Nearly $5 million in funding has been awarded to 12 Western Australian innovators and startups working on local health and medical innovation projects The ideas, many from academics and WA’s universities span tests for liver cancer to heart monitoring, endometriosis diagnosis, asthma treatment and more, were funded from the Innovation Seed Fund 2024-25 Program. The state… Read more »
A Sydney startup founder’s post about “fully adopting” a Silicon Valley-style work culture has sparked a debate about long hours in tech and whether work-life balance clashes with ambition. After arriving in San Francisco two weeks ago, Lyra co-founder and COO Anh Dao posted that he had experienced a “wake-up call” on work culture, and… Read more »
The global investment frenzy around AI has seen companies valued at trillions of dollars and eye-watering projections of how it will boost economic productivity. But in recent weeks the mood has begun to shift. Investors and CEOs are now openly questioning whether the enormous costs of building and running AI systems can really be justified… Read more »
Ahead of the TechStars Sydney ‘Demo the Future’ evening on December 8, Startup Daily is profiling the 12 startups and their founders in the 2025 cohort. Our next profile is OncoRevive – a health-tech startup which detects cancer early, leading to vastly improved patient outcomes. OncoRevive Founders: Dr. Mohammad Tavakkoli and Dr. Samira Sadeghi One-liner: Detect… Read more »
Melbourne AI-based education startup Teacher’s Buddy has raised $1.85 million in Seed funding to tackle teacher burnout. The round was led by Giant Leap, supported by Flying Fox Ventures, Co Ventures, Exhort Ventures, Saniel Ventures and Soul Capital. Teacher’s Buddy was founded in 2024 by Matt Abraham and Ben Sze, cofounder of school content and… Read more »
For 60 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to shareholders of the company he’s run since 1965, Berkshire Hathaway. He acquired the small textile company for US$18 a share to fire the CEO. Buffett subsequently described it as “the dumbest stock I ever bought” despite the fact that today, Berkshire Hathaway Class A… Read more »
Australian shoppers are expected to spend $6.8 billion this Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) , according to the Australian Retailers Association. For e-commerce founders, this represents one of the year’s biggest opportunities for growth. But the challenge has intensified. Temu has increased Australian ad spending by 110% (ABC News), while Shein has ramped up theirs by… Read more »
After give years of self-funding, sexual wellness brand Normal has turned to crowd-sourced funding (CSF) platform Birchal for its first external raise. Normal, cofounded by sex coach, author and educator Georgia Grace and ex-McKinsey consultant and social scientist Lucy Wark, is Australia’s top female-founded sexual wellness brand, offering products to help people, especially women, have… Read more »
Australian and New Zealand startups are expanding globally faster than ever, and Deel’s SMB Manager, Alex Palmer, has a unique vantage point from working with startups who are doing just that. Palmer joined global payroll, compliance and HR platform Deel in 2024 after nearly six years at Uber. As an Earlywork and Inspiring Rare Birds… Read more »
Show Us the Data, a national initiative led by Equity Clear, kicked off in Sydney last week looking to develop a Australia’s first Common Data Standard for Investor Diversity Reporting. Equity Clear, led by Noga Edelstein, is hosting a series of roundtables in Australia’s capital cities to create an industry-led framework for data standards that… Read more »
Freelancer marketplace Airtasker has completed a $10 million equity capital placement led by US radio and podcast giant iHeartMedia, powering the Australian company’s overseas marketing effort. The deal will help Airtasker — the Sydney-based platform connecting customers to freelance gardeners, bartenders, accountants, and beyond — compete for publicity against global rivals like Upwork and Fiverr. The… Read more »
When I began reading Elaine Castillo’s Moderation, a new American novel about the psychological damage of online moderation, I had to pause. I’d read novels that confronted difficult material before, but this one blurred the line between bearing witness and re-enacting pain. The book follows Girlie, a content moderator for a social media giant whose… Read more »
Ahead of the TechStars Sydney ‘Demo the Future’ evening on December 8, Startup Daily is profiling the 12 startups and their founders in the 2025 cohort. Our fourth profile is Onsite – a startup dealing one of the most painful parts of apartment living, strata management. Onsite Founder: Nathan Croxton One-liner: Onsite makes it easy for everyone… Read more »
Solar power startup MetroElectro has raised $1 million from its existing investor, Singapore climate tech VC Wavemaker Impact. The alongside the equity raise, the Melbourne startup, founded in 2024 by Lloyd Heinrich, also secured a $4 million debt facility from Ecotone Partners. Wavemaker previously backed MetroElectro’s $1.03 million pre-Seed round in May 2024. Heinrich will… Read more »
This week’s Startup 360 kicks off with cohost Simon Thomsen recounting the two days spent in the NSW Supreme Court this week as senior council for the liquidators of failed medtech StrongRoom AI probed cofounder and former CEO Max Mito, and director Divesh Sangvhi, about the potential insolvency of the business. Sangvhi sold his company,… Read more »
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