Bunnings may be a goldmine for Wesfarmers, but ecommerce site Catch has been a millstone since the ASX-listed retail conglomerate bought the tech startup for $230 million in 2019. Today, Wesfarmers announced it will shut down Catch at the end of April, blaming increased competition in Australian ecommerce. They expect Catch to post a loss… Read more »
Telecommunications giant Telstra plans to spend $700 million – $100m annually – over the next seven years to ramp up its data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in a joint venture with its long-time partner Accenture. The US consultancy firm is already pouring $3 billion into its own AI capabilities and will own 60% of… Read more »
Sydney cultivated meat startup Vow, creator of the “woolly mammoth meatball“, has been forced to slash staffing by nearly a third, with 25 jobs being made redundant as it seeks a new round of investment. Vow has been developing lab-grown cell-based animal products being served in high-end restaurants in Asia. It is still awaiting regulatory approval… Read more »
Small business HR and payroll platform Employment Hero has spent $112 million acquiring a Canadian rival as part of ambitions to expand into the North American market. The scaleup’s founder and chief economist, Ben Thompson said Canada has been in our expansion plans since their Series A, eight years ago “Humi is Canada’s leading employment… Read more »
Troubled Victorian medical device startup Seer Medical has been placed in voluntary administration amid a product recall and legal battle with its ousted cofounder. Lindsay Bainbridge and Andrew Yeo from Pitcher Partners Melbourne were appointed administrators on January 6 following a pre-Christmas board meeting where the medtech’s directors voted to hand over the books. Pitcher… Read more »
Billionaire Richard White topped up his bank account in the December quarter, selling more than $440 million worth of shares in WiseTech, the logistics software company he founded 30 years ago. The sale represents less than 1.5% of his holding in WiseTech (ASX: WTC). White sold 3,564,742 shares across 31 days of on-market trading between… Read more »
FinTech Australia has released its formal position on the RBA’s review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging, advocating for an approach which keeps competition high but does not place an outright ban on surcharging. The view was formed after months of consulting with the peak body’s member base of over 400 companies and commissioning… Read more »
The Victorian government’s controversial $2 billion venture fund has been embroiled in an unfair dismissal case launched by the cofounder of one of its portfolio companies. Seer Medical founder Dr Dean Freestone launched Federal Court action against the company he helped launch and Breakthrough Victoria earlier this year, alleging he was forced out of the… Read more »
Sydney marketing technology startup Upflowy is about to release an AI-enabled marketing copilot, called ‘Psyke’, to help agencies, marketing teams, and companies create content that’s on-brand in hours, not weeks. Cofounder and CEO Guillaume Ang said Upflowy’s focus is delivering trust in AI at scale. “We help companies do the marketing functions that take up a… Read more »
UNSW Sydney will be the first Asia-Pacific university collaborating with the US-based OpenAI to deploy ChatGPT Edu. The deal will allow UNSW researchers, educators and students to use OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tools on a secure platform, which means academics can protect their intellectual property and keep their prompt questions private while using the generative AI… Read more »
A month after making its ASX debut in a reverse takeover, startup investor, advisor and accelerator Scalare Partners has seen its share price slide 28%, wiping around $6.5 million from its market capitalisation. As tech listings go, it’s been a less than auspicious start as a public company for Scalare (ASX: SCP), which bills itself… Read more »
The company running the Kraken crypto exchange in Australia has been handed an $8 million penalty by the Federal Court for unlawfully issuing a credit facility to more than 1100 customers. The fine follows legal action by the corporate regulator ASIC against Bit Trade Pty Ltd, launched in September last year, over its ‘margin extension’… Read more »
ASX-listed music and media company Vinyl Group is broadening its publishing portfolio yet again, acquiring the city guides site Concrete Playground in a deal worth $5 million. Vinyl (ASX: VNL) has signed binding Heads of Agreement to acquire the 15-year-old digital lifestyle brand for $3.5 million in cash and $1.5 million in Vinyl shares, with… Read more »
Law firm Maurice Blackburn is wading into an issue that’s vexed the federal government, competition watchdog the ACCC, as well as the media, investigating a potential class action against Google for alleged anti-competitive conduct in Australia’s digital advertising market. The idea is likely to be tempting to publishers Google has not struck deals with under… Read more »
WiseTech Global director and cofounder Maree Isaacs has sold her 8.17% stake in RealWise Holdings, the company that owns more than a third of ASX-listed logistics company (ASX: WTC), to the man she launched the business with 30 years ago, Richard White. White already owns the other 92% of RealWise Holdings, meaning he now owns… Read more »
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