Women are starting and growing businesses at pace, from consultancies and creative firms to tech startups. However, the money, networks and time still stack against them. In Australia, all-women founding teams received just 2% of total capital in 2024, and in Q2 2025 dipped below 0.5%, according to Cut Through Venture data. That’s despite evidence… Read more »
ANZ-backed online shopping cashback platform Cashrewards has shut down. The company announced its demise on Monday afternoon with a notice saying “From 12pm AEST, Monday, 8 September 2025, Cashrewards ceased making offers available on its Website, App and Notifier.” Customers received an email around two hours after the shutdown, with the headline “URGENT: Cashrewards is… Read more »
It took almost eight years for the downloadable content turned into a fully-fledged title to go from idea to release. A determined fandom and a vacuum of information created its own brand of gaming community conspiracy theories around the title. With less than a few breadcrumbs of information, the game remarkably sustained a full near-decade… Read more »
The venture arm of embattled Big Four bank ANZ has offloaded its stake in international payments fintech Airwallex for $67 million, just five years after first investing, 1835i sold its US$44 million stake to Airwallex founders and executives in a deal that adds nothing to the company’s cash balance. All up they nabbed US$70m (A$106m)… Read more »
New Zealand ocean security startup Starboard Maritime Intelligence (SMI) has banked a NZ$23 million (A$20.7m) Series A. The round was co-led by SMI’s first backer, Kiwi VC Altered Capital, with new investors OIF Ventures and King River Capital, supported by Co:Act Capital, Icehouse Ventures, and Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation. The funding is for global expansion into… Read more »
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) will get one more crack at cryptocurrency fintech, Block Earner, in a long-running dispute over one of its investment products after the High Court granted the regular special leave to appeal a Full Federal Court decision it lost. It will be the fourth case in a two-year legal battle… Read more »
Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM) is acquiring a US AI-powered browser startup in a deal worth US$610 million (A$935m) in cash. Atlassian cofounder Mike Cannon-Brookes has been a fan of The Browser Company (TBC), and its product Dia, which he calls “the knowledge worker’s browser”, since it was released in mid-2025 in beta mode, sending bug feedback… Read more »
After years of testing and regulatory hurdles, Australian startup Vow has released its cultured (or ‘lab-grown’) Japanese quail in Australian restaurants. And I’ve finally had the chance to taste it. As a technology journalist, home cook, and self-proclaimed foodie, I’ve kept a close eye on the alternative meat space for many years. My past adventures… Read more »
When you talk to Pete Horsley about his career in tech, it doesn’t take long to see that his work is deeply personal. His eldest sister, Jo, was born blind, autistic, and with an intellectual disability. That experience shaped the way he views the world, as he explains to Majella Campbell on episode 29 of… Read more »
Midway through a difficult discussion in her performance review, an employee named Jane finally cracks, and the tears start. Her boss doesn’t know what to do and handles the situation awkwardly. Ask yourself: how would you react in this situation? And would you have the same reaction if it were not Jane who was crying… Read more »
Former Finder boss Chris Ellis has a new startup to lead as CEO of back-office automation engine Collabra.ai. Ellis is also cofounder of the Sydney-based enterprise artificial intelligence startup, which is now moving into full commercialisation following two years of product build. Collabra has developed AI agents for mid-market enterprises combine the reliability of robotic process… Read more »
Financial crime prevention small cap Identitii (ASX:ID8) has sold its remaining stake in joint-venture fintech Payble to existing investor OIF Ventures for $1.6 million. Payble, founded in 2020 by CEO Elliott Donazzan, is a payments platform for local government payments using QR codes and now has 50 customers, including four New Zealand councils after launching… Read more »
When you ask ChatGPT or other AI assistants to help create misinformation, they typically refuse, with responses like “I cannot assist with creating false information.” But our tests show these safety measures are surprisingly shallow – often just a few words deep – making them alarmingly easy to circumvent. We have been investigating how AI… Read more »
Cybersecurity workers in Australia are losing more hours of productivity to stress and burnout than they were just a year ago, with artificial intelligence both helping and hindering the situation according to a survey commissioned by cybersecurity firm Sophos. Industry professionals have lost 4.8 hours per week to stress and burnout in 2025 — a… Read more »
Payments fintech Airwallex has acquired a US billing platform for an undisclosed sum as it looks to expand its product offering to take on the likes of Stripe Billing and Recurly. The terms of the deal to add San Francisco-based OpenPay – not to be confused with the failed former ASX-listed BNPL of the same… Read more »
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