Away from the VC mega-round headlines or the hard stories of founders who can’t raise capital at any price, is the solvable problem of how much money a new founder should raise. I’ve participated in hundreds of investments where founders have opted for different answers to this question, and watched the consequences unfold over the… Read more »
A senior marketing exec from Canva and Eucalyptus has struck out on his own to launch a media strategy startup. Matt Rossi left his role as head of growth at Eucalyptus to found Oodle, saying it will offer media strategy and buying for growth-oriented brands, with a focus on helping internal marketing teams build conviction… Read more »
China’s Qitian Dasheng Network Technology is expanding its 72 Byte AI System for smart hotels and commercial buildings into Australia, with the help of a local AI expert. Launched in 2014 by entrepreneur Qi Wu (Allen), the Beijing and Shanghai-based company’s AI-powered IoT services are used by some of China’s leading hotel and real estate… Read more »
FinTech Australia is calling on the Federal government to address the challenging capital raising environment for startups and renew its support for Austrade’s effort to promote our local sector abroad. In its pre-budget submission tabled ahead of federal treasurer Jim Chalmers announcing his 2024 Budget on May 14, FinTech Australia CEO Rehan D’Almeida said the… Read more »
Online share trading platform Superhero has cut its brokerage fee on ASX trades up to $20,000 from $5 to just $2. The 60% reduction in the digital trading platform’s brokerage fee undercuts rival Stake, which charges $3 for ASX trades up to $30,000. Superhero charges a 0.01% fee for trades over $20,000. The Superhero-branded app… Read more »
After a year in power, NSW Premier Chris Minns has decided to put Investment NSW under his watch, along with the Office of the Chief Scientist, amid a restructure of the NSW Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade (DEIT) that will see its demise. The state government announced the shakeup on Friday afternoon, claiming that… Read more »
Startup founder, government tech advisor and Spark Festival director Maria MacNamara will be the next CEO of the Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA). Sydney-based MacNamara will step into the role on April 22 having recently completed a term as the Director of Government Affairs and Innovation Strategy at global ICT infrastructure company Kyndryl. She was… Read more »
New Zealand lawtech startup VXT has raised NZ$1.8 million (A$1.65 million) in a pre-Series A. The round was led by existing investor GD1 with follow on-investments from Startmate and Phase One too as well as Silicon Valley entrepreneur and former Lattice boss J Zac Stein joining the cap table. VXT has developed an AI-powered communications… Read more »
Ahead of Startmate Demo Day on May 2 in Sydney at Blackbird’s Sunrise, Startup Daily is profiling the 10 startups involved. We kick off with NOA The Brand. NOA The Brand is on a mission to untether humanity from the world of cords, and their breakthrough tech could change the way we power just about everything. … Read more »
No founder achieves greatness without getting spooked along the way. So the challenge is how you vanquish those demons, with the right ghostbusters by your side, that makes all the difference. Funding and customer growth may be the loudest concerns we hear from startups, but there’s a lot more happening beneath the surface that should… Read more »
The federal government will directly intervene to support and subsidise key growth areas such as clean energy and innovative technologies in a significant policy shift that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will take to the next election. In a speech to the Queensland Press Club on Thursday, Albanese set out a “more strategic and more sophisticated”… Read more »
Startups in Western Australia looking to address biodiversity and the environment will get a helping hand thanks to a $7.2 million grant from the state government. The global tech investor and accelerator Founders Factory is setting up shop in Perth, as its first Australian base, with the funding. The WA government’s investment of $2.4 million… Read more »
StartSomeGood, the pioneering platform helping social entrepreneurs succeed, has been acquired by social innovation business General Good, founded by media entrepreneur Piers Grove. StartSomeGood CEO and cofounder Tom Dawkins said the strategic move will continue the commitment he started 13 years ago to building a social entrepreneurship movement, partnering with circular economy accelerator Boomerang Labs under… Read more »
The text-to-image generator developed by Sydney startup Leonardo Ai has been used to create deepfake porn of celebrities. Journalist Emanuel Maiberg at US tech news website 404 Media reported that they had used prompt suggestions for Leonardo found on Reddit “and was able to produce nonconsensual sexual images of celebrities instantly”. He found a Telegram community… Read more »
The board of ASX-listed Dubber has fired cofounder Steve McGovern as CEO over $26.6 million in missing company funds. In a statement to the ASX late on Tuesday night, the company said they terminated McGovern’s employment yesterday after investigations over the last five weeks into the missing cash alleged that “McGovern and the trustee were… Read more »
‘Have I gone too far?’ How founders can beat their startup demons 
Unicorn dehorned: Nasdaq-listed Brisbane EV charging venture Tritium collapses into receivership 
Tassie carbon accounting startup banks $5.3 million Seed round 
The lessons from Uber, Ola and rideshare’s disruption is that in the end, the consumer still pays 
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