCrowd and debt financier Tractor Ventures, having also invested… Read more »
Blackbird has added another unicorn to its portfolio, but unlike Canva, has come late to the party with plans to tip $60 million into fintech Airwallex. The AFR reports that the VC is signing on for an unannounced capital raising for Airwallex, ahead of plans to go public in the next 12 months. Airwallex last… Read more »
Mohit Midha, cofounder and CEO of Hoogly was at Blackbird’s Sunrise last week, tired but unable to stop smiling after global recognition for his employee engagement startup in California and London. The fact that he set out to also raise $500,000 and now has $1 million with 10 days left before he closes his latest… Read more »
Share in US-listed Atlassian (Nasdaq: TEAM) are down around 10% over the past week, at one stage dipping below US$190 following a 17% plunge when the Australian workplace software company released its March quarter earnings with another loss alongside longer-than-expected fourth-quarter guidance. Q3 revenue was up 14% on 12 months ago to US$1.4 billion, with… Read more »
Robyn Denholm was on stage Blackbird’s Sunrise when the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published news that Tesla, the company she’s chaired since 2018, was on the hunt for a new CEO. The basketball-loving-and-owning Australian, a Blackbird director, was talking to Sydney Kings and Boomers coach Brian Goorjian about the lessons from sport for leadership and… Read more »
Eucalyptus cofounder Tim Doyle has revealed that the best way to get a job at his health startup is to solve his dildo problem. He wants you to slide into his LinkedIn DMs to solve the “dildo mountain” he has in a warehouse – the result in a pledge in his startup’s early days. Doyle… Read more »
Probably the last time the NRL talked about testicles was 12 years ago when former Souths forward Sam Burgess copped a two-match ban for a “squirrel grip” tackle on a Melbourne Storm player. But this weekend, as the rugby league fans gather for Magic Round in Brisbane, medical researcher and entrepreneur Saara Jamieson from Cool… Read more »
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