Earlier this month, the tech world was abuzz with debate following comments from Craig Blair, a renowned VC and partner at Airtree Ventures, at a Tech Council of Australia (TCA) event. Whilst his comments around founders’ “greatly flawed characters” being what “makes them special” sparked concern he was perpetuating toxic leadership in tech, I do have… Read more »
The theme for International Women’s Day this year is ‘Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress.’ For women in startups, venture capital investment in them is already a hot topic, with female founders receiving 4% of the $3.5 billion in capital deployed in 2023. That’s a literal invest in women and still has a… Read more »
A new impact fund for Indigenous startups has raised $15 million, taking it halfway to a $30 million target to back Aboriginal and TSI entrepreneurs. First Australians Capital (FAC), is an Indigenous-led organisation focused on business advisory services coupled with a social impact fund for Indigenous businesses. Since 2016, FAC has supported more than 700… Read more »
Applications have opened for the Minderoo Foundation’s 2023 Dream Venture Masterclasses with $200,000 in seed funding on offer for First Nations business owners. The Minderoo Foundation is mining billionaire Andrew Forrest and his wife Nicola’s philanthropic venture. Dream Venture is led by Minderoo Foundation’s Generation One initiative to equip First Nations entrepreneurs with the connections,… Read more »
Melbourne oral hygiene startup Pearlii has raised $1.5 million in a fresh round to bring free dental check-ups to regional Australians. The round came from BRC Capital and follows a previous $1.25 million investment from Indigenous Capital Limited and Justin Liberman in November 2020. Pearlii’s app uses artificial intelligence to scans selfie photos of a… Read more »
An Indigenous Australian Army veteran who’s build a successful tech startup over the last six years has spun out a cybersecurity company with the ambition one day launching it on the ASX. Kieran Hynes is a Worimi man from the Newcastle region who spent 13 years as an Army officer, dealing with military tech, from… Read more »
Two Aboriginal health service providers on the Eyre Peninsula have trained Indigenous staff to provide IT support with help from another First Nations company. The Yadu Health Aboriginal Corporation in Ceduna and the Nunyara Aboriginal Health Service in Whyalla have chosen New Future IT from Darwin to train Indigenous workers to cover their internal IT… Read more »
To understand why there are differences between Indigenous and Western Entrepreneurship and why it’s important, we need to understand that Indigenous people operate(d) differently from Western societies. Social norms are basically informal rules that govern behavior in societies which includes beliefs, attitudes, and behavior that are considered acceptable in a social group or culture. For… Read more »
The push for diversity in venture capital is long overdue but like a lot of diversity campaigns, First Nations people are being overlooked by investors in Australia. As founder of the world’s first Indigenous Accelerator, I reached out to venture capital firms operating in Australia to conduct research into how much or more accurately, “how… Read more »
IndigiSpace’s Greg Hodgkins (centre) with Donna Ingram and Joanne Cassady. Early-stage investment firm Investible has gifted its founder and startup accelerator program to two Indigenous-focused business development providers, Indigispace and The Cultural Intelligence Project, training them up to independently deliver the programs to Aboriginal founders On the east coast, IndigiSpace founder Greg Hodgkinson is program coordinator, supported by trainer Brendan… Read more »
These Indigenous founders are set to become household names with the positive impact they are making for their people and within the tech ecosystem.
The NSW Government has launched the Tech Savvy Elders Roadshow, offering Aboriginal seniors across regional NSW the opportunity to develop their digital literacy.
A notable trend in the Australian EduTech space right now is an acute awareness around the need to proactively support particular niche groups.
Academy Xi has launched The Founding Futures, a new scholarship which will offer Indigenous Australians training in User Experience Design.
Barayamal has partnered with global kids coding initiative CoderDojo to launch First Nations, a network of coding clubs aimed at Indigenous Australians.
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