Global tech

Drug shortage: Why doesn’t Australia simply make more medicines?

- May 14, 2025 3 MIN READ

About 400 medicines are in short supply in Australia. Of these, about 30 are categorised as critical. These are ones with a life-threatening or serious impact on patients, and with no readily available substitutes. Since 2024, there has been a nationwide shortage of sterile fluid. This continues to affect health care across Australia. However, medicine… Read more »

Michael Fuller
Funding

Additive manufacturing startup raises $11 million Series B

- October 24, 2024 2 MIN READ

Heat exchange manufacturing startup Conflux Technology has raised $11 million in a Series B. The round was led by Breakthrough Victoria, which chipped in $5 million, with participation from AM Ventures and Acorn Capital. The regional Victorian, based in Waurn Ponds, has developed next generation heat exchangers using addictive manufacturing (AM). They transfer thermal energy… Read more »

Michele Stansfield
Funding

Fermentation startup Cauldron scores $4.3 million in first funding from the federal government’s revamped entrepreneurship program

- August 12, 2024 3 MIN READ

Funding from the federal government’s new $392 million Industry Growth Program (IGP) has begun to flow, with $7.4 million in grants awarded to give startups spanning biotech, robotics, renewable energy, cybersecurity and medtech. IGP was announced in the 2023 federal budget, replacing the former Entrepreneurs Program, which had the same level of funding, but was… Read more »

Smart industry robot arms for digital factory manufacturing, Industry 4.0
Politics

More innovation and diversity is needed in tech if the government really wants a ‘future made in Australia’

- May 17, 2024 3 MIN READ

This year’s federal budget is making up for decades of lost time – both in our clean energy transition and in betting on new technological breakthroughs. The Future Made in Australia Act holds tantalising potential for building Australian science, research and development. The aim is to turn Australia into an innovation and clean technology superpower.… Read more »

SupplyScope cofounders Raman Singh, Reinaldo Lie and Preet Singh.
Funding

Product development startup SupplyScope lands $300,000 pre-Seed from Skalata

- May 9, 2024 2 MIN READ

SupplyScope, a product development startup dealing with regulatory compliance and safety to get to market faster, has raised $300,000 from early-stage investor Skalata. The challenge faced by product suppliers is that takes months of testing and paperwork to get to market. As a result, many have bypassed larger stockists by selling direct-to-consumer and via online… Read more »

Gilmour Space rockets
Politics

Why the Future Made in Australia Act is us playing global catch-up

- April 16, 2024 4 MIN READ

Australia is a trading nation. Its economy relies on a strong and open global trade environment. Australian governments have historically rejected protectionist industrial policies that undermine fair competition, and Canberra has long been a staunch advocate of the World Trade Organisation, whose rules help “promote and protect the open global trading system”. Yet Labor has… Read more »

Anthony Albanese
Politics

The federal government is getting into the ‘captain’s pick’ business with manufacturing

- April 12, 2024 3 MIN READ

The federal government will directly intervene to support and subsidise key growth areas such as clean energy and innovative technologies in a significant policy shift that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will take to the next election. In a speech to the Queensland Press Club on Thursday, Albanese set out a “more strategic and more sophisticated”… Read more »

Antler Australia

Antler Investor Memo Series: Factory AI is solving one of manufacturing’s biggest problems: unplanned downtime

- March 18, 2024 4 MIN READ

Early stage investment company Antler Australia recently backed a new cohort of startups as part of its ongoing program to build great local tech companies. Startup Daily is sharing the details of each venture in the “Antler Investor Memos” series, which is designed to give you a quick, sharp understanding of the startups and people… Read more »

Ivan Power
Politics

Startup mentor Ivan Power appointed CEO of $15bn National Reconstruction Fund

- February 1, 2024 2 MIN READ

The Albanese government’s signature business investment vehicle, the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, has its first boss, with veteran Macquarie Group executive Ivan Power named as CEO. Power has worked in global investment for more than 25 years alongside a strong track record in working with early-stage startups and social ventures.. UNSW director of entrepreneurship… Read more »

SunDrive cofounder Vince Allen with PM Anthony Albanese, climate change minister Chris Bowen and company director, advisor and former MP Wyatt Roy.
Climate Tech

Solar panel maker SunDrive pockets $11 million from ARENA as PM opens new Sydney manufacturing plant

- November 2, 2023 2 MIN READ

Solar panel startup SunDrive has opened a pilot production and commercialisation facility in southern Sydney, having also landed another $11 million in funding from the government-backed Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen opened the plant in Kurnell on Wednesday. SunDrive, which has received extensive… Read more »

Factory.app cofounders Paul and Michael Lutkajtis
Funding

Investible backs manufacturing software startup Factory.app’s $1 million Seed round

- October 23, 2023 2 MIN READ

Manufacturing process management platform Factory.app has raised $1.05 million in a Seed round led by early-stage VC Investible. The two-year-old Sydney software startup was also backed by TechnologyOne founder Adrian DiMarco, 1in100 Ventures, Beachhead Venture Capital, and Hugo-Hamman Investments. Serial entrepreneur Richard Hugo-Hamman, CEO of the legaltech firm The LEAP Group, along with HotelsCombined cofounder… Read more »

Manufacturing
Politics

How the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund will transform high-tech manufacturing – and 3 things to make it better

- April 4, 2023 3 MIN READ

Australia’s federal parliament has approved a A$15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, intended to reverse the nation’s dwindling manufacturing sector. It is the “first step” in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s election promise “to revive our ability to make world-class products.” The fund will focus on investing in high-tech manufacturing. There are seven priority areas: clean energy… Read more »

Politics

Space and resources tech are among six focus areas for the Australian government’s $1.5 billion manufacturing reboot

- October 1, 2020 4 MIN READ

The federal government is selecting six priority areas for support in a $1.5 billion manufacturing plan Scott Morrison will outline in a pre-budget address. They are resources technology and critical minerals processing, food and beverage, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence, and space. The plan will also focus on building “supply chain resilience” after… Read more »