Bluethumb has raised $1 million in a Series A round led which will go towards expanding the startup’s Indigenous Art Centre program and adding new features.
It has been another busy week around the global startup space. In Europe, Rocket Internet’s home interiors marketplace Home24 has acquired German competitor Fashion For Home, while Udacity has raised $105 million in a Series D round at a valuation of $1 billion and ClassPass has raised $30 million. Closer to home, Australian visual arts marketplace Bluethumb has raised $500,000 from the founders of AussieCommerce.
South Australian startup Bluethumb, which has created a platform allowing artists to showcase and sell their work online, was named the winner of the Creative3 Pitch competition in Brisbane yesterday, and will go on to represent Australia at the Creative Business Cup in Denmark later this year.
South Australian visual arts marketplace Bluethumb has taken out Best Shopping App in the Australian Mobile & App Design Awards 2014. Given the awards attracts entries from high profile businesses like domain.com.au, carsales.com.au, AFL, Coles and ANZ in a wide range of categories, it’s safe to say Bluethumb was in great company – not to mention, last year Ikea and Starbucks took out top honours in the categories for retail and shopping.
Aussie startup Bluethumb was named the ‘Best New App’ on the Australian Apple App Store four weeks after its November launch and has been downloaded over 6,500 times. The virtual arts marketplace now features more than $2.6 million worth of original Australian art from over 500 artists.
The hospitality industry now has an app that solves two of the sector’s biggest problems 
Airbnb property management startup Hometime just scored $6 million from a new VC fund that offers debt 
This tech recruitment startup solves the biggest problem on the way to solving problems 
A Queensland startup has built a smartphone video platform it’s hoping will be the next Canva 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
![[VIDEO] Go inside KPMG’s Sydney Innovation Lab](https://www.startupdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/KPMG-Innovation-Lab-600x300.png)
![[VIDEO] How developer Lend Lease is embracing innovation](https://www.startupdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Lend-Lease-Michael-Vavakis-600x300.png)
