Happy hump day. Let’s do this. 1. Bezos had his phone ‘hacked’ by the Saudi crown prince A WhatsApp file sent to the world’s richest man in 2018 from Mohammed bin Salman personal account was reportedly used to steal data from the phone of the Amazon boss, according to an astonishing account in The… Read more »
Hello, it’s Tuesday and Space X is getting ready to put two men into space. 1. Musk’s giant leap for Space X SpaceX fired Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in a final test flight before it carries a crew of two NASA astronauts, and things blew up, as… Read more »
Hello and happy Friday. How good is rain? Here’s a few things we’ve spotted and share. 1. Neobank Xinja shows interest It’s been a busy week for banking startups, with 86 400 getting into price comparisons for power bills, Judo hitting it $1bn lending goal (see below), and Volt enlisting Julian Sawyer, co-founder… Read more »
Hello and happy Tuesday. Here’s a mix of the latest news and some more of what you may have missed over the break. 1. From Zume to zero Just before Christmas, five-year-old Californian robotic pizza venture Zume was being flagged as a $4 billion startup, but now the SoftBank curse has struck. The… Read more »
Hello and welcome back for 2020. We hope you’re safe and well and able to do what you can to help with the bushfires. We’ll kick off 5 things for 2020 this week with some of what you may have missed over the holiday break. 1. ACS loses legal action The push by not-for-profit technology… Read more »
ACS President Yohan Ramasundara and CEO Andrew Johnson at the ACS AI Hub. Photo: Supplied Hello Tuesday. Hello to the select few still working. Just a reminder that this time next week, you’ll be putting out carrots for the reindeer. Here’s what’s happened in the meantime. 1. Blackbird sings VC fund Blackbird Ventures scored… Read more »
It’s Thursday. And Redbubble’s probably looking forward to the weekend more than most. 1. Bubble bursts Just seven weeks ago, ASX-listed online marketplace Redbubble (ASX: RBL), which sells t-shirts, mugs and art by independent artists, was on a high, announcing a 37% revenue jump for Q1 FY20, and massive turnaround in its profitability on 12… Read more »
Hello Wednesday. 1. Cloud concern Surveys, for the most part, are how a company’s marketing department finds something to say when they have nothing to say, but when this analysis from British commercial property experts Savoystewart.co.uk landed, looking at how business thinks about cloud computing, it did have us going woah… It surveyed 6,000 professionals… Read more »
“Babe, do you think they had Pelotons in Gilead?” Source: Peloton Hello Tuesday. At least we think it’s you. Hard to tell through the smoke haze. 1. Hit the road, Jack Twitter boss Jack Dorsey is off to live in Africa for six months next year, impressed by the region’s burgeoning startup community.… Read more »
Welcome to Tuesday. It’s now 3 weeks to Christmas. Here’s what’s happening in tech. 1. Paul Bassat’s Square Peg backs offshore fintech Melbourne VC firm Square Peg Capital has made its first big international bet in a Singapore fintech, less than a year after raising a record AU$340 million fund with global ambitions.… Read more »
1. Stirring, not shaken Massive congrats to Yarra Valley gin distillery Four Pillars (that’s the team pictured above), which has just been named International Gin Producer of the Year at the 50th Annual International Wine and Spirits Competition in London. Startups come in many shapes and forms. This one launched in 2013, co-founded by three… Read more »
Well hello, you big Belmont boy. Photo: CSIRO. Hello Thursday. How’s your world? 1. Prospa boss says sorry Prospa chair Gail Pemberton has apologised to shareholders at the fintech’s first AGM as an ASX-listed company this week. Last week, the SME business lender, which listed on June 11 at $3.78 a share, announced… Read more »
Happy Tuesday Here’s what’s been happening 1. Ali G reckons Facebook et al can out-propaganda Goebbels Satirist actor Sacha Baron Cohen, of Ali G fame, let rip at Facebook, and other internet giants, including Google, Twitter and YouTube, accusing them of being “the greatest propaganda machine in history” and allowing the spread of hate and violence,… Read more »
Good morning from StartCon, where former PM Malcolm Turnbull’s about to deliver the keynote on getting our innovation mojo back. Let’s get cracking for Friday. Hope to see you here. 1. Westpac bugged We’re confess to feeling queasy about today’s column, with two stories featuring links to paedophilia. How did we get… Read more »
The Dexus Brainwaves art installation in North Sydney. Hello Thursday. One more sleep to StartCon. Let’s do this. 1. Meet your neighbours on Nextdoor This week’s episode of our new podcast, The Problem Solved, is up. We spoke to Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor, the social media network that connects local neighbourhoods. Friar has… Read more »
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