LaunchVic has injected $3.75m into Victoria’s startup scene, seeding seven VC funds, funding four university pre-accelerators and supporting 60+ founder events. The state expects the funds to raise $275m+ for early-stage startups, as it doubles down on innovation amid a tough global capital market.
The NRFC has tipped $150m into Brandon Capital’s sixth fund, taking it to $439m and pushing the government investor past its $550m FY25 target. The cash targets late and early-stage medtech, aiming to keep commercialisation onshore.
LaunchVic’s sidecar fund for women founders, the Alice Anderson fund, has completed a pre-Seed $1.1 million raise for Melbourne pet health startup Elita. The commitment brings to a close the long-running raise for Elita, which is building a stem cell bank for Australian pets. Founded by Paloma Newton and Jackson Gritching, the genetics startup, which… Read more »
Salaries in the tech sector increased by nearly 10% in the last year and IT workers are among those most likely to land a “transformational” pay rise in the coming year, according to a new study. Recruiter Hays released its F25/26 Salary Guide this week which also reveals the highest paying tech roles in Australia and those… Read more »
The Full Federal Court has dismissed ASIC’s appeal in the Finder Earn case, upholding a 2024 ruling that the crypto yield product wasn’t a debenture under the Corporations Act. Finder welcomed the decision, calling for better regulator–startup collaboration as Australia grapples with crypto regulation.
Sanofi’s billion‑dollar buyout of Vicebio hands The University of Queensland its biggest commercial victory yet, putting the Molecular Clamp vaccine platform back in play after its COVID‑era false start and signalling fresh confidence in Aussie deep‑tech.
In a pointed speech, ASIC boss Joe Longo told bankers their AI ambitions will fly only if they tangibly help customers—and warned startups selling into finance that the regulator won’t hesitate to act if algorithms cause harm.
Most people think if you’re not backed by venture capital, you’re not playing in the big leagues. That you’re hustling in the shadows, scraping by until some investor finally gives you permission to scale. But for people like me, who started with no handouts, no blueprints, and no pitch deck, the game has always looked… Read more »
The Australian government incidentally commissioned one of the country’s largest studies into the matter… and it wasn’t even focused on gaming. There’s a curious wrinkle with all of the studies that illustrate just how many people game: they are funded by the gaming industry or by peak bodies within it. Such is the case in… Read more »
Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot embedded in X (formerly Twitter) and built by Elon Musk’s company xAI, is back in the headlines after calling itself “MechaHitler” and producing pro-Nazi remarks. The developers have apologised for the “inappropriate posts” and “taken action to ban hate speech” from Grok’s posts on X. Debates about AI bias… Read more »
Visionary Machines has re‑upped with $3.5 m from its existing VC syndicate to fast‑track its Pandion Sentinel counter‑drone platform and hire more engineers, underscoring continued investor faith in sovereign deep‑tech defence startups.
Prompting is overtaking coding as the essential digital literacy. CQUniversity’s Prof. Ken Purnell explains why learning to frame precise, creative prompts will let Australians steer AI—and their careers—rather than be steered by it.
Aussie‑founded fintech Airwallex has joined forces with Arsenal in a multi‑year global partnership, becoming the club’s Official Finance Software Partner and Presenting Partner of its Asian pre‑season tour, as the $9.6 billion unicorn ramps up its sport‑marketing offensive.
Sydney’s Salesforce Tower is ground zero for a world‑first “true‑zero” power trial. Climate‑tech hub Greenhouse and retailer Flow Power say time‑matched renewables could slash emissions from Australia’s energy‑hungry office towers—no offsets required.
The majority of women entrepreneurs aren’t building software – they’re quietly launching and scaling the breakout consumer brands that will define the next decade, without a cent of venture capital (VC). According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2022/23 Report: Less than 3% of women globally are building in ICT/tech sectors. Nearly 50% of women… Read more »
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