Mums became big news this week, with Labor leader Bill Shorten talking about how his mother was an inspiration to him and shaped his political views. Politicians aren’t the only ones with inspiring mums. Becoming an entrepreneur is often the result of hard work, sacrifice, love and more from parents who’ve raised their child with… Read more »
The annual Startup Genome Global Startup Ecosystem Report sees Sydney fall in the top 30 rankings Melbourne’s ecosystem is on the rise as a “challenger” to crack the top 30 The Sydney result is ‘disappointing’ and the city has now slipped from 16th in 2015 While there is growth overall, Australia is lagging behind global… Read more »
Melbourne lawtech startup Plexus, has closed the largest venture capital raise in Australian legal history, $4.65 million in Series A funding, led by KPMG. The professional services company’s legal arm, KPMG Law has also formed a strategic alliance with Plexus. Aconex co-founders, Rob Philpot and Leigh Jasper, and Message Media co-founder Grant Rule also participated.… Read more »
86 400 is a new digital-only bank led by British entrepreneur Anthony Thomson It’s backed by Sydney-based payments services company Cuscal The bank is waiting for APRA approval to launch with a savings account this year It’s seeking $250m over the next three years to strengthen its balance sheet Digital banking startup 86 400 (named… Read more »
Perth-based Demand.film is hoping its 110,000-strong customer base will put their money where their eyeballs are, launching a seven-figure equity raise via crowdfunding. The on-demand cinema startup, which has a catalogue of hundreds of films, predominantly documentaries alongside Australian classics such as Mad Max and Crocodile Dundee, offers crowdsourced, single event-screenings in… Read more »
R&D investment in Australia has now been in decline for a decade and sits below the OECD average Labor wants to increase the figure from the current 1.9% of GDP to 3% by 2030 Businesses collaborating with universities or CSIRO scientists will receive a 10% premium R&D tax incentive The proposal is expected to cost… Read more »
British online real estate agent Purplebricks is pulling out of Australia after less than three years as the business struggles globally and the local arm is battered by the slump in property prices in the country’s two biggest markets, Sydney and Melbourne. The local market’s challenging conditions appear to have hit the business hard,… Read more »
Startup accelerator BlueChilli is launching a healthtech accelerator in Singapore, giving the Sydney-based venture a permanent HQ in the city-state. Founder Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin has partnered with the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry’s development agency, Enterprise Singapore, to launch the accelerator with an eye to the fact that the US$6.3 billion invested in 2018… Read more »
Cybersecurity startup Kasada has raised $6.5 million from the CSIRO’s innovation fund, Main Sequence Ventures, and Westpac’s Reinventure Group to ramp up its technology to tackle automated bots attacking websites. The raise comes 12 months after Kasada’s wunderkind founder and CEO, Sam Crowther, first raised $2.5 million for his venture. Kasada’s cloud-based tech product,… Read more »
Access to high quality healthcare in regional Australia is an ongoing challenge, with one enterprising country town, Temora, 420km southwest of Sydney, going so far as to produce a 3-minute music video, “The Great Quack Quest” in a bid to attract GPs. Technology offers one solution, allowing patients in remote locations to consult with medical… Read more »
Adelaide’s reputation as a startup hotspot took a massive leap last month when the release of the StartupBlink Startup Ecosystem Rankings 2019 report revealed the South Australian capital had cracked to top 150 global cities for startups, rising from 227 on the list to 143. Australia overall jumped six places from 11 to 5th. It’s… Read more »
Amazon Australia, fresh from its push to change the local retail landscape after launching here in 2017, is now turning its attention to the next generation of coders with a STEM program for primary school students. Camp Amazon is a two-year $150,000 initiative for 100 kids in years 3 to 6 to develop their… Read more »
A class action against Uber from taxi drivers has the potential to be Australia’s biggest class action More than 6000 people among 57,000 potential claimants have already signed up for the case Class action lawyers Maurice Blackburn lodged the claim in the Victorian Supreme Court today Global ridesharing app Uber is facing a major legal… Read more »
Australia’s coworking space boom is about to step up another notch with Singapore-based JustCo set to opening centres in Sydney and then Melbourne at the end of the financial year. JustCo launched in September 2015 and its rapid expansion now has grown to 30 locations across six Asian nations, including Thailand, Indonesia, China, South Korea… Read more »
Australian VC firm, Brandon Capital Partners, has just raised another $210 million to invest in commercialising medical research, and is already on the hunt for another $250 million as it edges towards $1 billion in science investments. The 5th Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, MRCF5, raised AU$210 million from existing investors, taking the total in the… Read more »
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