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.

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The Victorian startups walk out with $450,000 in contracts from the first accelerator for government work

- February 14, 2020 2 MIN READ

  Three Victorian startups, Envision Systems, Sky Ledge and WeGuide, have landed contracts worth $450,000 as the first cohort of CivVic Labs, the accelerator to startups to gain access to government procurement contracts. Each startup received $150,000 from the Better Care Victoria Innovation Fund. Sky Ledge will work with St Vincent’s Hospital to build out the prototype of a… Read more »

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Sextech is a thing and a Valentine’s Day hackathon in Melbourne is spending the weekend figuring out where to next

- February 13, 2020 2 MIN READ

  Two years after Sydney put on its best o-face for Australia’s first Sextech hackathon, it’s Melbourne’s turn to find its erogenous zones this Valentine’s Day. Future of Sex entrepreneur Bryony Cole and Disruptors Co. founder Gavin Heaton are hosting a weekend-long hackathon at South Melbourne co-working site CreativeCubes.Co, running February 14-16. Amid ongoing debate… Read more »

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Here’s who got funding in the latest round of the government’s $15 million cybersecurity fund

- February 13, 2020 3 MIN READ

    The federal government has chosen 17 industry-led projects in the second round of its $15 million, AustCyber Projects Fund to help the Australian cyber security industry grow. Industry, Science and Technology minister Karen Andrews has allocated $8.5 million in the latest and final round of funding, which included matched industry funding. The biggest… Read more »

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5 things you should know about tech today

- February 13, 2020 5 MIN READ

  Hello Thursday! Let’s see how the rest of the day pans out.   1.  Vodafone and TPG win merger decision The $15 billion merger between Vodafone and TPG will go ahead following a Federal Court case that today ruled in favour of the country’s third and fourth biggest telcos and against competition regulator, the… Read more »

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Aubrey Blanche, who helped create Atlassian’s great workplace vibe, has signed on with Culture Amp

- February 13, 2020 2 MIN READ

Melbourne unicorn Culture Amp, the workplace HR and employee engagement startup has made a key hire to drive its own workplace vibe and apps, luring Atlassian’s long-term global head of diversity and belonging, Aubrey Blanche, to join the business. Blanche signs on as Culture Amp’s Global Head of Equitable Design & Impact after six years… Read more »

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5 things you should know about tech today

- February 12, 2020 4 MIN READ

  Welcome to Wednesday There’s lots happening here and abroad, so let’s check it out.   1. SoftBank-backed Brandless goes bust Back in 2017, Brandless set out to disrupt the $2 shop by selling things for $3. The California online retailer was trying to take on Amazon and Walmart with ethical, sustainable and generic health,… Read more »

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The Coalition government’s signature NBN strategy is causing the biggest problems for users, the ACCC finds

- February 12, 2020 2 MIN READ

Fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), the key broadband delivery method instigated by former communications minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Coalition government’s NBN policy, is failing to deliver for around a quarter of users, the latest review of broadband speeds by consumer watchdog the ACCC has found. The latest Measuring Broadband Australia report – the eight by the Australian… Read more »

Singapore
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Fintech Assembly Payments is launching e-commerce joint venture with UK banking giant Standard Chartered

- February 12, 2020 2 MIN READ

British banking multinational Standard Chartered is launching a joint venture company with fintech Assembly Payments to develop next generation payment solutions for the US$29 trillion e-commerce sector. The deal is a major coup for Assembly Payments, which launched in Melbourne in 2014, began providing online payment solutions with escrow services for marketplaces and platforms, before… Read more »

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5 things you should know about tech today

- February 11, 2020 6 MIN READ

  It’s Tuesday team. Here’s what’s going on in the world.   1.  US politician who invested in an ASX-listed medtech jailed for insider trading Australia’s corporate cop, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has been accused, yet again, of being asleep at the wheel, after the ABC’s Four Corners revealed the story of… Read more »

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The Western Australian government bought a Tesla battery for a Perth suburb for residents to store their solar power collectively

- February 11, 2020 < 1 MIN READ

The Western Australian government has decided to tackle power prices and renewable energy at a local level, installing a 464 kilowatt hour (kWh) Tesla battery bank in the Perth suburb of Ellenbrook to store the power from local homes. Around 65 houses with solar panels feeding into the Powerwall battery will be involved in the… Read more »

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5 things you should know about tech today

- February 10, 2020 3 MIN READ

Welcome to Monday team. Here’s what we’ve seen.   1.  iFined for slowdown The French version of the ACCC, the DGCCRF, has fined Apple €25 million (AU$41m) for the 2017 iOS update that slowed down older iPhone models. Apple’s sin was not slowing down the phones, which the company claimed was to prolong the life of… Read more »

Canva Melanie Perkins.
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Shares in software startup LiveTiles are soaring after Canva deal

- February 10, 2020 2 MIN READ

  Shares in ASX-listed workplace software startup LiveTiles have jumped more than 7% on news that it will introduce Canva’s design software to its subscription platform. LiveTiles connects and integrates other workplace software through Office 365 or Azure without people needing coding experience to create everything from dashboards, to employee portals, and corporate intranets. Founded… Read more »

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5 things you should know about tech today

- February 7, 2020 3 MIN READ

It’s Friday! Let it rain. 1. Casper loses its alicorn* Mattress e-commerce startup Casper – think of it as the US Koala – was meant to be a unicorn following its final funding round ahead of its Wall Street listing this week. But when the venture priced its shares at US$12 ahead of its IPO… Read more »