Airbnb
Global tech

Airbnb will offer up to $15 million in compensation to Australians misled over accomodation prices

- December 20, 2023 2 MIN READ

Up to 63,000 Australians who used Airbnb between January 2018 and August 2021 may be eligible for compensation after the platform admitted it misled people by quoting prices for Australian accomodation in US dollars. The Federal Court has also hit Airbnb Ireland – the parent company that runs the Australian operations, including the website and… Read more »

The Treachery of Images, by Rene Magritte (1929)
AI/Machine Learning

The Artist Strikes Back: How creative people are using ‘data poisoning’ to fight generative AI

- December 19, 2023 3 MIN READ

Imagine this. You need an image of a balloon for a work presentation and turn to a text-to-image generator, like Midjourney or DALL-E, to create a suitable image. You enter the prompt: “red balloon against a blue sky” but the generator returns an image of an egg instead. You try again but this time, the… Read more »

Mist's Dave Malcolm with Investible's Jayden Bash and his cofounder John Crutchley and Investible's Nick Ooi
Funding

International students app Mist pockets $1.6 million pre-Seed round

- December 18, 2023 2 MIN READ

An all-in-one finance and lifestyle app for international students has raised $1.6 million in Seed funding. Mist was backed by Investible, Allectus Capital, Archangel Ventures, Seedspace, and The Hunter Angels. It wants to become the go-to app for international students, offering a streamlined solution for relocating to another country to study, especially around banking and… Read more »

gaming
Other tech

Australia’s video games industry revenue has grown 21% to $345 million

- December 18, 2023 2 MIN READ

Revenue in the Australian video game industry has risen to $345.5 million, up 21% on the FY2022, according to the latest data from the Australian Game Developer Survey (AGDS). The eighth annual survey, from peak industry body, the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) corroborates Australian consumer sales data released earlier this year, showing the… Read more »

Gilmour Space rocket launch
Space

More satellites, less launches: here’s what the first survey on Australian attitudes towards space tells us

- December 18, 2023 4 MIN READ

If someone were to ask you how space technologies impact your daily life, or how much Australia should invest in space, would you have an immediate answer or would you wonder why these questions were even being asked? Understanding what the average Australian thinks about space is essential – voters and taxpayers will only encourage… Read more »

Brent Wijnberg
Funding

Digital lock startup Smartlox banks $600,000 in Seed raise

- December 15, 2023 2 MIN READ

A startup digitising security with what’s known as a digital lockout tagout (LOTO) has raised $600,000 in its Seed round. Smartlox is a cloud-based, real-time safety, security and smart access system that integrates with Nokē Bluetooth padlocks to increase the safety of frontline workers. It disrupts traditional lockout tagout practices through the use of electronic lockout… Read more »

Great white shark
Business

Linktree gobbles up and kills off competitor Koji

- December 15, 2023 2 MIN READ

Australia link-in-bio platform Linktree has acquired two-year-old competitor Koji from its parent company GoMeta for an undisclosed figure. In the tortured syntax beloved of tech titans. Linktree said in a blog post that Koji’s link-in-bio product “will be sunset” on January 31. We take that to mean shut down rather than a glowing golden light… Read more »

Funding

Alice Anderson Fund backs wholesale marketplace Andisor in $1 million pre-Seed raise

- December 14, 2023 2 MIN READ

Online wholesale marketplace Andisor has raised a $1M pre-Seed funding round. The raise was backed by Antler, LaunchVic’s female founder-focused Alice Anderson fund, Jam Pad Investments, and several prominent retail operators and leaders. Andisor emerged out of the Antler program in 2021, with founder and CEO Vandana Chaudhry, building a platform to connect enterprise-level buyers… Read more »

Simone Dossetor and Tetiana George
Other tech

How insurtech is transforming a $7 trillion global market

- December 14, 2023 3 MIN READ

The Australian insurance market is worth $100 billion annually and $7 trillion worldwide, offering a massive opportunity for startups in the space   With that prize in mind, Insurtech Australia brought together startups in the space, early-stage investors and business leaders in Sydney at at event sponsored by Investment NSW to debunk investment myths around early-stage… Read more »