From clean water to crypto and colostomy breakthroughs, the 11 startups in the Macquarie University Incubator are the most diverse the five-year program has seen, according to director Melissa Ryan. The 2022 cohort follows in the wake last year’s alumni, which have already attracted more than $44 million in external funding. The six-month Startup Educate… Read more »
Petrol prices are hitting eye-watering highs. As global affairs put pressure on the availability of commodities, we’re likely to continue seeing volatile petrol prices in the future. So there’s never been a better time to embrace alternative modes of transport such as e-bikes and e-scooters (also called “micromobility” devices). In Australia’s major cities, the average… Read more »
Husband-and-wife duo Dean and Diony McPherson have the classic startup beginning, launching their business form-building solution on the kitchen table. Paperform was born out of their shared frustration with the tedious administrative tasks that overshadowed their tech jobs. Australian business owners spend an estimated 81 days a year on administrative tasks. So in 2016, the… Read more »
Sydney medtech Eyes of AI launches its rapid x-ray analysis this month after three years of development. Artificial intelligence-driven dental software platform has been trained using more than 1 million x-ray images since 2019, alongside has input from leading dental clinicians and research centres globally. Sydney-based founders Dr Sen Le and Khoa Le built the… Read more »
In Australia, the number one driver of wealth inequality is real estate and, in particular, not owning real estate. As house prices around Australia continue to rise, purchasing a home feels further and further out of reach for most Australians. To combat this, former mortgage broker and investment banker, Michael Ragavan is creating a new… Read more »
Hospitality wholesale ordering platform Foodbomb has introduced a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) product to help restaurateurs and cafe owners manage supplier payments. Foodbomb’s solution, BompPay, gives users 21-days of credit to pay wholesale suppliers without additional cost. Suppliers are paid immediately. Founder and CEO Paul Tory said that recent discussions with clients revealed that more than 40%… Read more »
Australia is becoming the place to watch for venture capitalists looking for the next big thing in quantum technology. In the lingering shadow of the global financial crisis and dot-com crash, Vikram Sharma decided to establish Australia’s first quantum technology company. Born out of his research on quantum cybersecurity with the Quantum Optics Group at… Read more »
Tasmanians suffered a six-hour digital blackout on Monday, with phone and internet services down across the state. Some radio and television broadcasts were also affected, as well as banking and electronic payment services. The impact was so severe that Tasmania’s connectivity to the rest of the world was reportedly reduced by 70%, before services slowly… Read more »
The annual ACS Digital Disruptors Awards made a long-awaited return this week after a two year Covid-induced hiatus, to celebrate the best in tech. The recognise the achievements and talent of individual ICT professionals and groups in nine categories There were 28 finalists. ACS President Dr Nick Tate said all the entries were impressive. “The… Read more »
Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has backed renewables funding firm Infradebt with $200 million from his private family VC firm Grok Ventures. The funding announcement emerged less than 48 hours after Cannon-Brookes had a $5 billion takeover offer for energy supplier AGL rejected as undervaluing the business by the company’s board. Infradebt is a specialist infrastructure project finance… Read more »
Two events in the past week mark a watershed for Australia’s electricity industry. The first, on Thursday, was Origin Energy’s surprise announcement that it intends to close the mammoth Eraring power station in the NSW Hunter region in 2025, seven years earlier than previously advised. Eraring is Australia’s largest coal-fired generator and supplies between a… Read more »
A $5 billion consortium bid for AGL Energy, led by Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes through his private venture capital firm Grok Venture, has been rejected by ASX-listed energy company as undervaluing the business. Cannon-Brookes, who last year committed to investing $1 billion through Grok on climate change startups over the next decade, teamed up with… Read more »
From walking the earth to scanning it from space, 24 Australian manufacturers have received grants from the federal government to help bring their ideas to reality. The latest round of 24 co-invested projects under the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre-managed Commercialisation Fund will see the local manufacturing industry contribute more $32.4 million in funding alongside the Federal… Read more »
The administrators of women-only rideshare business Shebah say the startup has been saved from collapse. The Melbourne startup Shebah was placed in voluntary administration last October, a victim of ongoing lockdowns during the Covid pandemic. Shebah founder Georgina McEncroe tried to find new investors to ride out the pandemic, especially after revenues plummeted 70% due… Read more »
Sydney NFT tech startup Immutable is partnering with NYSE-listed gaming giant GameStop to develop the world’s largest gaming marketplace for gamers to buy, sell and trade in-game assets. As part of the deal, the two companies are looking to launch a fund worth up to US$100 million for NFT gaming projects. GameStop will use the… Read more »
Unicorn dehorned: Nasdaq-listed Brisbane EV charging venture Tritium collapses into receivership 
‘Have I gone too far?’ How founders can beat their startup demons 
Tassie carbon accounting startup banks $5.3 million Seed round 
The lessons from Uber, Ola and rideshare’s disruption is that in the end, the consumer still pays 
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