Online retail deals marketplace Little Birdie will spring back to life two months after its sudden shuttering after being acquired by cashback sales platform Cashrewards The terms of the deal were not disclosed. But Little Birdie’s resurrection is undoubtedly is a big win for ANZ’s venture team, 1835i, over rival CBA. CommBank was part of… Read more »
Artificial intelligence-based loans assessment platform Rich Data Co has topped up its Series B, nine months on, with another $9 million, this time from Acorn Capital, for a total raise of $37 million. The fintech banked $28 million last November in part 1 of its Series B, led by Westpac and Nasdaq-listed cloud banking firm… Read more »
AgriFutures is on the hunt for the next generation of agrifood innovators with applications opening for the evokeAG. Groundbreakers program. The annual leadership mentoring event has rebranded from Future Young Leaders to the 2025 evokeAG. Groundbreakers Program. It will give five innovators the chance to present their ideas or research to an international audience at… Read more »
Climate startup Goterra is continuing to kick goals in industry collaborations, with the country’s largest hotel, the 878-room Hyatt Regency Sydney, installing the modular food waste management system onsite. It’s the second version of Goterra’s compact unit, which can also be found at Melbourne Airport, where fly larvae munch through more than two tonnes of… Read more »
A legal generative AI startup founded by a trio of lawyers and computer scientists has raised $1.5 million in funding for international expansion. The round for Graceview was led by Singapore-based entrepreneur Patrick Linton, with support from a range of tech founders and investors. The compliance platform combines AI, machine learning, legal expertise and and… Read more »
Neither Canva nor Leonardo.AI or its backers wanted to talk about the dowry paid for their marriage, but documents from key investor Blackbird Ventures suggest the acquisition deal cost is north of $320 million. Details are beginning to emerge about what when down following the surprise announcement this week that the Sydney-based generative AI startup… Read more »
Atlassian has managed to treble its losses in fourth quarter of the 2024 fiscal year, at the same time revenue grew by 20%. The Nasdaq-listed (TEAM) Australian workplace software giant posted a US$196.9 million net loss for the quarter, up from a $59 million loss for the same period last year. Quarterly revenue hit US$1.132… Read more »
Australian government-backed Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has doubled down on rideshare car rental firm Splend, investing another $20 million in the scaleup to increase its electric vehicles (EVs) fleet. The fresh cash comes just 13 months after the initial CEFC investment of $20 million in June 2023, which then saw Splend add 500 EVs… Read more »
ASX-listed defence tech scaleup DroneShield has made hay while its shares shine, raising $120 million from institutional and sophisticated investors at $1.15 a share. Shares in the Sydney-headquartered US tech business (ASX: DRO) have been on tear over the last seven months, climbing from $0.31 cents in mid-December 2023, the $1 April and then a… Read more »
The iLAuNCH Trailblazer program has thrown another $1 million into the kitty to fund the commercialisation of university research for the space industry. The federal government-backed program will see the iLAuNCH Accelerator offer seed funding grants worth between $10,000 and $100,000 for proof-of-concept demonstrator technologies with commercial potential. Applications are now open for the fund,… Read more »
A fintech tackling one of the toughest pain points of going on holidays – having to book so far in advance for cheaper fares, and finding the money at the time to do it – has raised one of 2024’s biggest Seed rounds, taking on its first external capital after six years of bootstrapping. The… Read more »
With the Brisbane Olympics now just 8 years away, Australia’s sportstech is already booming, growing 10% in both employment and revenue over the past 12 months to be worth $4.69 billion annually, according to new analysis. The third edition of the Australian Sports Technologies Network’s (ASTN) annual Sports Innovation Report concludes that the sector is… Read more »
The federal government’s Boosting Female Founders (BFF) grant program was secretly killed off in the federal budget, with only two-thirds of the $52 million allocated spent. The program’s end with $17 million still in the kitty was reportedly the result of an internal review by the federal Department of Industry, Science, and Resources (DISR) that… Read more »
The generative AI company many believed would become a tech unicorn is instead being acquired by one, with design platform Canva snapping up content and research startup, Leonardo.AI. The deal price and terms have not been disclosed, so it’s not not how much is cash and/or Canva shares ahead of its IPO plans, but it’s… Read more »
Fancy winning US$1 million in the startup version of the Olympics? Well, get your skates on because applications for Australian entries to the Startup World Cup close on Wednesday, July 31. Apply to pitch here (it costs $11). Startup/Angels is hosting the Australian selection in partnership with US VC Pegasus Tech Ventures as part of Investor… Read more »
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