Elon Musk says he will “significantly” reduce his work advising the United States government in May to allocate “far more” of his time to Tesla, following the company’s 71% drop in quarterly profits. “The large slug of work” establishing the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for US President Donald Trump had been mostly… Read more »
The global trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump earlier this month shows no signs of ending anytime soon. In recent days, China suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals that are vital ingredients in everything from electric cars and drones to the semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Around… Read more »
If you need a reality check on just how crazy Donald Trump’s tariff plan-du-jour was last week, well, after wiping trillions in value from global markets, he followed up with April 9’s insider trading scam before the US President tanked markets all over again and capped it off with some crony capitalism. Economics analyst Joey… 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 »
Welcome to the Startup 360 with Kayla Medica and Simon Thomsen. Our weekly show is all about founder fun, finding out what makes people tick and staying human. For our third show, Kayla and Simon celebrate Mardi Gras in Sydney this weekend talking about their favourite works by musicians and writers. Kayla recommends a Japanese… Read more »
“What very important truth do very few people agree with you on?” This is the infamous question Peter Thiel used to filter prospective employees and test for their tendency towards contrarian thinking — the type of thinking that enabled Thiel to be a successful venture capitalist. For a while there, many of us also believed… Read more »
A Tasmanian senator best known for her campaign to ban transgender people from women’s sport has been named by Opposition leader Peter Dutton as the Coalition’s spokesperson for government services, the digital economy, science and the arts. Senator Claire Chandler will be shadow minister stalking current science and industry minister Ed Husic in the forthcoming… Read more »
As an active contributor to Australia’s innovation ecosystem for the last 15 years, and a native Sydney-sider, I’m stunned by last week’s news that the Sydney Startup Hub will be kicked out of its wonderful Wynyard location in October 2025. The reason? It’s younger sibling – Tech Central – is struggling and needs propping up. … Read more »
The Sydney Startup Hub above Wynyard Station in the heart of the CBD will be relocated to an undetermined site somewhere across the six square kilometres around Central Station known as Tech Central by the NSW government in October next year. In a rare announcement involving tech and startups from NSW innovation, science and technology… Read more »
A report into the state of play for Western Australia’s startup sector has warned the state risks slipping behind its East Cost rivals unless there’s a great focus on reforms and funding for the sector. The report, ‘Dare to Venture: Startups and the innovation ecosystem in Western Australia’, by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre argues… Read more »
Seven venture capital firms will look to invest up to $150 million in Western Australian startups underpinned by a $45 million commitment from the state government’s WA Venture Capital initiative (WAVC). Premier Roger Cook announced an additional $15 million for WAVC at West Tech Fest in Perth, topping up the government’s initial $30m commitment. Cook… Read more »
Just days out from the United States presidential election last month, X (formerly Twitter) suddenly crippled the ability of many major media and political organisations to reach audiences on the social media platform. Without warning, the platform, under tech billionaire Elon Musk’s stewardship, announced major changes to the main pathway these organisations use to disseminate… Read more »
Authorities in Brazil, the country with the world’s fifth largest number of internet users, have banned the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter). The ban came into effect over the weekend. It followed a long-running battle between Elon Musk, the owner of X, and Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes who had… Read more »
Bunnings CEO Michael Schneider, former Tech Council CEO Kate Pounder and ex-NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet turned BHP advisor are among a new board members of a new political think tank led by Square Peg’s Paul Bassat. Amplify is a non-partisan organisation, independent of political parties, and says it’s seeking to find the “uncommon ground” on… Read more »
The Victorian capital’s 30-month trial of renting e-scooters on the city streets will end after the council killed off their use in a majority vote. City of Melbourne councillors voted 6-4 to end the contracts with Lime and Neuron, having trialed their use since February 2022. Lord mayor Nicholas Reece led the charge against them,… Read more »
The Queensland government has startup grants worth up to $200,000 up for grabs 
Eye Thy with my AI: Australian Radio Network digitises diversity with an artificially generated Asian female presenter 
Square Peg-backed cleaning products startup Zero Co is shutting down 
12 startup festivals and events you need to know about this year 
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