Welcome to Startup Daily’s new weekly roundup of investment raises in the Australian and New Zealand startup sectors. Each Friday will give you a snapshot of the week’s investment activity. If we missed your raise, please let us know (contact details below). Parental engagement platform Circle In has raised $1.5 million seed investment led… Read more »
Westpac has launched its sixth annual Innovation Challenge, offering startups, scale-ups and entrepreneurs the chance to win $50,000 and professional support to grow their business. The Challenge seeks data solutions solviong a business problems in five different sectors: micro business, energy, insurance, aged care or government. The latest challenge comes head of the phased introduction… Read more »
Swoop Aero CEO Eric Peck trains health staff on how to load cargo into the drone. Photo: Luke Dempsey Melbourne-based drone startup Swoop Aero, which is working with aid agencies and the UN to deliver urgent medical supplies to remote areas, has received a multi-million-dollar investment from VC firms Tempus Partners and Right Click… Read more »
Wisetech Global CEO & founder Richard White. WiseTech is a Sydney-based logistics company that’s pushed hard into tech in recent years Its shares jumped after beating its own revenue growth predictions for FY19 The company has invested heavily in tech development and acquisitions to scale rapidly Operating profit increased 37% to $80.2 million WiseTech… Read more »
A Nearmap image of Sydney Nearmap is is an Australian aerial imagery tech and location data company Revenue grew by 36% to to $90.2m last year thanks in part to US market growth The company posted a bigger-than-expected loss of nearly $15m Investors punished the company, pushing shares down 15% in early trade ASX-listed tech… Read more »
Amazon Prime Video has announced its first Australian Amazon Original series will pitch 10 Australian comedic actors and stand-ups against each other trying to make each other laugh first to win a $ 100,000 prize. Actress Rebel Wilson will host the comedy-variety series, LOL: Last One Laughing, in 2020. The local series is a reworking of… Read more »
Global accelerator venture Startupbootcamp (SBC) is currently scouring Australia looking for energy startups to take part in the organisation’s 2020 EnergyAustralia Program. SBC is hitting 27 cities with its half-day FastTrack event, kicking off in Brisbane last night. FastTracks lets startups share what they do, and in return get immediate feedback from experienced entrepreneurs,… Read more »
Australian property development giant Mirvac is launching an accelerator program focused on environmental and social change. The Impact Accelerator is being run in partnership with INCO, the Paris-based global VC and not-for-profit accelerator venture for green tech and social impact startups. Applications are now open for Australian startups and entrepreneurs to apply for The Impact Accelerator,… Read more »
When Amazon Australia’s newest venture, Amazon Launchpad, a new store for startups and entrepreneurs to sell innovative products to local customers launched earlier this month, the company threw a party in Sydney to welcome the retailers. Amazon Launchpad is essentially a store within the store, with retailers building custom product pages with the ability to… Read more »
A new entrepreneurship program that helps turn farmers into startup founders is currently underway across Australia and now accepting applications for the 2020 program. Farmers2Founders (F2F), was co-founded by Sarah Nolet (AgThentic) and Dr Christine Pitt (Food Futures Company) is an 8-week incubator program that helps producers answer two questions: is their idea worth pursuing;… Read more »
VOW co-founders Tim-Noakesmith and George Peppou. Photo: supplied A Western Sydney startup has joined the global race to produce lab-grown meat from animal stem cells and the NSW government is backing the project with a $25,000 grant to get it to a Minimum Viable Product. The Australian twist to the tail is that the cellular… Read more »
Edible Bug Shop founder Skye Blackburn. Photo: Megann Evans. That crunch in your chocolate bar might not be peanuts one day if the startups backed by food giant Mars are anything to go by. The confectionery and pet food producer has chosen six food-focused Australian startups for its inaugural Seeds of Change accelerator, developing ideas… Read more »
US-based office space startup WeWork released its prospectus publicly overnight. The IPO documents reveal the company is a long way from profitability and does not predict when it will be in the black. It lost AU$2.4 billion in 2018. The 10-year-old venture has 20 sites in Australia, half of them in Sydney. It is… Read more »
Australian batsman and former cricket captain Steve Smith’s run rate is already impressive, but a $100,000 seed investment in a Byron Bay startup three years ago makes him the Don Bradman of investors. That February 2016 investment, for a 10% stake in Koala Mattress is now worth $12.2 million according to the Australian Financial Review’s… Read more »
The daring dozen – Antler Australia’s cohort of 31 founders from 12 startups receiving pre-seed funding. (rear, l-r) Anish Sinha co-founder of Upcover, Ben Cooper-Woolley cofounder of SiteHive, Bede Moore Managing Partner of Antler Australia and New Zealand, Kellie Marks co-founder of SiteHive, Kailash Chandrasekaran co-founder of Upcover, Adam Ferguson co-founder of SiteHive, Nick Glynn… Read more »
12 incredible agricultural entrepreneurs building startups in regional Australia 
An ex-air force pilot’s drone medicine delivery startup just scored millions in backing 
6 things a serial entrepreneur learnt from launching 8 startups 
Aerial mapping startup Nearmap just had a bumper year but is still posting losses 
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