Silicon Valley Bank
Business

Canva, Xero and Freelancer are among local tech companies with millions in deposits in failed Silicon Valley Bank

- March 13, 2023 3 MIN READ

Privately-owned design platform Canva is among multiple Australian tech companies with funds stuck in Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which was seized by Californian regulators on Friday after customers tried and failed to withdraw an estimated US$40 billion in funds. After an anxious weekend wondering if they’d see their money again, US officials stepped in earlier… Read more »

Silicon Valley Bank
Business

A finance expert on what happens next after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

- March 13, 2023 3 MIN READ

Silicon Valley Bank, which catered to the tech industry for three decades, collapsed on March 10, 2023, after the Santa Clara, California-based lender suffered from an old-fashioned bank run. State regulators seized the bank and made the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation its receiver. SVB, as it’s known, was the biggest U.S. lender to fail since… Read more »

Cuscal MD Craig Kennedy and Basiq founder Damir Cuca
Business

Open banking fintech Basiq sells to payments giant Cuscal

- March 10, 2023 < 1 MIN READ

Payments platform Cuscal has acquiring Consumer Data Right startup Basiq for an undisclosed sum. The deal provides an exit for investors including NAB Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and Westpac’s Reinventure, as well as Visa. The VC arms of the Australian banks first backed Basiq in 2017, doubling down in a Series A in 2021. Cuscal, owned… Read more »

Brandcrush
Business

Rampersand, Startmate score exit as US media co snaps up marketing startup Brandcrush

- March 8, 2023 2 MIN READ

Startmate-backed marketing startup Brandcrush has been acquired by NASDAQ-listed media firm Criteo five years after it launched. The deal also delivers an exit for Rampersand, Luxury Escapes founder Adam Schwab, and other investors including Nicky Jackson, Jane Martino and Sean Taylor. Brandcrush was launched in 2018 by former Tribe sales director Matthew Hurle, and marketing… Read more »

Atlassian Scott Farquhar
Business

Atlassian cuts 500 jobs in a ‘rebalance’

- March 7, 2023 3 MIN READ

Workplace software giant Atlassian is cutting around 5% of its workforce – 500 staff – with co-CEOs Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes say they “are deeply sorry”. The job losses comes just four months after Farquhar embarked on a high-profile national tour last October to recruit more than 1000 people for new R&D roles. In… Read more »

GetSwift
Business

Disgraced tech startup GetSwift and its founders just copped a whopping $18 million in fines as ‘the unacceptable face of startup capitalism’

- February 17, 2023 5 MIN READ

GetSwift CEO Bane Hunter fined $2m, banned from managing companies for 15 years MD and cofounder Joel Macdonald fined $1m, banned for 12 years Company fined $15m Judge says pair show no contrition or remorse GetSwift raised $104m, investors receive 1c in $1 in class action The founders of former ASX-listed logistics tech startup GetSwift,… Read more »

Baraja
Business

Self-driving tech startup Baraja just shed 75% of its workforce

- February 13, 2023 2 MIN READ

Sydney autonomous driving technology startup Baraja has sacked around 75% of its workforce. The layoffs come just a month after the business received an undisclosed level of investment from Swedish automotive safety company Veoneer, which Baraja CEO and cofounder Federico Collarte said “validates the market traction” of the business. Baraja was founded in 2015 by… Read more »

Earnd
Business

US-backed payroll software co Humanforce is the latest owner of fintech Earnd

- February 9, 2023 2 MIN READ

Sydney payroll and workforce management software company Humanforce has acquired the Australian arm of fintech Wagestream – formerly Earnd – for an undisclosed sum. Its the second local startup acquisition in six months by Humanforce, which is now backed by Californian private firm, which snapped up Airtree-backed competitor Ento in September last year. Accel-KKR spent… Read more »

Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, Scott Farquhar.
Business

Atlassian shares plunge after another quarterly loss

- February 3, 2023 3 MIN READ

Nasdaq-listed Australian software giant Atlassian has seen its shares fall more than 10% in after hours trade following the release of its December quarter results, which posted a US$99.2 million loss. The loss compares to a rare profit of $23 million 12 months earlier. Now in its 21st year of operations, Atlassian has yet to… Read more »

Andrew Barnes
Business

Queensland edtech unicorn Go1 gobbles up UK rival Anders Pink

- January 26, 2023 2 MIN READ

Brisbane workplace learning platform Go1 has acquired five-year-old rival British content curation startup Anders Pink. The deal went through late last year for an undisclosed sum amid as part of Go1’s push into the European market after also acquiring Swiss-French edtech Coorpacademy, which delivers French and German language content. It was a busy year for… Read more »

Brosa cofounders Richard Li and Ivan Lim.
Business

Furniture startup Brosa to fold leaving customers $5 million out of pocket

- January 24, 2023 3 MIN READ

Venture capital investors aren’t the only ones burnt by the collapse of upmarket furniture retailer Brosa, with customers left around $5 million out of pocket on products they paid for but didn’t get, a report on the startup’s finances by administrators, KordaMentha, reveals. Brosa was placed in Voluntary Administration on December 14 with assets of… Read more »

Mike Cannon-Brookes
Business

Mike Cannon-Brookes lends Sun Cable $65 million to keep the show on the road as its administrators look for a buyer

- January 24, 2023 2 MIN READ

Atlassian cofounder and billionaire investor Mike Cannon-Brookes has lent Sun Cable, the startup behind a $30 billion project to send solar power to Singapore, $65 million to keep operating as the company’s voluntary administrators look to sell the business. Cannon-Brookes is making the no interest loan through his family venture capital firm, Grok Ventures after… Read more »