US rideshare company Uber has shed its flying taxi project less than six months after the company reaffirmed plans to launch Uber Air in Melbourne. Joby Aviation, a Californian startup developing an all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger aircraft it hopes to launch by 2023, has bought the Uber Elevate project off the rideshare… Read more »
Melbourne-based NextGen Funds Management has launched the country’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Fund. The fund, for sophisticated investors, will invest in a mixture of debt and equity in ventures ranging from startup to pre-IPO. NextGen Funds Management Head of Distribution Samuel Mullavey said the fund will take a sector-neutral approach in areas are where AI… Read more »
Amazon Web Services will set up a second Australian-based Asia Pacific cloud infrastructure region in Victoria. The AWS Asia Pacific (Melbourne) Region is expected to open in the second half of 2022 and create up to 90 jobs within four years, including data centre operatives and technical engineers. Victorian Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas… Read more »
Square Peg Capital has led an $18 million round into a three-year-old medtech startup that’s like Tinder for clinical trials, matching researchers with patients. Paul Bassat’s fund led a $6 million series A into HealthMatch, founded by a UNSW med student, in late 2019 following a five-day crash course into the startup, and then joined… Read more »
Order fulfilment venture Shippit has raised $30 million in a series B round to expand in Asia and Australia. The round was led by New York based investment fund Tiger Global Management, which earlier this year closed an oversubscribed US$3.75 billion private-equity fund to invest in private tech companies. Germany’s Global Founders Capital was also… Read more »
Data analysis company Nuix’s dramatic debut on the ASX continued for a second day with the company’s share rising 13% to $9.06, having jumped as high as $10.95 in intra-day trade on Monday. Shares in the 20-year-old Sydney-based, global risk, compliance and security software company skyrocketed an astonishing 63% from the $5.31 issue price during… Read more »
Telehealth venture Coviu has raised $6 million in the wake of the company’s growth during the coronavirus pandemic. The round was backed by Equity Venture Partners, with investment director Daniel Szekely joining the board, alongside the Giant Leap Fund from Impact Investments, the CSIRO’s VC fund, Main Sequence Ventures and the Medical Angels investment group.… Read more »
The buy now, pay later sector has been given a stay of execution in its fight to stop merchants passing on the costs of the service to consumers with an ongoing review by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) concluding the sector has not yet reached a tipping point in favour of introducing the change.… Read more »
New research is questioning the popular notion that cybercriminals can make millions of dollars from the comfort of home — and without much effort. Our paper, published in the journal Trends in Organised Crime, suggests offenders who illegally sell cybercrime tools to other groups aren’t promised automatic success. Indeed, the “crimeware-as-a-service” market is a highly… Read more »
A marketing campaign by Kogan.com that the Federal Court declaring “false and misleading” has cost the online retailer $350,000 as well as legal costs. Competition regulator the ACCC launched legal action against Kogan.com last year over the 2018 “tax time savings” alleging that the company increased prices on 621 products, in most cases by at… Read more »
Victorians will only have a wear masks when using public transport, taking taxis or rideshares, and for indoor shopping from midnight tonight under further relaxations to the state’s Covid-19 restrictions announced by Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday. The “COVIDSafe Summer” will be in place until at least the end of January, and the government is… Read more »
Bitcoin is back. Three years after the bubble that inflated its value from US$5,000 to US$20,000 in less than three months burst in spectacular fashion, plunging more than 80%, the cryptocurrency is again on the verge of a record high. In recent days it has been trading above US$19,000, up from US$10,000 in October and… Read more »
Shares in Booktopia jumped 25% on the opening day of trade for the online retailer as a four-year ambition for founder and CEO Tony Nash came true. The company (ASX: BKG) hit the market at $2.86, a 24% premium to the $2.30 issue price, when trade opened at 11am, before ending the day at $2.72… Read more »
Online retailer Kogan.com is buying New Zealand competitor Mighty Ape for $122.4 million. Mighty Ape’s focus is on gaming, toys and other entertainment categories, and the category leader and is expected to generate revenue for full year FY21 (to 31 March 2021) of around AU$137.7 million, with a gross profit of AU$45.7 million and EBITDA… Read more »
The South Australian Department for Trade and Investment is hosting a series of four live Q&A webinars focusing on the space industry, its future and possibilities. Starting on Thursday, 3 December with a discussion around Australia’s space edge, with the Australian Space Agency’s Deputy Head Anthony Murfett, the panel of local experts will talk about… Read more »
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