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 »
Comparison website Finder has appointed its first Chief Product Officer, with product executive Damon Pezaro signing on from online lender, Prospa. Pezaro has been tasked with scaling Finder’s product vision and strategy internationally. His more than 20 years of experience includes being CPO at Domain Group. Finder co-founder and chief operating officer, Jeremy Cabral, said… Read more »
Melbourne tech company Envato’s global ambitions are continuing under new CEO Hichame Assi with a New Zealand base being established. The online marketplace business now has 17 staff working remotely across Aotearoa, amid plans to up Envato’s global headcount to more than 100 staff over the next 12 months. Hichame Assi said the company expects… Read more »
Serial entrepreneur Rebekah Campbell seemed to be living her best life. She founded Posse.com. But the one project she hadn’t built to minimum viable product was a life partner and family. In fact, she hadn’t been on a date for 10 years. So she decided to apply her experience in building startups to finding Mr… 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 »
YBF Melbourne has appointed a blockchain expert-in-residence to help startups better understand the potential of distributed ledger technology. Karen Cohen, deputy chair of the Blockchain Australia Board, has taken on the role, and when the city’s latest lockdown hopefully lifts soon, she’ll be based at the Melbourne CBD co-working facility, where she will offer advice, introductions,… Read more »
A campaign by artist Ben Quilty to raise $30,000 to help people in Afghanistan has turned into a $4.5 million donation for the UNHCR thanks to support from Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar. Early last week, when Quilty’s fundraising campaign for the UNHCR, to help people in Taliban-controlled Kabul following the withdrawal of… Read more »
Digital currency exchange Binance Australia has appointed Leigh Travers, the former CEO of ASX-listed blockchain company DigitalX, as its new Executive Officer. Travers spent seven years at DigitalX. He previously created a tech and investment professionals startup hub in WA and has served on the board blockchain industry body, Blockchain Australia. Travers has provided technical,… Read more »
The stories we cover on Startup Daily about founders follow a bit of a pattern: millions raised, new products released, awards won. Occasionally, you get a glimpse into the influences that have shaped the person they are today. That’s a story Shirts of Startups is keen to tell. Inspired by the famed series Humans of… Read more »
Australia is a hotbed for start-up innovation, with investments of $3.4 billion over the past financial year, a new record according to figures from KPMG. More than four in five start-up founders in Australia are university graduates. Universities here have created and fostered an environment that encourages students to foray into the start-up economy, creating several programs to foster… Read more »
Global influencer and content platform Vamp has put leading marketing exec Gabriele Famous into the CEO role. Former CEO Gill Findlay has moved to the startup’s boardroom alongside co-founders Ben McGrath and Aaron Brooks. The duo said they were thrilled with their new chief exec. “Her experience in high-growth companies is exactly what’s needed to… Read more »
Stone & Chalk CEO Alex Scandurra is departing the startup hub he’s led for 6.5 years since it launched. The board chair, Leona Murphy, announced the organisation’s founding boss will finish up in a week, on August 19. Non-executive director Richard Umbers, a former Myer and StarTrack CEO, will act as interim CEO, with the… Read more »
AirTree founding partner Craig Blair says the Sydney VC firm is investing in the fund’s next generation with the promotion principals Elicia McDonald and Jackie Vullinghs to partners. The duo will continue to lead early-stage investments, with the VC having a record six months, tipping $103 million into local startup in the first half of 2021.… Read more »
FinTech Australia CEO Rebecca Schot-Guppy is stepping down after three years in the role for a new career in venture capital. Schot-Guppy, who’s overseen a massive rise in the prominence, number and market cap of fintechs – most notably Afterpay and Judo Bank amid the implementation of open banking – will step down at the… Read more »
A social enterprise startup that’s helping keep the homeless warm and fed during lockdowns needs more support to deal with growing demand. Sydney-based Gali Blacher and Maddy Jones co-founded the social enterprise The Good Box as a simple way to assist people on the streets. Working together in Sydney’s CBD, they saw the awkward interactions… Read more »
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