On Friday, OpenAI’s high-flying chief executive Sam Altman was unexpectedly fired by the company’s board. Co-founder and chief technology officer Greg Brockman was also removed as the board president, after which he promptly resigned. In an unexpected twist, talks began today about potentially reinstating Altman in some capacity following an outpouring of industry and investor… Read more »
On November 4, X owner Elon Musk unveiled his new AI chatbot Grok: a sarcastic ChatGPT alternative supposedly “modelled” after The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, one of Musk’s favourite books. The verb Grok means “to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with”. Science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein first coined the term, which is… Read more »
Toby Walsh is one of Australia’s most well-known experts on artificial intelligence and his latest book Faking It: Artificial Intelligence in a Human World aims to dispel the common illusion that machine intelligence is comparable to human intelligence. It’s an illusion deeply embedded in the history of AI that could have disastrous consequences, Walsh believes, unless… Read more »
Medtech startup Pyschae Therapeutics, which hopes to develop botanically-derived treatments and psychedelic-assisted therapies for mental health issues such as PTSD, anxiety and addiction, has scored $4.5 million in syndicated investment from the University of Melbourne. The funding came from the university’s Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, which backs early-stage research and technologies from the campus, as well… Read more »
Sydney software proptech Sitemate has raised $7.5 million in a pre-Series A for its no code platform for the construction sector. Marbruck Investments led the round, with participation from existing investors including Blackbird Ventures and Artesian. It’s 15 months since Sitemate raised $5.2 million in a round let by Blackbird, and since the the business… Read more »
Envirotech startup Refilled has raised $1.3 million in a Seed round to transform drink dispensing and reduce single use plastic bottles. The raise was led by existing backer Melt Ventures with support from Envato cofounders, Cyan and Collis Ta’eed and others. Refilled previously raised $600,000 through angel investors and Melt’s modern manufacturing fund. The Sydney… Read more »
Sydney property development analytics startup PropCode has raised $400,000 in a pre-Seed round Melbourne VC Skalata Ventures and Brisbane Angels joined the cap table alongside existing investor Antler Australia. The funding will be used to continue the build of PropCode’s AI-based regulatory analysis engine for the construction industry. Cofounded in 2022 with Antler’s backing by… Read more »
Money management fintech Upworth has secured $1 million in venture capital from leading business angel investors and entrepreneurs for its first external round. The Sydney fintech’s cofounders Alexandre Chavotier (CEO), Carlos Rios (CTO) and Maxime Chaury (COO & CMO) come from technology, finance and consumer services backgrounds and set out to change the way people… Read more »
Australia’s oldest venture fund, university-backed Uniseed, has doubled its research partners from five to 10 as it looks to back more startups focused on research commercialisation. Joining its founding ‘sandstone’ uni group – Queensland, NSW, Melbourne, and Sydney, plus science agency CSIRO, are Monash as a full partner, alongside a collaboration partnership of four NSW universities… Read more »
The founder of New York climate tech investment firm Planeteer Capital, Sophie Purdom, will be among dozens of experts, founders and investors taking part in Climate Salad’s inaugural Australian Climate Tech Festival & Awards on November 28 at Sydney Town Hall. Climate Salad CEO Mick Liubinskas revealed the day-long event will feature will feature key… Read more »
Allied health practice management startup Splose has commitments on the first half of a Series A raise with a target of $3 million. The Adelaide-based startup has $1.5 million to open its campaign, with CEO and founder Nicholas Sanderson saying the funds will be used to ramp up automation, AI-driven research and development and expansion into… Read more »
The Australian tech sector is in crisis and it’s set to intensify with AI. That’s the key message from the Australian Computer Society’s Digital Pulse 2023 report, which also found artificial intelligence will disrupt up to 90% of Australian jobs. To tackle the impending crisis, ACS proposes a National Digital Skills Strategy including a skills-first education… Read more »
First up, the TL:DR version. Adelaide fintech Tic:Toc has rebranded as Tiimely, six years after the home lending assessment platform launched. You can guess why. The ByteDance social media video platform with the same name (but different spelling) now has 1.5 billion users, having launched in 2016, several months before Tic:Toc. That leaves the local… Read more »
A serious cyberattack has disrupted operations at several of Australia’s largest ports, causing delays and congestion. Late on Friday, port operator DP World detected an IT breach that affected critical systems used to coordinate shipping activity. DP World is one of Australia’s largest port operators, handling approximately 40% of the nation’s container trade across terminals… Read more »
Melbourne-based global venue management software platform Roller has raised more than $100 million in less than 12 months after New York VC Insight Partners led its latest US$50 million (A$78.6m) round. The fresh capital injection, which needs Foreign Investment Review Board approval, was also supported by existing backers Acadian Software RBC Capital Markets and SBA… Read more »
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