The federal government has launched a review into Australia’s research and development performance but may not live to see the result. The year-long review strategic review will be led by Robyn Denholm, chair of Telsa and the Tech Council of Australia, founder of Wollemi Capital, and operating partner at VC fund Blackbird. The review was announced… Read more »
The $271.8 million settlement by US ride-sharing giant Uber against a class action by the Australian taxi industry is now official, eight months after it was struck, with the Victorian Supreme Court ratifying the deal today. Justice Patricia Matthews approved the settlement of the group proceedings brought by Nicos Andrianakis and Jamal Salem on behalf of… Read more »
The Victorian government will invest $150,000 each to create 50 new startups and pay their salary for the year as part of an entrepreneurship program run by Breakthrough Victoria. Treasurer and economic growth minister Tim Pallas announced a $7.5 million million investment in the Breakthrough Victoria University Innovation Platform Fellowship Program, which will establish up… Read more »
Perth VC fund Purpose Ventures has continued a busy week leading a $4 million raise for mental healthcare marketplace My Mirror. Purpose also backed a $2 million raise for WA venue booking startup SpaceToCo this week. The round for My Mirror was also supported by new and existing investors, including Roger Allen, the pioneering startup… Read more »
Sydney cultivated meat startup Vow, best known for its “woolly mammoth meatball“, has launched in a second Asian city, with a new product resembling the French delicacy foie gras. The release of Forged Gras as a cell-based meat tackles one of the key ethical issues in foie gras production, gavage, the force-feeding of ducks and… Read more »
Queensland startup Gilmour Space is teaming up with Perth-based Earth observation company LatConnect60 in the second deal involving the rocket builder’s 100-kilogram satellite “bus”, ElaraSat. The collaboration comes just weeks after Gilmour Space landed regulatory approval for the launch of its 23-metres-high Eris rocket in an orbital test flight from its rocket launch pad in… Read more »
Melbourne climate tech startup Kapture is making concrete a lot more environmentally friendly, developing a way to sequester carbon in it. The new process effectively captures and stores carbon dioxide emissions from combustion sources, permanently embedding them in concrete, reducing emissions while enhancing material performance. Kapture partnered with Western Australian concrete products manufacturer PERMAcast in… Read more »
Not-for-profit research and development company Hort Innovation is teaming up with venture capital firm Artesian for a new $60 million VC fund to back early-stage startups tackling challenges for fruit, vegetable and nut farmers. Hort will chip in around $24 million to the Hort Innovation Venture Fund, leveraged by co-investments sourced by Artesian, for a… Read more »
Tesla chair and Blackbird partner Robyn Denholm, has one-upped Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes, part owner of US NBA team the Utah Jazz, by buying an entire basketball league, the WNBL. The deal between the Wollemi Capital Group Syndicate (WCGS) and Larry Kestelman’s National Basketball League (NBL) consortium to acquire a majority stake in the Women’s National… Read more »
The dream is over for drone delivery startup Swoop Aero, with creditors voting on Tuesday to place the venture capital-backed business in liquidation. Swoop raised more than $26 million in VC funding, with CSIRO-backed Main Sequence, impact fund Giant Leap, US investor In-Q-Tel, the defence tech investment arm of the CIA, Artesian, Folklore Ventures, Right Click… Read more »
The clap is back big time. Over the past decade, the levels of the sexually transmitted infection (STI) gonorrhoea have increased by 157%. Chlamydia is also on the rise up 26% and is now the most reported communicable disease in Australia, with over 110,000 cases in 2023. But the infection, which is often appears asymptomatic,… Read more »
Sydney quantum computing software startup Q-CTRL has been awarded $2.75 million contract by the federal government as part of a plan to deliver the defence sector additional capabilities in quantum and counter disinformation technologies. The Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator’s (ASCA) Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) program has signed 21 contracts as part of an investment… Read more »
Last week the industry and science minister Ed Husic stood in front of Australia’s tech titans at the National Tech Summit, telling them the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund was about to announce its first investments. Today Husic delivered on the promise, announcing $40 million for a manufacturer in Queensland. The funds went to Toowoomba-based… Read more »
Health and technology entrepreneur Dr Michelle Perugini has joined the University of South Australia as its new Head of Commercialisation. The cancer researcher turned artificial intelligence (AI) expert cofounded two successful AI startups with her husband Dr Don Perguni, who was a research scientist for the Department of Defence, developing AI technology ISD Analytics, founded in 2008,… Read more »
The use of facial recognition technology in Bunnings stores across Victoria and NSW over three years was a breach of privacy and consent laws, Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind has ruled. The landmark decision on breaches to the Privacy Act follows a two-year investigation by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which found that… Read more »
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