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.

Funding

Disability tech accelerator Remarkable joins Twitter’s Biz Stone in $3.5 million Seed raise for accessibility startup

- June 11, 2025 < 1 MIN READ

Disability tech accelerator Remarkable has backed one of its alumni in a $3.5 million Seed raise for Sociability, which helps people with disability discover accessible spaces. Remarkable’s investment came through its Scaler co-investment initiative, which backs disability tech startups in Australia, the UK, US, and elsewhere.  The raise for Sociability was led by Britain’s Growth… Read more »

Amir Hooshang Taheri
Climate Tech

Battery efficiency startup Voltavate powers up on $850,000 pre-Seed raise

- June 11, 2025 2 MIN READ

Melbourne renewables battery startup Voltavate has raised $850,000 in a pre-Seed round to make lithium-ion batteries and energy storage devices safer, more efficient and sustainable. The round was led by Artesian, with support from Investible, Electrifi Ventures, and angel investors John Wood, Christiaan Jordaan, and Steven Vassiloudis, as well as the startup’s chair, Reza Behnam.… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

AI application management startup Seekario.ai is making it easier to find your dream job

- June 10, 2025 3 MIN READ

Finding a job is getting tougher, and more frustrating. Posting “open to work” in LinkedIn, then submitting your CV isn’t the solution, especially when you’re competing with hundreds of others for the same role. AI is adding to the complexity on both sides. But there is a way to enlist artificial intelligence to give jobseekers… Read more »

ASX

Getswift cofounder Joel Macdonald is back offering advice on dealing with setbacks

- June 6, 2025 6 MIN READ

Joel Macdonald’s been busy resetting his thinking in the last few years after the cofounder of Getswift was banned by the Federal Court from running  companies in Australia for 12 years. He’s been in therapy, busy journaling, writing affirmations on glass walls in an apartment, taking psychedelics, including ayahuasca and mushrooms, and the former CEO… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

StrongRoom will be wound up as EVP names the startup’s early investors as defendants in expanded legal action to recover $10.4 million

- June 6, 2025 5 MIN READ

EVP has added 20 more defendants, including earlier VC investors – taking the total to 32 – in its legal action to recover $10.4 million invested in StrongRoom AI. EVP has a freezing order over the company’s assets and during a case management hearing on Wednesday added the company’s other early investors, including Artesian Ventures,… Read more »

People

Quantum pioneer Michelle Simmons joins Tech Council board

- June 5, 2025 2 MIN READ

Quantum physicist and deeptech startup founder Professor Michelle Simmons has joined the board of The Tech Council of Australia (TCA). Her appointment dramatically improves the representation of women in the industry lobby group, which last year came under fire last year for failing to act when former board member Richard White faced inappropriate conduct allegations.… Read more »

Climate Tech

Amber charges up on $45 million raise

- June 4, 2025 2 MIN READ

Renewable energy retailer Amber has raised another $45 million in venture capital as it ramps up global ambitions for its battery and EV automation technology. The round was led by UK/Europe-based impact investor ETF (Environmental Technologies Fund) Partners and supported by existing backers including Square Peg, Gentrack, Rubio Impact Ventures, and Breakthrough Victoria. Amber previously raised $29… Read more »

Woman with views of Auckland city
Business

New Zealand’s first founder salary survey shows it takes about about 2.5 years to get paid and Auckland’s the place to make the big bucks

- June 3, 2025 4 MIN READ

Kiwi startup founders take around 29 months on average to score their first pay cheque, but when they get there, they’re doing of okay, with 50% of them on more than NZ$195,000 (A$182k) according to the New Zealand Founder Pay Report 2025. The first deep dive into startup life in Aotearoa, by LiveRem and Oxygen Advisors,… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Victoria slings $10 million at a NVIDIA AI supercomputer tackling medical research

- June 3, 2025 2 MIN READ

The Victorian government has given the Australian Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Innovation’s (ACAMI) $10 million towards La Trobe University’s deployment of NVIDIA DGX H200 supercomputer. It sits in NEXTDC’s Melbourne Data Centre in Tullamarine and is the first to be commissioned at a university in Australia, giving scientists the ability to push the… Read more »

Anish Sinha.
Business

Upcover and Lawpath team up to streamline small business legals and insurance

- June 2, 2025 2 MIN READ

Online commercial insurance platform Upcover has partnered with legal tech startup Lawpath to make it easier for small businesses and startups to access legal and insurance services. This new bundled offering, launching this month, will be offered online via both platforms for Australian businesses to buy tailored insurance coverage alongside custom legal documents Upcover cofounder… Read more »

Vanessa Waddell
Business

NRF backs glaucoma biotech PolyActiva’s $40 million Series C

- May 30, 2025 2 MIN READ

The federal Labor government’s flagship National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) is back investing post-election, hitting the send button on another $27 million to lead a $40 million Series C for PolyActiva. The 15-year-old Melbourne biotechnology scaleup is developing potentially revolutionary eye implant technology to treat glaucoma and improve treatment outcomes for patients with ocular (eye)… Read more »