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 »
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 »
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has been ordered by a US court to provide details on how scammers use the social media platform to create scams ads as part of legal action by Dr Andrew Forrest. The WA mining billionaire has been doing battle with Facebook both here and in California for the last three years… Read more »
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 »
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 »
Lee Hickin, Microsoft’s artificial intelligence policy lead for Asia, has departed the tech giant after more than six years to become the new director of the National AI Centre (NAIC). The NAIC was established in 2021 to support and accelerate Australia’s AI industry. Its inaugural director, Stela Solar, herself a former Microsoft executive, stepped down… Read more »
Sydney investment firm Quadrant Private Equity has made another foray into startups, with plans to take an equity stake in Legal Vision. The size of the investment was not disclosed, but it’s the first from the Sydney PE firm’s latest and 10th fund, the $660m Quadrant Growth Fund 3, which looks to invest between $50… Read more »
An AI-driven eCommerce software platform with the same name as one of the country’s best known Australian financial services companies has raised $20 million. Amp, founded in 2022, has been backed by existing investor, Singapore’s Openspace Ventures, with Sydney’s One Ventures also hitting the EFT button. TradeGecko founder Cameron Priest and Advocately founder Patrick Barnes,… Read more »
An eight-year-old workplace safety and wellbeing app founded by three former public servants and used by McDonald’s has raised another $40 million. Sydney scaleup Sonder pitches itself as an EAP alternative that makes it easier for staff to get help. The latest funding came from existing investors Blackbird, MA Growth Ventures. and Seek, with super… Read more »
While the Tesla CEO is busy rage-tweeting, Roman saluting, dialling into far-right German political rallies, cutting aid funding and sacking US government workers, sales of his car brand in Australia, as well as the rest of the world have gone over a cliff, with January’s poor results continuing in February. The plunge for Nasdaq-listed EV… Read more »
An Australian-American cybersecurity startup has raised US$3 million (A$4.75m) in Seed funding to develop its artificial intelligence-driven defensive systems. The round for Harmony Intelligence was led by Airtree Ventures, alongside 30 strategic investors, including First Row Partners, Maxwell Capital, and execs from Canva, Adept AI, and Plaid as well as The Lean Startup author Eric… Read more »
A Queensland renewable energy tech company has taken on its first external investment, banking $15 million in a round led by Ellerston Capital’s Industrial Growth Fund and Fifth Estate Asset Management. The raise for EcoJoule Energy, which provides solutions for managing renewable energy integration, will be used for international expansion, as well as a national… Read more »
Quantum computing has reached another milestone with a breakthrough hybrid computing workflow developed by Quantum Brilliance and Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre. The system integrates quantum processing with traditional high-performance computing (HPC), providing researchers and enterprises with a flexible and scalable way to explore real-world quantum applications. The milestone, led by Dr Pascal Elahi and Pawsey’s… Read more »
Flowing Bee, the AI-powered behavioural insights platform for marketing strategy and execution, has raised $1.6 million in a pre-Seed round. The raise was led by Archangel Ventures, with participation from The University of Melbourne Genesis pre-seed Fund, Antler, LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund, and M8 Ventures, plus strategic angel investors. The cash will be used to… Read more »
Three years after a record $2.2 million pre-Seed round for two teenagers to solve the problem of abandoned online sales, their eCommerce fintech has raised another $18 million in a Series A. The round for Brisbane startup Instant was led by Belgian early stage VC Hummingbird Ventures, which revels in the title “the best venture… Read more »
VC EVP red flags ‘potentially serious issue’ in $17 million startup investment it just led 
Andrew Forrest featured on 230,000 Facebook scam ads – and a US court is forcing Meta to reveal how it happened 
King Richard: WiseTech Global review says founder promises to do better on ‘unacceptable’ conduct 
Worker credentials platform MyPass clocks on with $7.5 million Series A 
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