Reddbubble cofounder Martin Hosking is back as CEO of the creative products marketplace for a third time following the resignation of Michael Ilczynski amid a plunging share price and a push to be cash flow positive. Hosking, now 62, was CEO from 2010 to 2018, then returned to the role in 2020 after his replacement… Read more »
Kantar BrandZ Top 40 Most Valuable Australian Brands top US$125bn in brand value Banks (37%) and Retail (24%) are the dominant categories in the Top 40 Australians are rewarding brands that are meaningful and relevant Design platform Canva is now the country’s second most valuable brand, behind the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, according to the… Read more »
Cauldron speeds up development of new food, feedstock and fibre ingredients Its hyper-fermentation platform lowers commercial risk & production costs $10.5m Seed round led by Main Sequence + Horizons Ventures An ambitious plan to transform the way new food, feedstock and fibre ingredients are created, by using fermentation has raised $10.5 million in seed funding… Read more »
Shares in dual-listed Block (ASX:SQ2) fell more than 18% on the ASX on Friday after a US short seller, Hindenburg Research, published a lengthy report accusing the parent company of local fintech Afterpay of inflating its user metrics and fraud facilitation after it used Block’s Cash App to order a cash card under the name… Read more »
New South Wales voters go to the polls this Saturday to decide who’ll lead the nation’s most populous state for the next four years. The Coalition has been in charge since 2011 and the consensus is that this election is too close to call, with the potential for another minority government – something current premier… Read more »
Melbourne scale-up Envato is flying the flag for Australian tech once again in the annual list of the world’s best marketplaces released by a16z, the fund of legendary Californian venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. It’s the 4th edition of a16z Marketplace 100, and Envato, which remains privately owned, after it was founded in a Bondi… Read more »
Agriculture fractional investment marketplace Invest Inya Farmer (IIF) has raised $1.1 million in Seed funding to give everyone to back the people who grow what they eat. The round was led by Investible, alongside global agtech VC AgFunder and high net worth investors. IIF has built a smartphone app that allows users to browse and… Read more »
Spare a thought for the country’s tech billionaires when you read at The Australian’s annual list of the nation’s 250 richest people tomorrow. 2022 wiped billions from their wealth, while the old-school titans continued to make a motza digging up stuff, building apartment blocks and turning trees into boxes. Twelve months after the tech billionaires… Read more »
Australian politicians have another way to brag about the nation being a global leader, although they probably won’t – it’s all about being a surveillance state. A new report on data surveillance from VPN provider Surfshark, reveals that government requests for user data from big tech companies by local law enforcement and other agencies are four… Read more »
Sydney cryptocurrency pioneer Independent Reserve has acquired Sydney Swans sponsor Bitcoin.com.au in a deal worth $3 million. The M&A deal comes as crypto sees rising prices and renewed interest amid US bank collapses and the USB takeover of Credit Suisse. Since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, amid ongoing concerns about the stability of the… Read more »
Shark Tank Australia, which is returning to the screen in 2023 on 10, has revealed five new investors for the new series. Crossing the Pacific from the US edition is prolific veteran investor Robert Herjavec, who’s ploughed more than $23 million into more than 50 companies across 14 seasons on the show. The Ferrari-racing IT veteran… Read more »
Hospitality ordering and payments platform Mr Yum has cut another 40 jobs, just seven months after shedding 40 more jobs – 17% of its then global workforce. CEO and cofounder Kim Teo posted the email she sent to staff today on LinkedIn saying they’d made “the strategic decision to get to profitability with our current… Read more »
Till Payments founder Shadi Haddad has stepped down as CEO in the wake of the fintech a $70 million raise, announced a fortnight ago. The company has declined to comment on changes to its C-suite amid board changes, and job cuts, but Paul Kawtal, CEO of Sydney-based IT and telecommunications business Ethan Group, is reportedly… Read more »
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising interest rates dampened merger & acquisition (M&A) deals in the first half of 2022, but even as company valuations fall, the size of transactions is growing according to William Buck’s annual Dealmaking Insights Report 2023. In 2022, the aggregate value of M&A deals in Australia increased 59% on 2021… Read more »
Two Australian space startups will receive $4 million grants each from the federal government as part of its Moon to Mars Trailblazer initiative to design semi-autonomous rovers to land on the Moon. Perth-based Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) consortium and the EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortium will each receive $4 million towards… Read more »
‘Have I gone too far?’ How founders can beat their startup demons 
Tassie carbon accounting startup banks $5.3 million Seed round 
Smart hotels get even smarter: 72 Byte to launch in Australia with AI expert backing 
Eucalyptus head of growth Matt Rossi departs to launch his own marketing startup, Oodle 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
