Sydney CBD startup space Fishburners is offering itself up as event space promising to make venue affordable for functions. The 500m2 space in the Sydney Startup Hub, adjacent to Wynyard Station, has capacity for up to 300 people Fishburners CEO Nicole O’Brien said there was a shortage of quality, 200-plus venues in the city and… Read more »
TechDirect co-founders Paula Barry and Sascha Kara. Photo: supplied When founders talk about the problem they set out to solve, finding the right tech team to help inevitably becomes part of the story. TechDirect set out to cut to the chase in that adventure by solving the problem on the way to problems –… Read more »
The Elite Robotics team: systems engineer Nathan Bartlett, industrial designer Luke De Bono and CEO Sahil Harriram. Photo: supplied The Hunter Valley, two hours north of Sydney, is best know for wine, horse breeding and coal mining. But it also has a burgeoning startup scene, with more than 50 startups backed up by more than… Read more »
The problems startup founders set out to solve are often drawn from personal experience and for Dr Ben Jansen, founder of Cannabis Doctors Australia (CDA), it doesn’t get much more personal as the nascent medicinal cannabis industry establishes in Australia. Jansen’s family business started when his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. They faced the… Read more »
Wrappt co-founders Ryan Miller, David Steel, Chris Osborne, and Nick James. Video is the new black, especially when it comes to corporate communications and plenty of startups are looking at how to solve the problem of how to make it easier and cheaper to turn amateurs into Gillian Armstrongs. A new cloud-based app from Brisbane… Read more »
US ridesharing giant Uber has chosen Melbourne as the first international site to trial its electric helicopter Uber Air. The Victorian capital joins Dallas and Los Angeles as pilot cities for the program. Test flights are due to get underway from 2020 with the goal of commercial flights from 2023. Uber’s Australian, New Zealand and… Read more »
Sydney startups co-working space Harbour City Labs has a new Head of Growth, Dr Khimji Vaghjiani (pictured). A 30-year veteran of innovation and entrepreneurship in sectors as diverse as banking, telecommunications, defence, manufacturing, energy, government and academia, as well as in numerous startups, Dr Vaghjiani is a former Australian Innovator of the Year nominee.… Read more »
Afterpay Touch boss David Hancock received the Finnies award for FinTech Organisation of the Year last week. The buy now pay later fintech startup is seeking $300 million from the sale of 13.8m new shares at a 10% discount. A share placement plan with existing shareholder could raise up to $30m after that. Founders Anthony… Read more »
Prospa co-founders Beau Bertoli and Greg Moshal Fintech startup Prospa (ASX: PGL) has turned into a nice little earner for its key investors, AustralianSuper and Airtree Ventures, with shares in the online small business lender soaring 18% on debut on the ASX at noon today. The jump added $110 million to Prospa’s market cap after… Read more »
Booktopia CEO and co-founder Tony Nash Online bookseller Booktopia wanted to raise $10 million from an equity crowdfund Despite having nearly 2 million customers, just 850 people invested, raising less than 9% of the target The Sydney-based retailer is now talking to private investors Leading Australian book retailer Booktopia has walked away from its… Read more »
Moovosity, a tech startup focused on physical education and movement software for children, is hoping to launch in schools across Australia after scoring $300,000 in seed funding from CMO Software founder James Cotton’s VC fund Uluwatu Capital. Cotton is a co-founder in the Brisbane-based, Moovosity, alongside Scott Jenson and Mal Mizen. The trio set up… Read more »
Co-working and tech space Tank Stream Labs has forged a partnership with machine learning startup Verge Labs to launch Sydney’s first AI hub. Verge Labs is focused on turning research into customised software applications for business. It was co-founded by Anthony Tockar, who said the startup works with companies to develop user-friendly, customised AI… Read more »
Afterpay Touch boss David Hancock received the Finnies award for FinTech Organisation of the Year this week. Australian global fintech Afterpay has been “in dialogue” with the federal government’s financial crimes body, AUSTRAC, over concerns about potential money-laundering concerns, the company has revealed. In a statement to the ASX on Thursday, where the company revealed… Read more »
Fintech Australia board members at The Finnies (l-r), Lauren Caplin of Reinventure, Simone Joyce of Paypa Plane, chairman Alan Tsen, GM of Stone & Chalk Melbourne, Carla Harris of Longevity, Melissa Mack of MoneyPlace, GM Rebecca Schot-Guppy, and Tim Dean of Credi.com. Up Bank, Airwallex and Afterpay are among the major winners of the 2019… Read more »
The NSW government has some cash to splash at startups looking to develop their idea to Minimum Viable Product (MVP) status, but you need to hustle because applications for next financial year close on June 14. The Jobs for NSW MVP grant is for startups looking to get from proof of concept/prototype stage to… Read more »
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