ASX-listed real estate company REA Group – best known for realestate.com.au – is spending $13.3 million on a 27% stake in Campaign Agent, a buy now pay later solution for vendor-paid advertising. The strategic stake in the Melbourne-based fintech was announced during REA Group’s (ASX: REA) half-yearly results today. CampaignAgent offers a BNPL solution to… Read more »
Real estate technology investor Taronga Ventures has singled out 10 ‘realtech’ startups for its second RealTechX innovation program. RealTechX launched last year to support emerging technology startups in the real estate sector and broader built environment and has already attracted more than 300 applications from 25 countries hoping to take part in the program. This… Read more »
Brisbane-based digital diagnostics startup Ellume Health has signed US$231.8 million (AU$305m) deal with the US Department of Defense to build a US factory producing up to 19 million of its rapid Covid-19 home testing kits in a major expansion for the business. Under the agreement with the new Biden administration, supported by the US Department… Read more »
Electricity generator and retailer AGL has short listed two major global energy storage companies to supply a huge battery system at a South Australian power station that will be more than twice the size of Tesla’s original 100 megawatt ‘Big Battery’ commissioned in the state’s Mid North in 2017. The Australian energy utility today announced… Read more »
When Michael Koss landed in India last year to work on developing his joint venture Australian-Indian startup, Digitology Healthtech, little did he realise the important role the technology would play in his own health and saving his life. Koss is CEO of Health and Patient Services (HPS), which is developing the startup with Indian healthcare… Read more »
Allow us to introduce Edna — Australia’s first “genomics chatbot”. The opening dialogue of Edna the chatbot. Edna (short for “electronic-DNA”) helps patients make informed decisions about seeking “additional findings” testing. Additional findings testing looks for variants in patients’ genes that aren’t relevant to their current health, but may be later on. For example, it… Read more »
FutureFeed, the CSIRO-backed startup using seaweed to reduce methane emission from cattle has won US$1 million from the world’s biggest prize for the food sector. The Food Planet Prize, established by Swedish hospitality entrepreneur Curt Bergfors in 2019, recognises initiatives, organisations and people working on securing the world’s food supply in a sustainable way. FutureFeed was chosen from… Read more »
The continued rise of online design unicorn Canva was even more impressive in 2020 with the Sydney-based global venture revealing it developed 42 new partnerships in 18 countries in defiance of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The growth of Canva’s global footprint ranged from key US integrations with the likes of Fedex Office… Read more »
Airtasker founder and CEO Tim Fung has invested in the boat and yacht rental startup, Flotespace’s seed round raise, and will join the company as an advisor. The size of the round has not been disclosed and involved multiple investors. Sydney-based Flotespace the ‘Airbnb for boat experiences’ is a concierge service for boat and yacht… Read more »
Sydney startup AMSL Aero has built a battery-powered Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft with a cruising speed of 300kmh that could hit the skies as an air ambulance in 2023. The Vertiia eVTOL prototype, developed in conjunction with University of Sydney researchers and Australian aeromedical company, CareFlight, can travel at twice the speed… Read more »
New Zealand engineering startup ZeroJet is hoping to transform the boating industry by replacing outboards in a five year plan that would be like taking 1.5 million cars off the road. The Auckland-based company, founded in 2015 by Neil Mans and Bex Rempel, built the world’s fastest and lightest electric jet boat, with a top… Read more »
Creative marketplace Envato has hit a new benchmark, with its 81,000 content creators earning more than US$1 billion. Company chair and co-founder Collis Ta’eed, who last month stepped down as CEO last month, 14 years after launching the company, said they reached the milestone a year ahead of expectations. “The $1 billion goal has always… Read more »
Victoria is planning to build a 300 megawatt Tesla battery near Geelong, snatching the title for the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest battery from South Australia. French renewable energy company Neoen will pay for construction of the lithium-ion battery, as well its ongoing operation and maintenance, Victorian energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio announced today. The 300MW battery will be… Read more »
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Australia’s first ever incubator, Cicada Innovations. To date, Cicada Innovations has incubated over 100 startups, and helped more than 300 companies raise over $450 million in venture capital and government grants, create hundreds of jobs, build local manufacturing capability, file more than 500 patents and trademarks, and launch… Read more »
Agtech startup The Yield Technology Solutions has signed a three-year deal with ASX-listed Treasury Wine Estates to use its machine learning technology to assist with harvest predictions and grape production. The Yield’s Sensing+ solution users sensors and analytics to provide information and predictions in apps that help commercial vignerons make key production decisions such as… Read more »
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Tassie carbon accounting startup banks $5.3 million Seed round 
Smart hotels get even smarter: 72 Byte to launch in Australia with AI expert backing 
Eucalyptus head of growth Matt Rossi departs to launch his own marketing startup, Oodle 
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