As many businesses continue to struggle to navigate their way through the pandemic, we spoke with nine Australian startup leaders to understand what they’ve learned from the COVID-19 catastrophe and how they believe businesses can keep their heads above water in future crises. Here’s their advice Ben Thompson CEO and co-founder, Employment Hero Taking… Read more »
Welcome to Thursday team. It’s a busy one, with Kogan.com raising $100 million in an ASX share placement. More on that here. 1. Here’s looking at you Jeff Reading the room, and perhaps also pushing for a seat at the table as US legislation is finally drawn up to deal with the use of facial-recognition… Read more »
Kogan.com shares have jumped more than 11% in early trade on Thursday morning after the online retailer announced it had successfully raised A$100 million in an institutional placement on Wednesday. Within 30 minutes of trade resuming today, shares in the multi-pronged ecommerce business (ASX: KGN), had climbed to $13.79, up from Tuesday’s closing price of… Read more »
The relentless march of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) startups such as Afterpay and Zip into the retail landscape has been confirmed in new research by Roy Morgan that found nearly 60% of Australians, 12.3 million people, are aware of the payment services. The figures in the latest Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report are up 22.1% points in just… Read more »
ASX-listed MoneyMe Ltd (ASX:MME) recently launched RentReady, a pay-later solution to help real estate agents and landlords manage investment properties. RentReady is available to landlords through real estate agencies and offers the option to cover up to $15,000 of property expenses now and pay later. Clayton Howes, CEO and co-founder of MoneyMe, spoke to Startup… Read more »
● Kogan.com is raising $100 million on the ASX in a fully underwritten placement at A$11.45 per share ● The price is a 7.5% discount to Tuesday’s closing price of A$12.38 ● An addition $15 million is being raised via a share purchase plan ● The raise is “to act quickly on future value accretive… Read more »
Algorithmic decision-making has enormous potential to do good. From identifying priority areas for first response after an earthquake hits, to identifying those at risk of COVID-19 within minutes, their application has proven hugely beneficial. But things can go drastically wrong when decisions are trusted to algorithms without ensuring they adhere to established ethical norms.… Read more »
Hello all. The week starts on Tuesday for much of Australia thanks to a 94-year-old monarch. Don’t forget to tune into the Startup Daily show on ausbiz.com.au every weekday, 2-3pm, where we talk to startup founders, investors and innovators about everything tech. 1. The Amazon customer is not right When an Amazon customer discovered… Read more »
A Queensland dinner party marketplace that matches hosts with caterers – from chefs and talented home cooks – has raised $600,000 in seed funding. Brisbane-based ACAC Innovation led the raise with the FNQ Angels and the Queensland Government’s Business Development Fund as co-investors. It’s the second time FNQ Angels has supported the regional startup, having tipped… Read more »
Melbourne buy-now-pay-later startup Openpay’s stellar week continued on Thursday when the company raised an additional A$33.77 million through an oversubscribed local institutional placement. The raise comes in a week where Managing Director and CEO Michael Eidel announced the fintech had secured a UK funding facility for £25 million (A$46 million) for its British business, adding… Read more »
Hello and welcome to Thursday What a time to be alive! 1. Fintech explosion A big hello to anyone who bought BNPL Openpay and Zip Co on Monday! Now pubs are reopening, you’re buying the next round. Zip shares just nearly 40% on Tuesday on news that that it was buying US BNPL QuadPay… Read more »
Shares in Zip Co. jumped more than 40% following news that it will acquire the major US buy-now-pay-later venture QuadPay in an all-scrip deal to drive international growth, as well as raising $200 million. QuadPay shareholders will receive up to a 23.3% stake in the Australian fintech (ASX: Z1P) – a maximum of up to… Read more »
Welcome to winter and Monday. It’s a massive day! 1. The Startup Daily Show launches Forgive us for blowing our own trumpet for a second, but we were pretty excited to launch the Start Daily Show on Ausbiz TV. We’re talking startups, tech and innovation for 60 minutes daily show on the business streaming… Read more »
Neobanks and fintech lenders such as Xinja, Judo, Get Capital, Society One and Volt Bank dominated Australian startup sector funding in the first quarter of 2020 in a boom-time beginning to the year. Startup sector analysts Techboard hve been monitoring Australian startup and tech sector growth since 2017 and the March quarter 2020 was the second… Read more »
People and culture platform Culture Amp has been forced to shed 8% of its workforce as global impact of coronavirus hits the international arms of the business. CEO and co-founder Didier Elzinga announced the redundancies to the team on Thursday, with 36 positions going. While the company continues to grow, it has revised down growth… Read more »
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Tassie carbon accounting startup banks $5.3 million Seed round 
The lessons from Uber, Ola and rideshare’s disruption is that in the end, the consumer still pays 
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