Elon Musk
Global tech

A billionaire who spent 10 years predicting things his companies still haven’t achieved gets triggered by tech prophecy

- January 6, 2025 3 MIN READ

In October last year, the world’s richest conspiracy theorist, Elon Musk, announced plans for a robotaxi, the Tesla Cybercab. Production would begin he said “in 2026”, before correcting himself to “before 2027”, because “I tend to be a little optimistic with timeframes”. That observation is an understatement inversely proportional to Musk’s wealth. So it wasn’t… Read more »

Vinyl Group, Concrete Playground
ASX

Richard White-backed Vinyl Group’s latest media play is acquiring Concrete Playground for $5 million

- December 12, 2024 2 MIN READ

ASX-listed music and media company Vinyl Group is broadening its publishing portfolio yet again, acquiring the city guides site Concrete Playground in a deal worth $5 million. Vinyl (ASX: VNL) has signed binding Heads of Agreement to acquire the 15-year-old digital lifestyle brand for $3.5 million in cash and $1.5 million in Vinyl shares, with… Read more »

pot of gold
Business

Fresh from its $272 million win against Uber, class action lawyers Maurice Blackburn are now eyeing off Google’s adtech

- December 3, 2024 2 MIN READ

Law firm Maurice Blackburn is wading into an issue that’s vexed the federal government, competition watchdog the ACCC, as well as the media, investigating a potential class action against Google for alleged anti-competitive conduct in Australia’s digital advertising market. The idea is likely to be tempting to publishers Google has not struck deals with under… Read more »

Business

Disrupt Radio, the media startup about startups, is hoping to stage a live comeback next month

- October 21, 2024 2 MIN READ

Disrupt Radio, the Melbourne media startup that launched in 2023 with a focus on entrepreneurship, but ran out of money to pay its staff within 12 months, is hoping to secure enough funding to return to live broadcasting in November. The Australian reports that founder Benjamin Roberts said negotiations for new capital are ongoing. “In… Read more »

Alan Jones
Accelerator

Fishburners names 10 ideas for its new media program

- October 31, 2022 2 MIN READ

Sydney startup hub Fishburners has chosen 10 ideas for the inaugural Google News Initiative (GNI) startups bootcamp The nine-week professional development program delivers support and coaching to aspiring news media entrepreneurs for independent journalism, with entrepreneurs including Sinorbis CMO Vijay Solanki, BindiMaps cofounder Tony Burrett, and Stem Media cofounder Emily Dawson providing one-on-one coaching. It’s the… Read more »

Funding

Seven backs real estate media baron Antony Catalano in $100 million proptech play

- August 19, 2022 3 MIN READ

Seven West Media’s venture capital arm has thrown its weight behind a new proptech startup consortium by former Domain boss Antony Catalano and investor Alex Waislitz targeting the real estate sector. View Media Group (VMG) is a real estate digital media and agent services business, involving B2C and B2B proptech platforms. They include The Today… Read more »

Funding

Junkee founder Tim Duggan backs media startup that wants to make it easier for everyone to be a publisher in $500,000 raise

- July 18, 2022 2 MIN READ

A Sydney startup that wants to make it easier for people to become publishers has raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding. The round was backed by Tim Duggan, co-founder of Junkee Media, Startmate and Australian deep-tech VC Boson Ventures. Storipress claims it is making digital media easier is created by giving aspiring publishers the tools they… Read more »

Funding

Generation Instagram startup The Daily Aus banks $1.2 million from Canva execs and former Nine boss David Gyngell

- June 27, 2022 2 MIN READ

Digital news channel The Daily Aus, which has pioneered a social media-first approach to current affairs for younger Australians, has raised $1.2 million in Seed funding. The round was led by media former Nine CEO David Gyngell, supported by Canva executives Zach Kitschke and Rob Kawalsky, as well as festival  the Untitled Group. The backing from… Read more »

Startup Daily TV

STARTUP DAILY TV: Media startup Ukufu, the ‘Spotify of news content’, is on a rapid rise

- April 8, 2022 2 MIN READ

Sydney media startup Ukufu, a AI-powered news content aggregator, is on a rapid rise with more than 50,000 users downloading the Android to stay up to date with what’s happening in the world. Founded by Kevin Garber in 2019, Ukufu.com (pronounced oo-koo-foo), whose previous startup was the Twitter management platform Manageflitter, was inspired by Spotify, how… Read more »

Facebook
Business

The High Court ruled the media are liable for Facebook comments on stories. Here’s what that means for you

- September 9, 2021 4 MIN READ

A publisher can be held responsible for defamatory comments readers leave on its Facebook pages, the High Court has ruled, in a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for social media users throughout Australia. This decision may mean anyone who runs a social media page can theoretically be sued over disparaging comments posted by readers… Read more »

Funding

Spoken word analysis startup Sonnant raises $750,000 seed round led by media giant SCA

- March 10, 2021 < 1 MIN READ

Melbourne startup Sonnant, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for content discovery for the spoken word, has raised $750,000 in a seed round led by radio and TV company Southern Cross Austereo (SCA). The strategic investment by SCA will help support the recent launch of LiSTNR, the rebranded PodcastOne audio channel and… Read more »