For too long venture capital has dominated the conversation around women and funding. Every headline, every pitch competition, every “success story” seems to point to VC as the only path to scale. And yet, VC is not only a poor fit for most women-owned businesses, it has warped the collective understanding of what finance should… Read more »
Yesterday, there were numerous articles written about the fact that a couple large VC funds missed their gender targets for new investments. We do ask our VC funds for more transparency and effort, and then low key shame them when they don’t meet their goals and state it publicly, even if they are moving the… Read more »
Australia is at a critical juncture. The global transition to a net-zero economy is no longer speculative, it’s underway and accelerating. The nation has everything it needs to lead: world-class research, abundant natural resources, and strong research institutions, but Charlotte Connell, head of impact at Greenhouse, said the issue is how funding is being deployed… Read more »
Australian venture capital has long rested on a familiar promise – that backing a portfolio of young startups today will deliver returns to investors within roughly a decade. But the regularity of that rhythm is changing, stretching out by up to 1.5x longer as macro shifts and dynamics reshape the path to liquidity. The IPO… Read more »
Spriggy, the children’s pocket money fintech that’s been used by more than 1.3 million Australians, is shutting down Spriggy Invest, promising a “bigger and better” alternative in 2026. The fintech, which has raised nearly $60 million, and counts NAB Ventures and Grok, the family fund of Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, among its investors, emailed users… Read more »
Unicorn HR platform Employment Hero has gone to the Federal Court, accusing jobs‑board giant Seek of anti‑competitive behaviour after it revoked API access used by thousands of employers. The startup wants an injunction before the cutoff on 25 August, while Seek vows to fight the claims.
When Halter raised a $155 million Series D last month, turning the Kiwi agtech scaleup into a unicorn, Icehouse Ventures was once again among the investors. Now the New Zealand VC is gearing up to back the next wave of Kiwi tech startups and has already secured NZ$15 million in commitments towards a new $30… Read more »
It’s often those most entrenched in existing systems (and have benefitted from them) that disparage and deny the usefulness of novel forms of doing, well, anything. While business financing isn’t the only area where this happens, it might be the sector in which this attitude is most harmful, in terms of holding back innovation in… Read more »
Images of flashy sports cars. Lavish lifestyle shots. These are just some of the red flags consumers should watch out for when they turn to social media for financial advice. Consumers should not believe everything they see on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube from the growing numbers of “finfluencers” – content creators who build their audience… Read more »
An eight-year-old investing podcast created by two former ANU students and backed by the likes of Stake’s Matt Leibowitz and Zip’s Larry Diamond has been acquired by BetaShares in a deal worth $8.5 million. Equity Mates was founded by Bryce Leske and Alec Renehan in 2017 and has produced more than a dozen different podcasts… Read more »
Australia has one of the world’s most capital-efficient startup ecosystems analysis of the local venture investment market reveals, creating bigger and better tech companies for fewer dollars. The Australia Venture & Startup Report 2025, from Sydney VC Side Stage Ventures in collaboration with Dealroom and AWS, set out to benchmark the performance of local venture… Read more »
Bitcoin is ubiquitous. It is impossible to open a social media stream or news source without encountering yet another mention of the topic. Many Australians have invested, hoping for a good return. But they may not have considered the tax consequences of their investments. So some might be in for an unexpected surprise. The tax… Read more »
Adelaide VC Eastend Ventures has secured $10 million in commitments for its debut fund, which will be the first in South Australia as an Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP). The $50 million Eastend Ventures Fund 1 intends to invest in up to 30 early-stage, high-growth, business-to-business (B2B) startups across South Australia, Western Australia… Read more »
Advisory firm Meliora founded by former media executive Clive Dickens, has moved into venture capital, backing three AI startups in Australia in a partnership with student-focused fund. NextGen Ventures. Meliora Ventures, the company’s investment arm, has deployed around $1.5 million in total, including for two European generative AI startups with a business focus, Dublin’s Quickfind… Read more »
A new venture capital fund with heavy-hitting corporate partners and focused on backing climate tech startups at Series A has secured $50 million in commitments to reach its first close. Climate Tech Partners (CTP), founded in 2023 by Patrick Sieb and Tom Kline (who established Investible’s climate tech fund), more than doubled its size thanks… Read more »
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