Simon Thomsen

Simon has been editor of Startup Daily since 2019.

He hosted the Startup Daily show on streaming service ausbiz.com.au from 2020 to 2023.

He was previously associate editor of Business Insider Australia, a national restaurant critic, editor of The Good Food Guide, and newspaper proprietor during a 30-year career in journalism and publishing.

He's also an investor in early stage startups.

Simon chaired the environment committee of industry lobby group Australian Business Ltd's (now NSW Business Chamber) during the Kyoto agreement era, debating cow farts with mining execs.

Business

Financial crimes regulator AUSTRAC demands an external auditor for Airwallex over AML/CTF concerns

- January 22, 2026 3 MIN READ

The Australian government’s financial system anti-crimes regulator, AUSTRAC, has called in an external auditor at Airwallex over concerns that the fintech unicorn has failed to properly comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws. AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas, said the external audits will assess serious compliance concerns by the regulator, which is charged with… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Paladin backs AI security startup Dam Secure’s $6.1 million Seed round

- January 21, 2026 2 MIN READ

Sydney AI security startup Dam Secure has raised $6.1 million (US$4m) in a Seed round led by Washington, DC-based cybersecurity and AI investor, Paladin Capital Group. Dam Secure, founded by Patrick Collins and Simon Harloff, is developing an AI-native platform for organisations to manage the security risks created by the rapid adoption of AI coding… Read more »

Adam and James Gilmour
Funding

Rocket fuel: Gilmour Space hits unicorn status after $217 million Series E

- January 20, 2026 2 MIN READ

Gilmour Space Technologies banked $217 million (US$145m) in a Series E to become a unicorn, with the Queensland rocket builder’s valuation topping $1 billion. The round was jointly led by the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) and existing backer, super fund Hostplus, with support from previous investors Future Fund, Blackbird, Funds SA, HESTA, NGS Super, Main… Read more »

Funding

Construction tech startup builds $3 million pre-Series A after rebrand

- January 19, 2026 < 1 MIN READ

Construction engineering platform SPEC Toolbox has raised $3 million in a pre-Series A. The investment was co-led by Black Nova and Investible. The Melbourne design software platform specifically for mass timber construction was founded in 2023 by structural engineers Adam Jones and Ringo Thomas as CLT Toolbox, rebranded after realising that design bottlenecks weren’t just… Read more »

Stephen Scheeler
AI/Machine Learning

NRF tips $20 million into brain mapping AI scaleup’s $36m Series D

- January 17, 2026 2 MIN READ

The National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) has invested $20 million in neuroscience startup Omniscient Neurotechnology as part of an ongoing $36 million Series D. NRF is co-leading the round with OIF Ventures, taking a preferred equity stake. Omniscient, founded in 2019, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to decode the complexity of the human brain by mapping an… Read more »

Sendle Satchels
Business

Sendle is dead, killed by a US merger partner who misled the Aussie startup’s key investor, Federation

- January 13, 2026 3 MIN READ

Long-term Sendle investor Federation Asset Management has confirmed that one of the two US partners in last August’s 3-way merger into Fast Group failed to disclose its true financial position at the time, leading to the sudden demise of the Australian scaleup and its parent company. Sendle announced suddenly over the weekend that it was… Read more »

Jarron Aizen
Funding

Gym software platform Hapana lifts $7.25 million

- January 13, 2026 2 MIN READ

A software platform used by gyms and fitness studios globally to manage memberships has raised $7.25 million. The round for Hapana, founded in 2014, was led by veteran Sydney asset manager Microequities, with follow-on investment from OIF Ventures. OIF backed 2024’s $17 million raise alongside ASX-listed Bailador Technologies. Bailador (ASX: BTI) told shareholders in its investor update… Read more »

Funding

Deceased estate digitisation startup banks $12.5 million in first raise

- January 12, 2026 < 1 MIN READ

A startup addressing the challenges of deceased estate management, cofounded by childhood friends, has banked $12.5 million in its first raise. Backing estateXchange are Macquarie Capital, OIF Ventures, and billionaire Paul Little’s family office, with busines execs Carol Schwartz and Pier 12 Capital chair Christine Christian, also on board as angel investors. The online platform digitises… Read more »

Business

Sendle suddenly shutters deliveries amid financial concerns after merger investor freezes funding

- January 12, 2026 3 MIN READ

Alternative parcel delivery scaleup Sendle has halted operations just five months after it merged with two US delivery firms amid claims of financial irregularities. In a terse statement from the firm’s PR agency, the company said “Sendle has informed its customers that it is no longer taking any future bookings. We are not able to provide… Read more »

Grok, AI
AI/Machine Learning

eSafety takes on Elon Musk again over Grok’s AI child porn on X

- January 12, 2026 2 MIN READ

Australia’s eSafety commission has issued a please explain to Elon Musk’s social media site,  X, and his generative AI chatbot Grok following complaints about it making sexual images of women and children. The federal government body said there had been a small number of complaints about Grok being used to generate sexualised or exploitative imagery.… Read more »

Ben Thompson
ASX

Employment Hero and key investor Seek end legal hostilities

- January 8, 2026 3 MIN READ

The bitter legal battle by HR platform Employment Hero against investor Seek has ended with the combatants releasing a terse mutual announcement today to kiss and make up and discontiue proceedings. The stoush began last July after Seek announced it would terminate aceess to its API (application program interface) to post jobs on the Employment… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

How two former Deputy leaders bootstrapped a tech agency to $2 million ARR in 2 years by solving problems software creates

- January 6, 2026 2 MIN READ

When Jake Shelley and Joseph Pons, former senior leaders at Deputy, launched their Sydney startup Jiffi in 2023, they started with a simple thesis: the tech industry is broken. Software oversaturation has left companies burdened with fragmented systems and inefficient processes that technology alone cannot repair.  So as tech set out to build yet another… Read more »