Australian politicians have another way to brag about the nation being a global leader, although they probably won’t – it’s all about being a surveillance state. A new report on data surveillance from VPN provider Surfshark, reveals that government requests for user data from big tech companies by local law enforcement and other agencies are four… Read more »
Australian businesses are on notice. The gender pay gap within large Australian companies will be made public under legislation introduced this week by the federal government. The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 was introduced to the Senate by Minister for Women Katy Gallagher on Wednesday afternoon. Under the legislation,… Read more »
Queensland agtech startup DataFarming has raised $500,000 in a pre-Series A round led by Sydney VC Investible. Cofounded in 2017 by serial entrepreneurs Tim and Peta Neale, DataFarming help unlock the value of farm data for agronomists and farmers. The business services more than 120,000 paddocks across 28,000 farming enterprises – 40% market penetration in… Read more »
The Optus data breach, which has affected close to 10 million Australians, has sparked calls for changes to Australia’s privacy laws, placing limits on what and for how long organisations can hold our personal data. Equally important is to strengthen obligations for organisations to publicly disclose data breaches. Optus made a public announcement about its… Read more »
DataFarming cofounder Tim Neale has been at the forefront of precision agriculture for more than two decades. In that time, he’s seen the shift from being out in the field physically taking measurements and making observations to a digital revolution. But until now, the update in big data use for greater productivity has been slower… Read more »
What if your insurer was tracking your online data to price your car insurance? Seems far-fetched, right? Yet there is predictive value in the digital traces we leave online. And insurers may use data collection and analytics tools to find our data and use it to price insurance services. For instance, some studies have found… Read more »
A wealth of continuous data, and the networked expertise to crunch it, has enabled South Australia to be at the forefront of AI research in preventative health. A group of research labs in Adelaide, South Australia has recently begun using a wealth of health data provided by SA Pathology to determine ways to use Artificial… Read more »
Marc Andreessen’s prophetic declaration that ‘Software is eating the world’ turned out to be spot on with its prediction of how industries have been impacted by the sudden emergence of consumer-oriented technology. While it is common to be looking at technology’s disruptive effects on physical businesses, there are other industries that have adopted technology in… Read more »
GovConnex, a political intelligence and relationship management platform, has raised $1 million in a round led by local VC Black Nova. The funds will be used to scales platform to organise all of Australia’s government data amid plans to expand internationally by the end of 2021. The GovConnex platform, which launched in 2019, captures information… Read more »
A consortium of leading agrifood stakeholders including government, industry groups and research organisations are collaborating to build a better picture of the nation’s agriculture supply chain through a new data-based project. The Australian AgriFood Data Exchange (AAFDE) is being designed as an open data platform controlled by users to improve collaboration up and down the… Read more »
New Zealand data insights startup Yabble has raised NZ$3 million (A$2.9m) as it looks to expand into Australia and then the US. The AI company’s second raise was led by Hillfarrance among existing investors that include Movac, New Zealand Growth Capital Partners, Enterprise Angels, and other Angel networks, and high-net-worth individuals. Co-founders Kathryn Topp and… Read more »
ASX-listed data security company IXUP Ltd (ASX:IXU) has scored a software bargain from the administrators of failed tech startup Data Republic, buying the data exchange’s intellectual property and IT for just $3 million. The purchase price represents a 94% discount to the almost $50 million Data Republic spent building the platform. The acquisition came from… Read more »
The hunger for streaming services such as Stan and Netflix has seen the amount of data downloaded by Australians jump by nearly 50% in 12 months, the latest ACCC Communications Market Report for 2018-19 has found. And for the first time, the amount of time we spent talking on our phones fell as people… Read more »
Google is being taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which has accused the global tech giant of misleading consumers about its use of their personal location data. It’s believed to be the first legal action in the world on the issue as tech companies comes under increased scrutiny by… Read more »
The CSIRO has launched the Rural Intelligence Platform, a platform using satellite imagery to track paddocks and their performance over time, to better inform decision making in the agricultural sector.
The NSW government is evicting the Sydney Startup Hub from its CBD location, moving it to ‘somewhere’ in Tech Central in late 2025 
Nearly 9000 taxi drivers just scored $152 million from Uber as compensation for its illegal launch in Australia 
Bootstrapped father & son AI startup banks $22 million Series A in 1st raise after 6 years 
SISTER ACT: Nicola Forrest drops $100 million into an investment fund to back women 
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