The first thing you need to know about New Zealand is that sheep are not its biggest export. Or Hobbit movies. It’s dairy, worth around NZ$16 billion – nearly 30% of the nation’s export income. The second thing you should know is that the tech sector is no 2 after dairy as a source of… Read more »
Every week on the Startup Daily TV show, we talk to more than two dozen founders, CEOs, investors and experts about what’s happening in tech. Now you can catch the best of the show with the weekly podcast, SUDS. The big tech news this week involves expat Australian entrepreneur Domm Holland and the failure of his… Read more »
Canberra tech scaleup Instaclustr is being acquired by US software giant NetApp. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it’s believed to be worth more than $500 million. The exit comes 9 years after the cloud-based Internet solutions platform was co-founded by Ben Bromhead, Adam Zegelin, Peter Lilley, and Doug Stuart ANU,… Read more »
While many worry that they’re going to lose their job to a robot in the years ahead, that’s already happening in an area few suspected: social media influencers It seems the age of the Kardashians is waning, replaced by artificial intelligence and digital influencers embraced by those under their influence. New research, led by Swinburne… Read more »
Auckland-based VC Icehouse Ventures has raised its first NZ$5 million towards a $20m target to invest in women-led startups. The new ArcAngels Fund II is Aotearoa’s largest fund investing exclusively in female-founded and led ventures. Theresa Gattung, Chair of Global Women and the Kiwi lead for women entrepreneur initiative SheEO, is a cornerstone investor in… Read more »
Perth-based startup LatConnect 60 (LC60), an Earth observation and data fusion company, is partnering with Queensland rocket company Gilmour Space Technologies, in a project to to build and launch the first microsatellite in a planned high-resolution hyperspectral imaging constellation. LC60 CEO and founder Venkat Pillay, and Gilmour Space’s Adam Gilmour announced the deal at the… Read more »
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean wants to “level the playing field” for female founders when it comes to access to capital for their startups. In a speech to the COSBOA National Small Business Summit today, Keen focussed on the role of women in business, their underrepresentation “in our trades, our offices and our boardrooms” and improving… Read more »
The Canberra Cyber Hub, ACT Government and Digital Skills Organisation (DSO) have partnered together to deliver a pilot program aimed at addressing the massive shortage of a skilled workforce in cyber security. DSO CEO Patrick Kidd said the 12-month pilot will help identify which skills companies will be need on the cybersec front in the… Read more »
The Australian arm of New Zealand equity crowdfunding startup PledgeMe is back with a new name, Microwd, new owners and a new focus to back female-led startups. While the Kiwi side of the decade-old CSF venture continues, the seperate Australian business has been acquired by investment software company Finley Capital Partners, which has appointed Megan… Read more »
Brisbane infrastructure monitoring startup Aurtra has been acquired by French multinational Schneider Electric in a multi-million-dollar deal. The startup, founded in 2017 by Dr Richard Harris, Steve McRae and Terry Woodcroft, was built on sensor technology developed at the University of Queensland technology to monitor the health of electricity network transformers. Aurtra licensed the patented… Read more »
Consultancy giant KPMG Australia is offering a $100,000 prize to a startup working on tech solutions to address nature and biodiversity-related problems as part of a new program. The KPMG Nature Positive Challenge is designed to encourage and support the growth of the nation’s most innovative startups and impact ventures in the eco space. The… Read more »
Social enterprise Thankyou is tackling a new issue that strikes at the heart of its own existence Launched in 2008 to alleviate poverty, the business has since donated $17 million to organisations around the world fighting against global poverty. But co-founder Daniel Flynn said that one thing he’s learnt over the last 14 years is… Read more »
Melbourne startup The Room Xchange has launched a mandatory verification feature on its house-sharing platform. Founder and CEO Ludwina Dautovic said the new ‘Verified’ feature also ensures that all profiles are real and current, with the site’s search algorithms simplifying the matching process to make it easier for people to find the right housemate based on personality,… Read more »
Scaleup unicorn SafetyCulture has acquired local worker safety startup SHEQSY for $6 million. The smartphone-based app is a lone worker safety solution designed for remote situations, offering real-time safety monitoring including duress situations. For managers it offers a visual dashboard of staff locations with activity countdown timers and generates real-time alerts when an employee overstays… Read more »
The CEO and co-founder of a Melbourne agtech startup AXIchain, Linda Woodford, is among five people killed in a helicopter crash in Victoria on Thursday. Her colleague, finance consultant Ian Perry, was also among those killed when the helicopter crashed at around 8am in remote forest near Blair’s Hut at Mount Disappointment, 60km north of Melbourne,… Read more »
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