Global payments platform Stripe has today announced its launch into the Australian market, going head-to-head against competitor Braintree, which established itself in Australia in November 2012 and opened up a Sydney office in June 2013. While Braintree has experienced enormous success in the country, the arrival of Stripe may pose a threat – especially when it comes to winning over the startup community.
Launched earlier this month, Swoop offers small business operators the opportunity to boost foot traffic, sales and profit by targeting customers through GPS-linked app alerts that direct them to special deals and discounts as soon as they are within close proximity to a particular store.
Many of us feminists who’ve been brought up in Western countries have been guilty at one time or another for finding the practices of other cultures despicable because of the perceived harm they cause to women – typical examples include female genital mutilation, forced marriage, honour killing, and the hijab (Islamic headscarf).
The founders of Atlassian, a 14-year-old Australian-founded maker of enterprise software, were quick to publicly apologise after one of the company’s engineers made sexist remarks in his presentation at the AtlasCamp developer conference in Berlin, Germany.
Today, Burston is preparing to facilitate a movement – under the moniker Rare Birds.
The company, which will launch officially later in the year, states its own purpose “to provide every woman globally with the choice to be an entrepreneur.”
A new social network, Backpackr, is changing the scene and rapidly gaining traction – with 1,000 users gained in its first five days alone, and several investment proposals.
Women’s participation and success in male-dominant industries is, at best, treated as an anomaly, and at worst, considered a farce.
Women in business’, ’women in tech’ and ‘women in politics’ have been the subject of debate for decades, with no end in sight.
And many men are tired of this conversation.
With three technology startups in her credits, Singapore-based entrepreneur Rosaline Koo is the centre of a rags-to-riches story.
We live in a culture of immediacy. The demand for instant results has seeped into every aspect of our lives – so much, that we don’t have the patience to wait for a sandwich or taxi, let alone business growth and profitability. Is it the same for late stage capital access in Australia? Sure we want it but do we need it yet?
Even the most well-intentioned business can get sucked into a ‘quick fix’ by someone offering a ‘shortcut to success’ via email lists. It’s not that they want to cheat, but growth is slower than they anticipated.
Businesses can spend weeks creating animated videos for their homepage – or months if they don’t have an in-house designer. Hobart-based startup Biteable is not only slicing down that time to less than 10 minutes, but also making the process as simple as it is to create graphics on Canva and as cheap as creating professional videos can get.
The final look and character of a home is not only contingent upon its walls and curtains, but also furniture items. And while we all love a bit nice furniture, for many of us, the thought of furniture shopping on a Saturday morning is exasperating. Thanks to Interior Secrets, Australians can browse and purchase designer furniture with just a few clicks of a mouse.
As of last Tuesday, BodyTea’s Instagram account with an 80,000-strong follower base has been hacked. According to Taylor Dow, Founder of BodyTea Australia, the perpetrator has been featuring false special offers via Instagram such as ‘Follow us, and you’ll get a year’s supply of BodyTea’.
Every region dreams of becoming an innovation hub like Silicon Valley – the foundation for tomorrow’s startups. But none have been able to successfully recreate the ‘magic’ that inhabits the region.
Richemont Group, owner of Net-A-Porter and Mr Porter, have targeted a Sydney-based startup, Mr Shirts, in a new legal dispute. In what resembles the Biblical tale of David and Goliath, the multibillion-dollar company has threatened legal action against the ecommerce startup over its web design.
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