Financial industry professional development platform Nuggets Academy has raised $700,000 in a round led by Antler Australia. The edtech, which deals with the mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training people are required to undertake annually, emerged out of the Antler program last year with its initial pre-seed funding from the accelerator and VC. Also backing… Read more »
The last decade in corporate Australia has seen a much greater acknowledgement of toxic workplace practices and their impact. In the startup sector in particular, over recent weeks we have seen many women come forward to share their experiences of gender discrimination, sexism, harassment and abuse, a subset of toxic behaviour. I am in the… Read more »
A new digital jobs networking app targeting Gen Z, migrants and older job hunters is hoping to boost employment for blue- and grey-collared workers. ApplyKart is the brainchild of Melbourne-based entrepreneur Bharati Babbar. She set out to match job seekers with new employers within 48 hours, through an end-to-end hiring system. “Younger and older people,… Read more »
Entries for the One Roof Startup Women of the Year Awards will close this Sunday, November 12, at midnight. The awards, organised by One Roof, Sheree Rubinstein’s platform for entrepreneurial women, will honour the best and brightest across Australia, with the winner announced in Sydney on November 23. “This competition is our game-changer to the… Read more »
CSIRO venture capital fund Main Sequence Ventures has bolstered its leadership team with Cochlear chair Alison Deans signing on as a venture partner. Deans, who is also on the boards of Ramsay Health Care, staffing management scaleup Deputy and ASX-listed envirotech scaleup Calix (ASX: CXL), and is a former Westpac and IAG director, previously ran… Read more »
Venture capital investor Elaine Stead is among several women in the startup sector subjected to “a barrage of abusive, sexually harassing and vile comments” on LinkedIn by the founder of charitable startup GiveTree, with the company involved issuing an apology. Sam Joel, founder of the cryptocurrency and NFT-focused GiveTree subsequently had his comments, made on… Read more »
Cicada Innovations has appointed Dr Katherine Woodthorpe as its new chair, the first woman to lead the board in the 23-year history of the Sydney-based deep tech incubator. The non-executive director (NED) replaces Andrew Rothery after nearly eight years in the role. Dr Woodthorpe has more than three decades of experience in commercialising technologies across a broad… Read more »
Sydney startup Scriibed, which offers safe, secure, and flexible digital economy work to women rebuilding their lives following domestic violence, has received backing from the NSW government to help them get into tech. The Paul Ramsay Foundation also co-investing to Scriibed’s not-for-profit arm, Banksia Academy, with $250,000 as part of a payment-by-outcomes contract. The government… Read more »
Victorian farmer, tech entrepreneur and Grown Not Flown cofounder Nikki Davey has won the 2023 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award for her work creating a digital platform and app that connects flower farmers and consumers around the world. The award recognises the critical role women play in rural and regional businesses, industries and communities. Based at… Read more »
A free, short course for female founders and small business owners to learn how emerging technologies such as AI and Web 3.0 can help drive productivity, growth and profitability will run in Sydney next month. The InnovateHer program has been developed by the team at Inspiring Rare Birds, and is backed by the City of… Read more »
Brisbane’s River City Labs is looking to back up to 20 women entrepreneurs in a new program that will offer emerging tech companies run by female founders with several months of support and mentoring to get their ideas to the next level. The Elevating Female Founders Program, was launched at the annual Something Tech. festival… Read more »
ASX-listed semiconductor business Weebit Nano is adding entrepreneur Naomi Simson to its board as a non-executive director (NED). Simson, who founded online experiences marketplace RedBalloon in 2001, is already busy as a company director, sitting on several boards, including Big Red Group, RedBalloon’s parent company, as well as Australian Payments Plus, Colonial First State, University of… Read more »
The technology sector’s gender diversity problem is to continue for the foreseeable future according to this year’s STEM Equality Monitor. However however the tech sector is doing better than other STEM disciplines in offering wage parity between female and male graduates and better prospects for those entering the workforce. Published by the Federal Department of… Read more »
Queensland at-home catering platform Gathar has raised nearly $800,000 in a crowdfunding on the female-founder focused Microwd. The private chef platform, dubbed the Airbnb of dinner parties, partnered with expat celebrity chef Curtis Stone to take the concept to the US, kicking off in his home state of California at the start of 2023. More… Read more »
ASX-listed jobs marketplace Airtasker will have its first female board leader with Cass O’Connor stepping into the chair role next month as James Spenceley departs after eight years. Spenceley, the founder of telco Vocus, is a prolific VC investor and North Sydney councillor and more recently founded humanitarian organisation Aus Ukraine Aid, was a seed… Read more »
Job-ready sales talent edtech Earlywork banks $1.5 million Seed round 
Airtasker cofounder Jonathan Lui’s proptech app, Soho, banks $750,000 to hit $20 million valuation 
Sweat re-equity: Bikini Body founders Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce buy back their fitness app 
B2B BNPL BizPay, which hoped to list at a $400 million valuation, has been placed in voluntary administration 
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