The SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has established an organisation to represent space startup companies in Australia. Called the Aurora Space Startup Cluster, the new company is based at the Lot Fourteen innovation neighbourhood in Adelaide, South Australia that is also home to the Australian Space Agency. SmartSat CEO Prof Andy Koronios said Aurora already… Read more »
In a year like no other in living memory for most, we asked some leaders in the startup and tech community to send 2020 a breakup letter. It’s time to move on. To kick of the series, MedAdvisor chairman and investor Chris Ridd shares his thoughts on a year where Sunday footy matches were replaced… Read more »
Australian satellite company Fleet Space Technologies is planning a mission to the moon as part of a consortium named Seven Sisters. The mission will launch in 2023 to search the Moon using nanosatellites and other exploration sensors for abundant and accessible water. Fleet, OZ Minerals, University of Adelaide, UNSW, Unearthed, Tyvak Australia and Fugro have… Read more »
Its been a big year for Cicada Innovations and CEO Sally-Ann Williams in her first full year as CEO. Australia’s first ever incubator celebrated its 20th anniversary, with the Sydney deep tech venture having nurtured more than 100 startups, and helped more than 300 companies raise over $450 million in venture capital and government grants.… Read more »
Xinja’s neobank adventure is over after just three years, with the fintech startup announcing it will hand back its banking license. The company hopes to continue with its US share trading platform, Dabble “should circumstances allow”, but that project has already been delayed indefinitely. The bank says customers won’t be able to put money in… Read more »
ASX-listed buy-now-pay-later fintech Zip Co. is moving into territory recently claimed by rival Latitude Pay, announcing it will offer it Zip BNPL product at Harvey Norman, Domayne and Joyce Mayne franchisee stores. Co-founder and COO Peter Gray said the partnership delivers on Zip’s strategic vision. “We are thrilled to partner with such iconic brands. We… Read more »
FutureFeed, the CSIRO-backed startup using seaweed to reduce methane emission from cattle has won US$1 million from the world’s biggest prize for the food sector. The Food Planet Prize, established by Swedish hospitality entrepreneur Curt Bergfors in 2019, recognises initiatives, organisations and people working on securing the world’s food supply in a sustainable way. FutureFeed was chosen from… Read more »
Afterpay will receive an early Christmas present next week, joining the elite S&P/ASX 20 Index of the 20 largest companies by market capitalisation on December 21, alongside the likes of Coles, CBA, Rio Tinto, BHP and CSL, as the company’s share price continues to soar The fintech (ASX: APT) now has a market cap of… Read more »
Square Peg Capital has closed its fourth generation fund, raising $600 million. Super funds HostPlus and AustralianSuper led the raise with the Commonwealth Bank also signing up alongside alternative investment management firm Roc Partners. The fresh raise takes the VC firm’s total committed capital to $1.4 billion in a year that saw Square Peg return… Read more »
Tech incubator Moonshot has raised its first investment fund for space startups and opened applications for its next investment accelerator in early 2021. Moonshot is a specialist incubator space startups launched in 2017 for deep tech ventures working in areas such as satellites, launch facilities, robotics, semiconductors, energy generation, or aggregation platforms for environmental data.… Read more »
The Victorian government’s startup support arm, LaunchVic, has invested $300,000 new venture debt fund targeting bootstrapped revenue-positive startups. The LaunchVic agreement with Tractor Ventures is a new way of working for LaunchVic with the funds being provided as a loan rather than a grant. LaunchVic CEO, Dr Kate Cornick said the launch of the new… Read more »
The continued rise of online design unicorn Canva was even more impressive in 2020 with the Sydney-based global venture revealing it developed 42 new partnerships in 18 countries in defiance of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The growth of Canva’s global footprint ranged from key US integrations with the likes of Fedex Office… Read more »
Big four bank NAB has is introducing ‘smart receipts’ by Sydney fintech Slyp onto the bank’s mobile app in an Australian first. Slyp, founded three years ago by former PayPal and ANZ executives Paul Weingarth, Spiro Rokos, and Mike Boyd, already has the backing of the big four banks as investors, including NAB Ventures. The… Read more »
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the stuff of science fiction. In the form of machine learning tools and decision-making algorithms, it’s all around us. AI determines what news you get served up on the internet. It plays a key role in online matchmaking, which is now the way most romantic couples get together. It… Read more »
Multitudes, a software platform to manage and improve culture and performance, has raised NZ$2.4 million (AU$2.2m) in a seed round to build their beta product. Blackbird Ventures led the oversubscribed round alongside former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao, and Culture Amp co-founder Jon Williams. Multitudes uses workplace data to give managers insights and coaching to create… Read more »
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