Two leading Australian business publishers are joining forces to expand their coverage of startups and the SME sectors.
Melbourne-based Private Media, publisher of SmartCompany, has acquired the assets of Sydney-based Pinstripe Media, which includes 4 media brands – Startup Daily, Business Builders, Flying Solo, and consumer finance focussed Your Money & Your Life – as well as a creative agency business.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Private Media also publishes the must-read public service news site The Mandarin as well as Crikey.
Private Media CEO Will Hayward said the enlarged business news network will offer advertisers and partners a unique, streamlined way to reach Australia’s vibrant community of entrepreneurs, sole traders, startups and SMEs.
The combined group brings together deeply complementary capabilities — daily business journalism, specialist creative services, events, TV production, and a shared commitment to helping Australian businesses succeed.
“Australia’s economy depends on the drive of small and medium-sized businesses, startups, and scale-ups. Together, they generate more than half of GDP and employ the majority of Australians,” Hayward said.
“But they remain underserved by traditional media. We’ve both been focused on informing, inspiring and supporting this community for over a decade — this combination allows us to do so at a greater scale, with more resources, and across more platforms.”
Brands will now be able to access a single suite of services: from high-impact digital media and editorial content to TV sponsorship, events, and best-in-class first-party data and creative services. Private Media clients will also benefit from access to Pinstripe’s bespoke content agency offering.
“We’re creating an ecosystem where advertisers have a compelling reason to invest — one place to reach this audience across digital, social, TV, events and more. And we will also be focused on growing audience revenue, with new subscription offers and events programming.”
Pinstripe Media managing director AJ Koch said joining forces with Private Media, will deliver even greater value to clients and audiences, and unlock new opportunities for both teams.
“This is an opportunity for our people to do their best work at an even greater scale,” he said.
SmartCompany, Business Builders, Startup Daily, and Flying Solo will retain their editorial independence and brand identities, but will work together wherever it creates more value for audiences and partners.
Pinstripe Media founder and chair David Koch, the former host of Australia’s top rating breakfast TV show, Sunrise, will become a strategic adviser to the business, and remain a presenter and commentator on the network.
Startup Daily editor Simon Thomsen said he was thrilled to be part of a publishing group he’d long admired.
“Most of my 30 years in media have been spent building challenger brands and I’m a huge fan and reader of SmartCompany’s excellent journalism,” he said.
“It also reunites with people I worked with a decade ago launching Business Insider Australia, so I’m really excited and filled with new ideas and possibilities to cover startups and tech.”
Thomsen, who’s edited Startup Daily for more than six years, said he’s proud to have doubled both the audience size and traffic since 2019.
“I’ve been custodian of a trusted brand for the startup sector, educating, debating and inspiring founders and many others, from government to investors in that time,” he said.
“They’ve responded passionately as readers, listeners and viewers, from Startup Daily TV to the podcast we launched this year, Startup 360, focused on the human side of startup life, and the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards, now in their third year.
“Every day I’m faced with more stories I want to tell than I can get to. With the Private Media team by our side, I know we’ll have bigger, stronger and more diverse stories for our audiences.”
Startup Daily has been inspiring, educating, and reporting on the Australian and Kiwi tech and startup community since 2012, and played a key role in helping it grow.
The online news site was named the leading free source of news for the Australian startup ecosystem in the recent Startup Muster Report.
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