Ticker, shares, investor
Advice

Why your investor updates are not working

- January 23, 2026 3 MIN READ

If you’re a founder who sends monthly or quarterly investor updates, I have some uncomfortable news. They probably aren’t being read in depth, and your investors don’t care deeply about them. I don’t mean they’re skimming them while checking email. I mean they’re genuinely not retaining anything of value from the carefully curated bullet points… Read more »

Funding

Cheque-in: four ANZ startups raised $307.1 million in mid-January

- January 23, 2026 2 MIN READ

January has already been piping hot for startup funding, and this week is no different. Four ANZ startups raised more than $307 million across rockets, AI and engineering platforms. Here’s who: Gilmour Space: $217 million Gilmour Space Technologies has landed $217 million in a Series E funding round that lifts the Queensland-founded rocket maker’s valuation… Read more »

Business

A software engineer fired after refusing to return to the office 3 days a week lost his unfair dismissal claim

- January 23, 2026 3 MIN READ

A Melbourne-based software engineer has lost an unfair dismissal case after he was fired for refusing to return to the office. Richard Johnson worked as a product engineer at print management software provider PaperCut Software from April 2022 until mid-June 2025, when he was fired for refusing to comply with a three days per week… Read more »

Business

Sendle staff were worried about its US plans before the parcel logistics platform collapsed

- January 22, 2026 3 MIN READ

Sendle staff questioned the parcel delivery startup’s US expansion plan and high cash burn well ahead of its closure, suggesting the business faced existential challenges before its ill-fated merger. The Australian-born scaleup, which allowed small businesses to send parcels through partnerships with major courier networks, shocked customers last week by cancelling all upcoming pick-ups. The closure came… Read more »

Get ready for Gmail's 'AI Inbox'
AI/Machine Learning

Gmail’s new ‘AI Inbox’ wants to be an EA for your comms

- January 20, 2026 3 MIN READ

Google reads and summarises your email as to-do list. Powered by Google’s flagship AI model Gemini, the new feature will bake AI summaries directly into users’ Gmail accounts along with buttons to write AI-generated responses, set up calendar events, and provide summaries of email threads, according to preview footage. By checking which people you email… Read more »

How AI bots can swing elections
AI/Machine Learning

How much AI bots can swing elections: the misinformation war and deepfakes taking over social media

- January 20, 2026 3 MIN READ

On December 14 2025, a terrorist attack occurred at Bondi Beach in Sydney Australia, leaving 15 civilians and one gunman dead. While Australia was still reeling in shock, social media saw the rapid spread of misinformation generated and powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI). For example, a manipulated video of New South Wales Premier Chris… Read more »

Funding

Cheque-in: 3 startups kick off 2026 raising $39.8 million

- January 16, 2026 2 MIN READ

We may only be a couple of weeks into January, but the Australian startup funding tap is already starting to trickle. This week saw $39.8 million raised across startups in deceased estate management and fitness spaces, as well as neuroscience. EstateXchange: $12.5 million EstateXchange co-founders Marielle Yeoh and Sarah Poole. Source: Supplied. A startup addressing… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

The fresh chatbot people: Woolies is seasoning your grocery buy with AI, but do shoppers want it?

- January 16, 2026 4 MIN READ

Woolworths has announced a partnership with Google to incorporate agentic artificial intelligence into its “Olive” chatbot, starting in Australia later this year. Until now, Olive has largely answered questions, resolved problems and directed shoppers to information. Soon, Olive will be able to do more: planning meals, interpreting handwritten recipes, applying loyalty discounts and placing suggested… Read more »

Catalan tower
Funding

The quiet unravelling of Australia’s startup culture: when a nation loses sight of the rewards from risk

- January 13, 2026 8 MIN READ

When the Victorian government announced plans to disband LaunchVic, and distribute some of its roles to other agencies, like Breakthrough Victoria, there’s a temptation to treat it as an administrative change: a reshuffle of functions, a rebadging of programs, a matter for insiders. That temptation is comforting – and profoundly wrong. I don’t want to… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

AI is a ‘word calculator’ – but not in the sense you might think

- January 12, 2026 3 MIN READ

Attempts at communicating what generative artificial intelligence (AI) is and what it does have produced a range of metaphors and analogies. From a “black box” to “autocomplete on steroids”, a “parrot”, and even a pair of “sneakers”, the goal is to make the understanding of a complex piece of technology accessible by grounding it in… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

3 ways to make power-hungry data centres more efficient

- January 9, 2026 3 MIN READ

The Australian Energy Market Operator estimates data centres will consume 6% of Australia’s grid-supplied electricity by 2030. To put that in context, that’s more than the current share of Australia’s healthcare and social assistance industry. This reflects the rapid growth of Australia’s data centre industry – the backbone of artificial intelligence (AI). This growth is,… Read more »

Cyber security

How a Brit landed an Australian innovation visa after hacking the government’s foreign affairs website

- January 9, 2026 3 MIN READ

A British cybersecurity expert has landed a coveted tech visa for exceptional talent after he hacked an Australian government department and exposed a “critical vulnerability”. Jacob Riggs, a British national with more than a decade of experience in the cyber sector, was granted an 858 National Innovation visa in December, less than a year after… Read more »