Australia’s business pages in 2025 were on the spicier side, as controversies across retail, tech, consulting and policy certainly brought out the trust issues in the sector. Across the year, there were major data breaches, court actions over wage underpayments, startup failures, consumer safety interventions and the closure of long-running business support programs. Here’s a… Read more »
Four months after entering the UK market, controversial short-term subletting startup Kiki is following a familiar pattern as it finds its footing in London. Manual processes powered by Instagram, limited revenue, parties, and growing costs (including visa sponsorship for newly hired staff) are already defining Kiki’s local operations. Meanwhile, the startup is publicly projecting confidence… Read more »
New Zealand startup Kiki Club’s move from Sydney to New York generated just $76,000 in revenue over two years, but has cost them three times that figure in fines for operating illegally there. Kiki Club paid US$152,000 (A$224k) to settle charges by the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) that it violated New York City’s… Read more »
Kiwi startup Kiki is hoping that its plan to be bigger than Airbnb will have more luck in London after it was forced to shut down in New York due to the city’s subletting laws. It’s also a case of 4th time lucky for the Blackbird-backed startup, which has previously opened, and closed, in New… Read more »
The grand New York experiment for New Zealand rental accomodation startup Kiki is over, with cofounder Toby Thomas-Smith announcing he’ll end his Big Apple ambitions for a second time. “The beginning of Kiki’s intense fire in NYC,” as he described it 13 months ago, is being snuffed out by regulation, he says, announcing the decision… Read more »
The New York-based cofounder of New Zealand subletting startup Kiki, Toby Thomas-Smith, is blunt in his own performance assessment. “When we launched Kiki.nyc last year I fucked up,” he’s written on LinkedIn, after the business shuttered its New York launch after 3 months, only to revive it late last month amid controversy over plans to… Read more »
Last year Blackbird Ventures made a massive bet on a New Zealand rental accommodation app, just six months after it had turned down a $200,000 pitch for cash. In August 2023, Blackbird instead tipped $7 million into a A$9.5 million Seed round for Kiki. The startup’s cofounder Toby Thomas-Smith, said Blackbird’s New Zealand partner, Samantha… Read more »
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