Canva’s billionaire co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht have acted on their oft-stated goal to give their fortune away after the privately-owned design startup’s valuation nearly trebled to $55 billion today. The duo, who married in back in their home state of WA earlier this year (he’d proposed with a $30 engagement ring two years… Read more »
There’s one trait that runs deep in the Australian startup ecosystem and it’s generosity. We are a generous bunch of people who are more than happy to help where we can. It’s that generosity that drew me to this space. My foray into the startups began in Bangkok when I was 19. I’m now 27… Read more »
Startup founders who want to do more to change the world through philanthropy now have an easier way to achieve it as part of the global Pledge 1% movement. The Atlassian Foundation has partnered with PwC Australia, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Australian Philanthropic Services to create a Deed of Equity Gift. The Deed gives startup… Read more »
Philanthropic movement Pledge 1% has partnered with the world’s leading venture capital firms with a goal of donating A$6.5 billion (US$5bn) in new charity funding over the next five years. The new program, Boardroom Allies, will see a group of leading US and global VCs, including Australia’s Blackbird Ventures, commit to helping portfolio companies set… Read more »
As the number of coronavirus in India surpassed 20 million this week, resulting in more than 220,000 deaths, a group of leading Australian tech and investment companies, led by Canva, have stepped in to launch a fundraising campaign to get much-needed medical supplies to the nation. Canva, in collaboration with SafetyCulture, Airtasker, Blackbird Ventures and… Read more »
The author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced on Dec. 15 that she had given almost US$4.2 billion to hundreds of nonprofits. It was her second announcement of this kind since she first publicly discussed her giving intentions in May of 2019. In July 2020, Scott revealed that she’d already given away nearly $1.7 billion to… Read more »
Canva’s head of Social Impact, Robyn King, says the global design business has a “simple two-step plan” when it comes to its goals “One: Build the world’s most valuable company. Two: Do the most good we possibly can,” she explains. That second step is what drew the $8 billion Australian tech company to Pledge 1%,… Read more »
Sometimes it’s all about the swag. Humanitix co-founder Joshua Ross was at an Atlassian charity event when he was handed a Pledge 1% t-shirt. “We were there to ask Atlassian staff for help hiring our first Chief Technology Officer – a few of the senior Atlassian developers kindly offered to do technical interviews for our… Read more »
Envato is a company with a big heart. Collis Ta’eed co-founded the privately owned global marketplace in a Bondi garage in 2006 with his wife Cyan, and friend Jun Rung. The Melbourne-based company now has more than 600 staff globally, having doubled in size in the last three years. It now generates more than $1… Read more »
Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar are donating $1 million each to recovery efforts in the wake of devastating fires across Australia, with the company’s foundation also pledging $1 million to help with the rebuild The latest personal donation comes on top of the $100,000 they each donated, along with their wives, in late… Read more »
Ask judges and winners past and present how the Talent Unleashed Awards stand apart from the growing number of awards programs celebrating the startup community and a common answer is the calibre of the people in the Talent network. Among them is Jane Tewson, an internationally renowned philanthropist who has founded charitable organisations including Comic… 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 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
