People

Uniseed boss Peter Devine calls time on 20 years leading Australia’s OG VC

- October 29, 2025 2 MIN READ

Uniseed CEO Dr Peter Devine as called time on two decades leading the university-backed research commercialisation fund, staging his own exit at the end of 2025. Taking the helm in January 2026 is Dr Alistair Hick from Monash University, where he’s been its inaugural chief commercialisation officer, with responsibility for overseeing its IP commercialisation program,… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

OpenAI’s browser, Atlas, makes the privacy and security risks of using it your problem

- October 29, 2025 4 MIN READ

Last week, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser that promises to revolutionise how we interact with the internet. The company’s CEO, Sam Altman, described it as a “once-a-decade opportunity” to rethink how we browse the web. The promise is compelling: imagine an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that follows you across every website, remembers your… Read more »

Richard White
ASX

WiseTech shares plunge after police raid over founder Richard White’s share sales

- October 28, 2025 3 MIN READ

Officials from corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Federal Police officers raided the headquarters of ASX-listed WiseTech Global on Monday over concerns about share sales by founder Richard White and three others. WiseTech (ASX: WTC) shares fell more than 16% to around $71 in opening trade on Tuesday morning after… Read more »

Accelerator

Here are the startups in the 2025 University of Newcastle I2N accelerator

- October 28, 2025 3 MIN READ

Twelve standout teams from the Hunter and Central Coast have made it to the final stage of this year’s I2N accelerator program, including several ventures led by University of Newcastle students and alumni. The 2025 cohort is tackling mental health breakthroughs, menopause support, smarter job platforms for international students, next-gen loan tech, foolproof plant care… Read more »

Funding

NZVC will back up to 60 ANZ founders with its new $50 million Fund II

- October 28, 2025 2 MIN READ

Auckland-based NZVC is planning to invest in 50-60 Australia and New Zealand early-stage founders with its new NZ $50 million Fund II. Fund II invests from Pre-Seed to Series A, with smaller initial cheques and significant follow-on reserves. General partner Mark Pavlyukovskyy founded NZVC in 2021 as Aotearoa’s first operator-led venture fund, having relocated to… Read more »

Funding

Hydrogen-powered hypersonic defence aircraft startup soars on $46 million Series A

- October 28, 2025 2 MIN READ

A Brisbane startup developing hydrogen-powered aircraft engines and hypersonic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has raised $46 million in a Series A as NASA prepares to test its 3D-printed ideas. The round for Hypersonix Launch Systems was led by UK national security investor High Tor Capital, with support from European defence company Saab and Polish family office RKKVC,… Read more »

Accelerator

DDLoop wins 2025 Legal Pitch Night with AI due diligence platform 

- October 27, 2025 2 MIN READ

DDLoop, a Sydney-based startup, has taken first place at the 2025 Legal Pitch Night, impressing judges with its AI-powered platform that has the potential to automate due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, financing, and investment deals. 

Amender was first runner-up with Clearly by Lext closely following. AIOrdinate took home the People’s Choice Award.

Microsoft
AI/Machine Learning

ACCC sues Microsoft, alleging it misled 2.7 million Australians on Microsoft 365 plans

- October 27, 2025 2 MIN READ

The competition regulator alleged Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plan subscribers were told to either pay higher prices for Copilot or cancel.

This was false or misleading, the ACCC claims, because there was an undisclosed third option for subscribers to keep their existing ‘classic’ plan, without Copilot or the markup in price.

The only way customers could find out about the ‘classic’ plans was when they opted to cancel their subscription because that was when a new page appeared offering the option to switch to the ‘classic’ plan instead.

Funding

Respiratory infections biotech gets up everyone’s nose with $34 million Series B

- October 27, 2025 2 MIN READ

Melbourne biotech ENA Respiratory has raised $34 million (US$22.4m) in a Series B funding round to support the development of its virus-agnostic nasal spray, INNA-051, designed to boost the body’s natural defences against respiratory infections. The raise was led by existing investors Brandon Capital and Uniseed, with participation from Stoic Venture Capital, the Gates Foundation… Read more »

After Hours

BRAVERY Part 2: Courage > confidence. Don’t fear less, brave more

- October 27, 2025 7 MIN READ

This is part two of Christie Jenkins’ 5-part series on bravery. It is inspired by her chat with Crista Samaras, the founder of Brave Enterprises. We want to be fearless. We want to feel confident. Instead, what we should seek is more bravery. Courage comes before confidence, and is the greater virtue. “You’re so brave,”

Gaming

GAMING: My pick of PAX Australia’s best indies

- October 27, 2025 3 MIN READ

What started off as a nice idea for an easy column each year is getting progressively harder. As I covered recently, there were over 100 games on display at PAX Australia -every genre was just about covered, and most were impressive in their own right. It makes singling any of them out an agonising decision.… Read more »

Mark Zuckerberg
Global tech

There’s $50 million in compensation up for grabs from Facebook’s Life app data privacy breach – here’s how to check if you’re eligible

- October 27, 2025 4 MIN READ

Right now, more than 311,000 Australian Facebook users can apply for a slice of a A$50 million compensation fund from tech giant Meta – the largest ever payment for a breach of Australians’ privacy. But the clock is ticking. Even if you’re eligible, you only have until December 31 2025 to make your claim. Similar… Read more »