Over the years, one thing that’s become increasingly clear about Dropbox is that it plays the long game when it comes user acquisition. It doesn’t aim to convert users to paying customers overnight or over months, but over years.
SMS-based on-demand service ASAP, which gives you whatever you want as soon as possible, was founded by two Sydney-based university students Dylan Samra and Kelvin Nguyen earlier this year, with Daniel Cunningham joining as a co-founder shortly after. Six months following its launch, ASAP has raised capital and merged with former rival Ketings.
It seems the co-founders are actually focusing on the more interesting side of alcohol delivery startup Liquorun: its logistics management platform. The software platform is now an entity of its own called Swift, which is growing fast and has customers from all over the world.
This morning, Australia has woken up to a new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. This is a result many startups wanted. After all Tony Abbott did a fine job of making sure he was perceived as a luddite.
Without a doubt, Wellington-based startup StarNow is one of the most well-known global success stories to come out of New Zealand in recent years. The tech company is a casting and talent platform for the entertainment industry that connects aspiring and professional actors, models, musicians and crew with casting agents and production companies.
We’re either turning into a really angry, shouty bunch, or it’s just getting easier to untap our anger and put it on show for the world to see thanks to social media. Either way, it’s been fun to see the rise of online stores this year that are helping users send their enemies glitter, bags of dicks, or musical cards that won’t stop playing.
Most people stopped using the Yellow Pages to find a tradesman a decade ago. Since then, the number of websites looking to help consumers connect with the right plumber or electrician has grown exponentially, but the battle is now on between apps looking to corner the tradie market. Despite the competition, Melbourne startup Mr Tradie believes it has the tools to do it.
Sydney-based startup Simply Wall St, which makes the stock market easier to navigate, has just announced the closing of a $600,000 funding round led by Mike Quinn from Innovation Capital, with participation from Sydney Angels and their Sidecar Fund. This brings the total amount raised by the startup to $700,000, including the original investment from AWI ventures.
Caroline Woodhouse’s transition from office manager at a dead-end chiropractic clinic to tech entrepreneur has been rockier than anticipated. Like many non-technical founders, she decided to outsource the development of Where4Events, an event aggregation app, only to end up in a messy court battle, costing her $500,000.
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, a small leak will sink a big ship. The 20c change from the $4 we hand over for a coffee every morning can add up over time but, thinking them useless and wanting to get rid of heavy coins, most of us routinely waste our change.
This year seems to be the year of the self storage startup. First we got Melbourne’s Boxly, then came – and went – Rocket Internet’s SpaceWays, and Boxbird. Now Melbourne startup Spacelli wants to take a stab at the market.
Yesterday, Luke Metcalfe announced that he had officially launched another big data play; a new real estate platform under his existing NationMaster brand that was designed to make it easier for people to make more informed decisions when it comes to property.
German home cooking delivery startup Marley Spoon has officially landed in Australia, adding another player to the booming food space as it launches its service in Sydney.
Ten months after merging, Australian startups Beat the Q and Posse have announced the closure of an oversubscribed Series A $5 million funding round led by Westpac’s $50 million venture fund Reinventure and 12-year-old venture capital firm Exto Partners. The new investment will be used to fund product development – specifically, to improve the payment process for customers when dining out or buying coffee and to introduce new features – as well as marketing and scaling merchant acquisition.
Ask the Australian Government about our nation’s healthcare system and it will tell you that it is broken. From WellOne’s healthcare membership system to health job search platform HealthcareLink, the number of Australian startups that have emerged in the sector over the last few years confirms that there are quite a few problems to be solved.
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