Venture capital funding in Australia plunged 53% in 2023 on the previous year, returning to the level seen at the startup of the Covid pandemic in 2020. The year saw 413 reported deals totalling $3.5 billion (down from $7.4B in 2022) according to the third annual The State of Australian Startup Funding Report by Cut… Read more »
I see hundreds of founders pitch each year across industries and idea spaces – Antler invests in around 25 businesses each year in Australia alone. These pitches include a lot of generative AI, SaaS and HR Tech innovations, but flipping it around – here are 10 opportunities I reckon are worth exploring in 2024. 1.… Read more »
Last week, Elon Musk announced his brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, had implanted a device in a human for the first time. The company’s PRIME study, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last year, is testing a brain implant for “people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts”. The first human received… Read more »
Australia’s science and technology sectors have urged Federal Parliament to pass the Australian Research Council Amendment Bill – and make a key amendment that requires the research funding agency to notify successful applicants within 21 days of grant approval. In its submission to the Senate Committee on Education and Employment reviewing the Bill, Science &… Read more »
There’s plenty of doom and gloom about the availability of capital at the moment. Right across the tech landscape from seed-round startups to listed tech companies, founders are feeling the brunt of a dramatic shift in sentiment thanks to the high-interest rate environment. But while much of the commentary seems to label this as an… Read more »
Local sportstech is now worth as much as the fintech startup sector, with more than 750 companies involved, according to new analysis from the Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN). Releasing its second annual Sports Innovation Report for 2023, ASTN put the value of sportstech at $4.25 billion as the sector begins to ramp up for the… Read more »
Leading law firm Herbert Smith Freehills advises some of Australia’s most successful tech companies on investment deals, including Atlassian, Mr Yum, Carma, Sonder, Culture Amp, Linktree, Who Gives A Crap, :Different, Pearler and Instant Checkout. After the dramatic shift in venture capital in 2022 following an exuberant two years during the pandemic, HSF venture capital… Read more »
The widespread talent shortage is hitting Australian IT project managers hard, with nearly three-quarters experiencing staff shortages, according to a new report. The Australian Institute of Project Management’s State of Project Management in Australia included a survey of more than 300 diverse Australian project professionals in July and August last year. Just under a quarter of… Read more »
In this essay, we are imagining a pitch from an early stage deep tech company, probably still working inside a university. An investor red flag might not be obvious to a founder. Why would it? They build up over years as signals of weakness and they are best avoided. Knowing what they are makes it possible to… Read more »
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services have dramatically changed the landscape of personal lending, largely by being easy to access and not charging interest – thus avoiding national credit laws. In the 2021-22 financial year, according to data from the Reserve Bank of Australia, the number of active BNPL accounts in Australia rose from 5… Read more »
Welcome to Ignition Lane’s Tech Wrap, where they cut through the noise to bring you their favourite insights from the technology and startup world. Ignition Lane works with ambitious business leaders to apply the Startup Mindset to their technology, product and commercialisation problems. This wrap goes out free to subscribers. Don’t forget you can catch Gavin Appel every… Read more »
If it isn’t broken don’t try and fix it: this is the most important but absent principle when it comes to Australian government innovation policy. With this principle in mind, it will be a tragedy for Australian startups if either the Accelerating Commercialisation (AC) or Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII) are damaged by the… Read more »
Australia’s nascent sportstech sector is among the top 5 in the world, and already supporting more than 600 startups, according to a new report by the Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN). The inaugural Sports Innovation Report 2022 concludes that Australia already has one of the world’s most mature and interconnected ecosystems. With the Brisbane Olympic… Read more »
The dream that decentralised finance – or “DeFi” – can free the monetary system from the clutches of governments and banks has helped launch 20,000 cryptocurrencies. But with 2022 proving to be more of a crypto-nightmare – including for the vaunted “stablecoins” that held the most promise as rivals to central bank-issued currencies – questions… Read more »
The news that Volt Bank, the last of the three true Australian neobanks to secure a banking licence, is shutting down sent waves through the banking and fintech community this week. It is the second neobank to return deposits and surrender its banking license after the high profile collapse of Xinja, as well as the… Read more »
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