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 »
Good morning from StartCon, where former PM Malcolm Turnbull’s about to deliver the keynote on getting our innovation mojo back. Let’s get cracking for Friday. Hope to see you here. 1. Westpac bugged We’re confess to feeling queasy about today’s column, with two stories featuring links to paedophilia. How did we get… Read more »
SME lender Prospa’s week from hell for its investors continues after the fintech announced on Monday that it would undershoot its prospectus forecasts for 2019. Here’s the chart, courtesy of CommSec, that tells the story. Prospa (ASX: PGL) shares are down another 6.38% in lunchtime trade on Thursday to $2.20. The Sydney fintech’s shares plunged… Read more »
Plans to build a giant solar power and battery facility in central Australia to supply electricity to Singapore will go ahead thanks to backing from tech and mining billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest. The duo are co-leads on an investment round for Singapore-based Sun Cable‘s $22 billion proposal for a 10-gigawatt (GW)… Read more »
The Dexus Brainwaves art installation in North Sydney. Hello Thursday. One more sleep to StartCon. Let’s do this. 1. Meet your neighbours on Nextdoor This week’s episode of our new podcast, The Problem Solved, is up. We spoke to Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor, the social media network that connects local neighbourhoods. Friar has… Read more »
Tyro CEO Robbie Cooke. Photo: supplied On the same day Prospa shares were hammered by the market for undershooting its prospectus forecasts, fintech rival Tyro revealed plans for an ASX float it hopes will value the company at more than AU$1 billion. The SME payments and loans provider, chaired by David Thodey, and around since… Read more »
Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms should be treated as publishers, Australia’s Attorney-General Christian Porter believes, making them potentially liable for any defamatory comments published on the sites. The country’s senior lawmaker’s view is that “the playing field is not at all fair at the moment” for traditional media companies when it comes to… Read more »
Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar meets community members during her visit to Sydney. Photo: supplied Nextdoor is an unusual social network. Its CEO, Sarah Friar, is happiest when you’re not on it and instead, outside, talking to your neighbours – who you’ve finally met on Nextdoor. Think of it as the nice version of Facebook –… Read more »
Shares in Sydney-based logistics tech co WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC) have fallen more than 6% in early trade today, amidst the company’s AGM, as China-based short-selling nemesis J Capital launched a fresh attack on the credibility of the business. WiseTech shares fell more than 10% to below $26 on Tuesday morning, despite an upbeat presentation… Read more »
The growing power of Facebook, Google and other tech companies as they swallow smaller rivals has Australia’s competition watchdog, the ACCC, worried about the threat to consumer data and privacy. Speaking at the Consumer Policy Research Conference Conference in Melbourne today, Australian Consumer and Competition Commission chair Rod Sims said Google and Facebook “are essentially… Read more »
Hello and welcome to tech on Tuesday. Let’s do this. 1. Prospa had a really bad day When the small business lender floated on the ASX in June at $3.78 a share, Prospa was seen as a startup success story. Yesterday the company told the ASX it was downgrading its revenue expectations for… Read more »
Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie are backing a new $30 million venture fund to make agriculture more energy efficient and reduce carbon emissions. The Tenacious Ventures fund will invest in early-stage startups focused on the agricultural supply chain. The Cannon-Brookes family are backing the fund via their private investment vehicle, Grok Ventures, with… Read more »
Shares in Sydney fintech Prospa have plunged nearly 28% in early trade on Monday, to a record low of $2.79 after the company released a trading update that downgraded revenue expectations for the remainder of 2019, less than six months after its IPO. The market reacted savagely to news, wiping more than $1 off the… Read more »
Just remember Sylvia and Gerry Anderson had a woman based on the moon by 1999 back in the mid-70s. Image: Space 1999. Got that Friday feeling? Remember it’s just 39 sleeps to Christmas. 1. WeWork’s death predicted WeWork’s rapid expansion included how much money it’s losing, with The New York Times reporting the company’s losses were… Read more »
Linktree co-founders Zaccaria, Nick Humphreys and Anthony Zaccaria Melbourne-based social media venture Linktree is the only Australian startup to make the cut in US business site CNBC’s list of the world’s most promising startups. The annual list by CNBC looks for the top 100 venture-backed startups globally with the potential to transform industries and become… Read more »
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