Antler Australia

Antler backs 8 new AI-first startups, from robotics to health, cybersecurity and fintech, in its 12th cohort

- May 1, 2025 8 MIN READ

Antler has unveiled its latest investments from the 12th Australian residency: eight new startups selected from thousands of applicants, spanning robotics, cybersecurity, and health – all with a strong emphasis on AI. The cohort reflects a growing trend for Antler: more founders building at the intersection of AI and deep industry expertise, moving faster than… Read more »

Climate Tech

Qantas and Airbus tip $15 million into VC Climate Tech Partners for aviation emissions reduction startups

- April 8, 2025 2 MIN READ

Qantas and European plane manufacturer Airbus have jointly committed to invest AUD$15 million into local VC Climate Tech Partners (CTP), in the hope it will accelerate the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other aviation decarbonisation solutions. Qantas is using the Airbus A350-1000 for its “Project Sunrise”, with plans to launch non-stop flights to… Read more »

Business

‘The investor’s role is to build, not to destroy’: StrongRoom AI’s Seed backer takes aim at EVP amid pending legal battle over $10.4 million

- April 1, 2025 3 MIN READ

A UK investor with close ties to one of the defendants in legal action against besieged medtech startup StrongRoom AI has come out swinging against Sydney VC EVP, which is fighting to get its $10.4 million investment back. Aaron Michelin, a director of Tyson & Blake – named after founder Chris Tornblom’s dogs – has… Read more »

WiseTech Global founder and CEO Richard White
ASX

Whitewashed: Australian Super offloads stake in WiseTech in wake of founder and board turmoil

- March 27, 2025 2 MIN READ

Australian Super has sold holding in logistics software giant WiseTech Global in recent weeks as founder Richard White returned to the business as chairman. The superannuation fund had more than 2.2% of WiseTech (ASX: WTC) shares and had backed the business since its 2016 float. But governance concerns amid board resignations and White’s elevation to… Read more »

Funding

University of Sydney quantum sensing spinout lands $750,000 pre-Seed

- March 27, 2025 2 MIN READ

A diamond-on-silicon quantum sensing startup cofounded by two University of Sydney professors has raised $750,000 in pre-Seed funding. The raise for DeteQt was backed by deep tech CSIRO-backed Main Sequence Ventures and US deep tech investor ATP Fund. DeteQt was founded by Adjunct Professor Jim Rabeau and Professor Omid Kavehei from the University of Sydney Nano… Read more »

Politics

Trump bump: Tax cuts for all in Labor’s 4th budget ahead of the election

- March 25, 2025 3 MIN READ

The Albanese government’s fourth budget is a pitch for the votes of a sour and alienated electorate, framed against a background of extraordinary international uncertainty. US President Donald Trump isn’t mentioned by name. But he is the colossus in the background of this budget and indeed the imminent election campaign. While the opinion polls and… Read more »

Business

Veteran Sydney software company that bootstrapped for 22 years cashes in with $445 million sale

- March 25, 2025 < 1 MIN READ

A Sydney software company founded in 1999 by two former PwC executives to tackle governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) issues has sold a majority stake in the business to US investment firm PSG Equity for US$280 million (A$445m). The deal for Protecht gives an exit for California growth equity firm Arrowroot Capital after just three… Read more »

Business

US tech giants are complaining to Daddy that Australia and other nations are being mean to them

- March 21, 2025 4 MIN READ

Some of America’s most profitable tech companies have seized on their chance to join US president Donald Trump’s global trade war arguing that laws and taxes in other nations are costing them money. Industry lobby group the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which represents Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google and Elon Musk’s X, among others,… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

King River Capital is building a $157 million sixth VC fund to back AI

- March 18, 2025 2 MIN READ

UNSW chancellor David Gonski and Simon Sheikh’s impact investment fintech Future Super are among the investors in a new US$100 million fund to back artificial intelligence (AI) startups. King River Capital said it’s nearing the final close of  its latest A$157 million fund, which continues its ongoing strategic focus on AI-driven software startups both here… Read more »