Over the last couple of years, Canva has pushed hard into generative AI. It has become one of Australia’s best startup success stories. Yet, it’s another younger local AI player that is getting more spend from customers globally in the space.< Last week, Andreessen Horowitz’s new ‘AI Apps 50: Where Startups Spend on AI‘ list… Read more »
An AI-based “cloud waste” startup has raised $3 million in pre-Seed funding to help companies save billions on their cloud costs. The round for Optimaze was led by Arconic and The Innovation Club. The Sydney startup is currently in private beta, with a waitlist for preview access to the software. The funding is to expand… Read more »
A proposed constellation of satellites has astronomers very worried. Unlike satellites that reflect sunlight and Reflect Orbital would produce light pollution by design. The company promises to produce “sunlight on demand” with mirrors that beam sunlight down to Earth so solar farms can operate after sunset. It plans to start with an 18-metre test satellite… Read more »
It wasn’t until late on a Wednesday afternoon, three days into the Game Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) conference that the penny finally dropped. Sitting in on an industry veteran discussion – or as they put it, “survivor’s panel” – I got an inkling as to why there was such a sense of business-as-usual for the… Read more »
An Australian scientist and a group of international quantum researchers have been awarded Nobel Prizes for their work at the cutting edge of chemistry and physics, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Wednesday. Richard Robson, an English-born professor who has worked at the University of Melbourne since 1966, will share the $1.77 million… Read more »
Two Australian startups moved closer to unicorn status this week, after revealing new funding rounds that gave their valuations a healthy boost. This week’s funding round-up is led by Heidi Health’s $98 million Series B round and Octopus Deploy’s $45.6 million investment, although the latter was secured in 2024. They are joined by four other Australian and New… Read more »
Preethi Mohan was in the middle of a corporate life at Google when she had a revelation about pivoting to a new career as startup founder. Her latest and 5th startup, Press Play Ventures, is a 12-week accelerator program coaches women on the move from corporate life to startup founder, and in just 18 months,… Read more »
You’re neck-deep in IKEA assembly instructions. Furniture parts lie strewn across the floor. Your new purchase sits half-complete in front of you, mocking your fruitless hours. As an uninterested partner walks in, you let the frustration out: “I’ve done everything correctly! Look: connect A with B using M1 screws connect B with C with the… Read more »
Lucent, founded by 22-year-old Alisa Wu, has raised A$2 million in a quickly oversubscribed pre-seed to build behavioural datasets for browser agents, and will base itself in San Francisco over the next year.
Carbar has bought HelloCars Subscription from Loopit, retaining the brand as its value arm while Loopit refocuses on software. The move builds on Carbar’s earlier Carly acquisition as it positions itself across tiers in the car subscription market.
Melbourne’s Affinda Group has acquired AI training firm Pathfindr for A$15 million, enabling it to pair automation tech with adoption services and scale AI transformation in organisations.
Eric Wilson, the founder and former CEO of dead neobank Xinja, and his fellow director Craig Swanger, won’t be able to help run a bank ’til the 2030s after APRA made first use of its new financial accountability powers. Xinja handed back its banking license in December 2020 after just three years of trying to “break… Read more »
Blackpearl has brought Wilson Asset Management and other Australian funds onto its register via an oversubscribed placement, using proceeds to settle the B2B Rocket deal and ready the company for a late-November ASX debut.
AWS has announced the 40 global startups chosen for its 2025 Generative AI Accelerator. The eight-week program, now in its third year, is designed to help early-stage startups scale foundational generative AI technologies.’ Participants will receive up to US$1 million in AWS credits, mentorship, and access to AWS’s full AI technology stack. “The pace of… Read more »
The Community Collective cofounder and CEO Paz Pisarski admits it all happened by accident, but it’s the best accident to ever happen. At the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025, Pisarski was named Future Leader of the Year, sponsored by Techvisa. The award recognises an individual our judges believe has the potential to be… Read more »
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
