Back in the depths of raising funds during Australia’s funding winter, I was given some unexpected but prescient advice by an overseas investor: “Don’t come here.” My co-founder Skye and I were on the outskirts of London and meeting with the General Partner at one of UK’s largest fintech funds, canvassing the idea of expanding… Read more »
It’s not every day you get to pitch for US$1 million in investment. But then again, the Startup World Cup in San Francisco is not your everyday startup pitch comp. Three Australian startups – Adiona, Deeligence and GravityFit – were among 98 finalists from 100 regional competitions across 60+ countries to fly to San Francisco… Read more »
Disability worker Storm Menzies, founder of accessible makeup tools startup ByStorm Beauty has won the Kickstarter Challenge, taking home $30,000 in equity-free funding. Four runners-up also took home $7,500 for their startups following the grand final at Parliament House in Canberra today. The five-year-old Kickstarter Challenge, developed by Enterprising ME and run in conjunction with The… Read more »
Currents, the Gold Coast startup community-building group backed by Torus Ventures, has acquired Michael Batko’s Startup Striders. The purchase price was undisclosed, and the deal was completed entirely in cash. Startup Striders began in 2023 as a Saturday morning run and coffee meetup in Sydney. Since then it has become a large community with more than… Read more »
Australia’s national science agency CSIRO says it will cut up to 350 more research jobs after already removing over 800 positions in the past 18 months amid rising costs and stagnant funding. The news comes just days after the heads of CSIRO’s digital and manufacturing research arms — which have both seen job losses — left… Read more »
Meta has begun warning users it suspects are under 16 that their accounts will begin to be deactivated under the teen social media ban, as it investigates why Instagram already won’t let some users create accounts. On Thursday, Meta was the first tech company to announce its plans for complying with the government’s social media minimum age… Read more »
Melbourne software unicorn Culture Amp has shed another 6% of its workforce, with the loss of around 60 jobs. The employee engagement platform cut 9% of its workforce – 90 roles – in 2023, so the latest losses suggest the business grew back to around 1000 employees over the last 2.5 years. Previously 36 roles… Read more »
New Zealand startup Kiki Club’s move from Sydney to New York generated just $76,000 in revenue over two years, but has cost them three times that figure in fines for operating illegally there. Kiki Club paid US$152,000 (A$224k) to settle charges by the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) that it violated New York City’s… Read more »
Nearly $5 million in funding has been awarded to 12 Western Australian innovators and startups working on local health and medical innovation projects The ideas, many from academics and WA’s universities span tests for liver cancer to heart monitoring, endometriosis diagnosis, asthma treatment and more, were funded from the Innovation Seed Fund 2024-25 Program. The state… Read more »
A Sydney startup founder’s post about “fully adopting” a Silicon Valley-style work culture has sparked a debate about long hours in tech and whether work-life balance clashes with ambition. After arriving in San Francisco two weeks ago, Lyra co-founder and COO Anh Dao posted that he had experienced a “wake-up call” on work culture, and… Read more »
The global investment frenzy around AI has seen companies valued at trillions of dollars and eye-watering projections of how it will boost economic productivity. But in recent weeks the mood has begun to shift. Investors and CEOs are now openly questioning whether the enormous costs of building and running AI systems can really be justified… Read more »
Ahead of the TechStars Sydney ‘Demo the Future’ evening on December 8, Startup Daily is profiling the 12 startups and their founders in the 2025 cohort. Our next profile is OncoRevive – a health-tech startup which detects cancer early, leading to vastly improved patient outcomes. OncoRevive Founders: Dr. Mohammad Tavakkoli and Dr. Samira Sadeghi One-liner: Detect… Read more »
I’ve often wondered why October feels so bloody busy. Every year, without fail, a cavalcade of major games are launched around late September and early October. They often smother one another; before you can finish one, another blockbuster is already out. You could argue that it’s a fantastic launch window for the run-up to Christmas,… Read more »
Melbourne AI-based education startup Teacher’s Buddy has raised $1.85 million in Seed funding to tackle teacher burnout. The round was led by Giant Leap, supported by Flying Fox Ventures, Co Ventures, Exhort Ventures, Saniel Ventures and Soul Capital. Teacher’s Buddy was founded in 2024 by Matt Abraham and Ben Sze, cofounder of school content and… Read more »
For 60 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to shareholders of the company he’s run since 1965, Berkshire Hathaway. He acquired the small textile company for US$18 a share to fire the CEO. Buffett subsequently described it as “the dumbest stock I ever bought” despite the fact that today, Berkshire Hathaway Class A… Read more »
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