Business

The tech sector wants the next federal government to think about how it can end Australia’s R&D ‘risk aversion’

- April 11, 2025 3 MIN READ

Australia needs to reduce its “risk aversion” in order to improve its lagging research and development (R&D) sector and fragmented innovation ecosystem, according to industry experts. The nation has struggled to capitalise on innovations developed by universities and startups, and has seen their intellectual property taken overseas in search of greater funding, a panel of… Read more »

Business

After investing $10.4 million, EVP claims StrongRoom AI’s CEO and cofounder admitted to fraud with fake revenue numbers

- April 4, 2025 5 MIN READ

The CEO and cofounder of StrongRoom AI allegedly conceded to EVP investor Misha Saul that the company’s revenue and debt figures were “wilful fraud”. Details of an extraordinary conversation and confession by CEO Max Mito were outlined in submissions in Federal Court legal action by the Sydney VC, after it successfully applied to freeze the… Read more »

Simon Thomsen, Liam Fuller, Kayla Medica and Richard Savoie
Business

Startup 360: StrongRoom AI latest and lessons, the teen suspended from school for being a viral founder and what makes a good cofounder

- April 4, 2025 2 MIN READ

Teenage entrepreneur Liam Fuller thought it would be funny to take a photo of him taking a client call and working on his laptop sitting in a toilet cubicle at school. The world did too, with more than 1.5 million viewed his posts on LinkedIn six months ago. The school principal was less impressed and… Read more »

Jack and the beanstalk
Business

Funding not fairy tales: Why the NSW Innovation Blueprint is a pile of magic beans 

- April 3, 2025 4 MIN READ

Looking at the NSW Innovation Blueprint 2035, it’s disappointing to see how disconnected it is from the day-to-day realities of being an innovator.  Just like magic beans – big on promises, but scant on mechanisms. Without knowing the responsible government executives, the funding, the timelines and specific actions, it’s very hard to believe it will… Read more »

Canva cofounders Cameron Adams, Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins.
AI/Machine Learning

Generating your AI grave? Canva sheds 10 technical writing staff after directing them to use artificial intelligence

- April 3, 2025 2 MIN READ

Most of Canva’s technical writing team has been laid off as the company continues to expand its use of artificial intelligence, but the graphic design giant does not see the redundancies as a result of its increasing AI use. Technical writers are typically responsible for writing and updating documents such as guides and manuals for… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Meta used pirated books by Australian authors to train its AI and now US courts may decide if this is ‘fair use’

- April 2, 2025 5 MIN READ

Companies developing AI models, such as OpenAI and Meta, train their systems on enormous datasets. These consist of text from newspapers, books (often sourced from unauthorised repositories), academic publications and various internet sources. The material includes works that are copyrighted. The Atlantic magazine recently alleged Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, had used LibGen,… Read more »

Business

‘The investor’s role is to build, not to destroy’: StrongRoom AI’s Seed backer takes aim at EVP amid pending legal battle over $10.4 million

- April 1, 2025 3 MIN READ

A UK investor with close ties to one of the defendants in legal action against besieged medtech startup StrongRoom AI has come out swinging against Sydney VC EVP, which is fighting to get its $10.4 million investment back. Aaron Michelin, a director of Tyson & Blake – named after founder Chris Tornblom’s dogs – has… Read more »

Misha Saul
Business

EVP takes legal action against StrongRoom AI’s founders and administrators, freezing assets to try and get their $10.4 million back

- March 31, 2025 4 MIN READ

EVP has lodged legal action in the Federal Court of Australia in a bid to recoup the $10.44 million it invested in Melbourne startup StrongRoom AI. The Sydney venture capital firm headed to court in Brisbane on Monday afternoon to seek an urgent order freezing assets worth up to $10,440,969 million against 13 defendants, including… Read more »

Business

Just a fortnight after raising $17 million, medicines management startup Strongroom AI is in receivership

- March 28, 2025 2 MIN READ

Financiers for Melbourne startup Strongroom AI have forced the company into administration, amid concerns about the company’s accounts. The move comes after the lead investor, EVP called in police on Monday after asking for its money back following a $17 million raise in early March. The request was declined by StrongRoom. On Friday morning, new… Read more »

ASX

Business channel ausbiz launches ‘intel’ service for investors in equity deal with shares platform Marketech

- March 28, 2025 2 MIN READ

Sydney business journalism disruptor ausbiz has forged a strategic equity partnership with Western Australian tech veteran Marketech. The partnership, structured as an ‘equity for content and promotion’ deal, is similar to the equity agreements struck by ASX-listed Airtasker with Channel Four in the UK, and other media companies. Perth-based Marketech is the 20-year-old tech innovator… Read more »