Finder cofounder and chief operating officer Jeremy Cabral is downing after 16 years of helping lead the business to pursue new opportunities in AI. The move leaves just CEO Frank Restuccia still in an operational role among the comparison website’s cofounding trio, which includes Cabral and Fred Schebesta. Crypto evangelist Schebesta stepped down as co-CEO… Read more »
The University of Newcastle is backing women entrepreneurs and aspiring leaders around the Hunter and Central Coast regions with a new program to help them take charge. FLIP is a nine-week program aimed at building entrepreneurial confidence, validating business ideas and developing an authentic leadership presence in a supportive, hands-on environment. It’s run by the… Read more »
Crowd-sourced funding (CSF) platform Birchal is increasing its clip of the ticket on raises under $500,000, and shedding roles for the second time in 14 months as CEO Kirstin Hunter looks to put the business on a more financially sustainable path. Two leadership roles have been made redundant, cutting the team to four. SmartCompany reported… Read more »
Sydney Startup Hub shuts down today, after seven years, thanks to the NSW government. And right now it’s clear that when it comes to startups, the government couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery, to use one of the more polite versions of the idiom. Another way of explaining it is that they’ve bombed the… Read more »
A $42 million project to put an Australian-designed and built lunar explorer on the Moon will be realised by the end of the decade. NASA has confirmed the Roo-ver will make the 384,000km trip from Earth as part of its Artemis Moon exploration program, via NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services by 2030. The Roo-ver, 20kg semi-autonomous… Read more »
Quantum infrastructure software startup Q-CTRL has been awarded to contracts worth $38 million (US$24.4m) under the US Department of Defense agency DARPA’s Robust Quantum Sensors (RoQS) program. The funding is for Q-CTRL’s quantum sensing technologies in high-performance military vehicles, in a collaboration with Lockheed Martin. Engaging Q-CTRL’s solution comes as GPS becomes increasingly vulnerable to… Read more »
A pet food startup making dog treats from feral buffalo in the Northern Territory (NT) has banked around $30,000 to develop the idea thanks to the NT government’s Innovation Grants program. Peco Pet Food makes Buff Jerky and Buff Jellies treats for dogs. The startup will expand its range to Buff Bites an all-natural gelatin… Read more »
US artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, is looking to open a base in Sydney by the end of 2025. The company behind ChatGPT, now worth around A$750 billion, has been busy signing local deals over the past 12 months, including with UNSW and most recently, the Commonwealth Bank, as well as ramping up its lobbying efforts… Read more »
Needle-free vaccination delivery scaleup Vaxxas has raised $49.2 million in a Series D, but cut 10% of its workforce, including a clear out of its executives. The University of Queensland spin out has moved founding CEO David Hoey, who’s been on leave for the past three months, into a strategic adviser role after 13 years… Read more »
Cyber-intelligence startup Apate.ai, a countermeasure to Australia’s $2 billion scam industry, has raised $2.5 million in Seed funding. The round was led by OIF Ventures with participation from Investible. The funds are for product development and international expansion, including hiring engineering and go-to-market teams, as well as expanding its partnerships with financial institutions, telcos, and governments… Read more »
A pioneering collaboration between two medical startups tackling respiratory diseases with artificial intelligences has scored $3 million in federal government funding from Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) program. Diag-Nose.io and Human Health are working on RhinoMAP – an AI-enabled platform they hope will transform how respiratory diseases such as asthma, sinusitis, and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary… Read more »
ASX-listed online retailer Kogan.com is back in the red following its write-down of New Zealand acquisition Mighty Ape. Shares in Kogan.com (ASX: KGN) were placed in a trading halt briefly on Monday morning ahead of the results release and news of board changes. The $46.3 million on-cash impairment to goodwill from its $122m Mighty Ape… Read more »
Cross-border payments fintech Send Payments, has raised $5 million as cofounder Paul Billing steps down as CEO. Existing backers Regal Funds Management and Kelly+Partners Investment Office once again invested with iPartners joining the cap table. The new funding is for continued development of the platform and its ability to turn cross-border payments into new revenue streams… Read more »
Queensland biotech Lucia Bio has topped up its Seed round with an additional $2 million to take the total raised to $3m. The startup, launched last year, is a joint venture between UK commercialisation firm Molecule to Medicine (MTM) and investor UniQuest’s QEDDI (Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative) team at the University of Queensland (UQ).… Read more »
Aether, a Kiwi AI startup turning marketing presentations into a live documents, has raised NZ$3.8 million (A$3.4m) in Seed funding. The AI-powered SaaS platform, cofounded by former TikTok NZ country manager Carsten Grueber, has emerged from stealth mode with backing from Icehouse Ventures, and support from Brand Fund 2. The startup has emerged out of New+Improved,… Read more »
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