Investment NSW director of innovation Liza Noonan is leaving the government to become Cicada Innovations CEO. Noonan replaces Sally-Ann Williams, who stepped down in mid-2025. Noonan will take the helm of the Sydney-based deep tech incubator on November 3. The move ends a 3.5-year stint in various roles inside the NSW government, during which Investment… Read more »
Startmate is getting into the streaming business with the next evolution of its Accelerator program – dedicated Founder Streams. Streams is designed to deliver more focused, hands-on support for founders across key startup sectors. It also features Stream Leads, experienced founders who’ve lived the journey themselves, to guide startups through tailored 12-week programs focused on… Read more »
I’m personally pro-tech and use AI every day. I’m genuinely excited by progressive tools that expand what creators and businesses can do. But the pace of what’s happening — and how it’s being rolled out — has been eye-jarring: creators sidelined, copyright murky at best, implementation racing ahead of consent. Right now it feels like a land-grab: who can… Read more »
FinTech Australia has warned that financial and other digital technologies risk being unintentionally excluded from future innovation funding unless explicitly recognised in the federal government’s current Strategic Examination of Research and Development (R&D). The fintech peak body argue its case in a submission to the R&D review’s expert panel, led by Tesla chair Robyn Denholm,… Read more »
When Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets US President Donald Trump on Monday, the visit is expected to seal major big tech investment deals on artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres. In the lead-up, Atlassian cofounder Scott Farquhar (in his role as chair of the Tech Council of Australia) has been pitching a plan to… Read more »
After last week’s $211 million raised across six startups – that largely to Heidi Health’s $98m Seris B as well as details of Octopus Deploy’s 2024 $45.6m round emerging, mid October seems more normal, with six Australian companies collectively raising a collective $13.4m. The biggest raise came from GXE, which secured $3.3 million in Series… Read more »
Air conditioning is doesn’t sound like a sexy startup problem, but Conry Tech cofounder Sam Ringwaldt knows more than most how profound its impact on us and the planet will be as climate change takes hold. “It’s a really vicious irony that the main solution that we’re relying on to mitigate the change is also… Read more »
A Sydney startup using batteries to replace gas for industrial heat, and cut business energy costs, has raised more than $2 million. Good Heat will deploy large-scale thermal energy storage (TES) systems powered by cheap renewable electricity to provide industrial heat at prices below gas. Plans for Australia’s largest heat battery development, for a significant… Read more »
Imagine you’re away from home but forgot to pack your towel, razor or toothbrush. Should you use other people’s? Here’s why it’s probably best not to make a habit of it. Microbes can stay active for a while Many disease-causing bacteria, viruses or fungi live on cloth, plastic and metal objects in your bathroom. These… Read more »
PredicTx Health, a University of Melbourne spin-out that uses AI to personalise chemo dosing based on body composition analysis, has raised $1.6 million. The funding came from the University’s Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, a government grant and angel investment and will be used to commercialise a world-first AI-powered precision oncology platform. PredicTx was cofounded Professor Justin… Read more »
Rory San Miguel, cofounder and CEO of drone-based site survey company Propeller Aero, has won the 2025 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The Pearcey Foundation, a non-profit named in honour of Australian ICT industry pioneer Dr Trevor Pearcey, recognises leaders in information and communications technology. The Pearcey NSW Entrepreneur Award is presented to… Read more »
Australian-founded AI infrastructure startup Firmus Technologies is heading to mainland Australia with a $73.3 billion plan in partnership with CDC Data Centres and Nvidia to build four more AI data centres in capital cities. The initial deal for Project Southgate – the plan to build an AI data centre in Tasmania – is worth $4.5 billion,… Read more »
Breakthrough Victoria has selected the first three recipients of its new Fellowship program, which hopes to turn academic research into startup reality. The $7.5 million, multi-year program offers each recipient $150,000 to kick off their entrepreneurial efforts, and Breakthrough Victoria is hoping it will result in around 50 startups commercialising research and IP. The trio… Read more »
A French-born baker who developed a world-first way to supply frozen artisanal sourdough products to supermarkets has been named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ for Australia at the prestigious business awards. Professional services firm EY Australia’s annual entrepreneurship awards celebrated their 25th anniversary in Sydney on October 15, also recognising 22 national finalists who represent the… Read more »
By the time I slipped into the packed SXSW Sydney expo theatre, the crowd was already deep in discussion. On stage, Dave Lemphers, cofounder and CEO of Maincode, sat alongside Dr Catherine Ball, steering one of the most grounded, technical and groundbreaking conversations of the festival: the debut of Matilda, Australia’s national large language model.… Read more »
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