Lena Söderberg, the Swedish grandmother who inadvertently became tech’s “original sin”, holding her 1972 Playboy photo. Welcome to Monday. We need to talk about Lena. 1. How Playboy set the standard for women in tech In the early ’70s, a Swedish model, Lena Söderberg, was a Playboy centrefold. When a bunch of engineers –… Read more »
Wonde CEO and co-founder Peter Dabrowa. UK education technology venture Wonde has raised $2.6 million from Australian VC funds, led by Tempus Partners, as part of its local roll out. The software integration and data privacy venture is the nexus between third-party education app developers and a school’s database or Student Information System (SIS)… Read more »
Order fulfillment venture Shippit has raised $5.35 million in an oversubscribed pre-series B round to expand in Asia and Australia. The five-year-old Sydney SaaS startup, which began as a shipping platform for fashion and homeware boutiques in inner-city Surry Hills has doubled it transactions over the last 12 months to more than two million… Read more »
Venue booking startups Spare Workspace and Venuemob have merged to create a wide-ranging event, meeting and training space booking platform. The new venture will be known as Spare Group. Spare Workspace was launched in 2015 by Jake Dimarco (pictured above) for businesses to book meeting and training spaces online, with around 2000 spaces available by… Read more »
1. Stirring, not shaken Massive congrats to Yarra Valley gin distillery Four Pillars (that’s the team pictured above), which has just been named International Gin Producer of the Year at the 50th Annual International Wine and Spirits Competition in London. Startups come in many shapes and forms. This one launched in 2013, co-founded by three… Read more »
The Crowe crew cleaning up following bushfires around Nana Glen. Photo: Russell Crowe It all started with a sooty Rabbitohs hat. Hollywood superstar Russell Crowe nearly lost his rural property on the New South Wales mid-north coast in the recent, devastating bushfires that have burnt out hundreds of homes Australia-wide. On Friday morning, 147… Read more »
Buy-now-pay-later service Zip Co. (ASX: Z1P) is looking to raise $60 million from a share issue to fund its UK expansion and move into small business lending. The fintech announced the capital raise to the market this morning. $50 million will come from a non-underwritten placement to professional and sophisticated investors, with $10 million… Read more »
Well hello, you big Belmont boy. Photo: CSIRO. Hello Thursday. How’s your world? 1. Prospa boss says sorry Prospa chair Gail Pemberton has apologised to shareholders at the fintech’s first AGM as an ASX-listed company this week. Last week, the SME business lender, which listed on June 11 at $3.78 a share, announced… Read more »
The Morrison government and Big Four banks will commit $100 million each to the fund It will invest in around 30-50 high growth SMEs annually in return for a 10-40% equity stake The Business Growth Fund will have an independent management team selecting investments The government is talking to others to build the fund to… Read more »
Sydney-based courier disruptor Sendle is heading to the US just five years after its launch hoping to carve out a slice of the growth e-commerce deliver market. The venture raised $20 million in a Series B at the start of 2019, in part to explore international markets and with four billion parcels shipped around the US… Read more »
Kasada founder and CEO Sam Crowther. Cybersecurity startup Kasada has closed its $7 million Series A raise with the CIA’s 20-year-old venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel (IQT) joining the round. The Sydney tech venture previously announced the first $6.5 million in the Series A from the CSIRO’s innovation fund, Main Sequence Ventures, and Westpac’s Reinventure Group,… Read more »
v2foods CEO Nick Hazell, Hungry Jacks founder Jack Cowin and Main Sequence Ventures partner Phil Morle. Photo: supplied Fast food billionaire Jack Cowin partnered with the CSIRO’s innovation fund to create a plant-based burger The JV business, v2food, launched at the start of 2019, produced its burger within 8 months The mince ‘meat’ is made… Read more »
Happy Tuesday Here’s what’s been happening 1. Ali G reckons Facebook et al can out-propaganda Goebbels Satirist actor Sacha Baron Cohen, of Ali G fame, let rip at Facebook, and other internet giants, including Google, Twitter and YouTube, accusing them of being “the greatest propaganda machine in history” and allowing the spread of hate and violence,… Read more »
Legal advice that wrongly classified Afterpay as a factoring service led to breaches in Australia’s strict anti-money laundering laws, an independent audit of the ASX-listed fintech payments provider has found. Afterpay shares have jumped more than 10% to above $33 in morning trade on Monday after the audit, by Neil Jeans of Initialism, broadly praised the… Read more »
Xceptional CEO and founder Mike Tozer. Photo: supplied If you watched the 2018 ABC TV series Employable Me as it followed people with neuro-diverse conditions such as autism and Tourette Syndrome looking for work, then you came across the Xceptional, an IT recruitment firm (that gave Tim a job). Founded by Mike Tozer as a… Read more »
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