Slingshot founder Trent Bagnall has launched a manufacturing accelerator The Melt will invest around $1m annually in industrial startups It’s also supporting corporates looking to ramp up R&D The first $1m raise was done in a fortnight Industrial prototyping lab and innovation accelerator, The Melt has announced its first investments in five startups with an… Read more »
Small business lender Lumi is on the hunt for $20 million from investors to expand its team and markets over the next year. Cornerstone backer the Josh Liberman Investment Group will tip in again as the company looks to develop additional product lines and improve its technology platform. The fintech offers unsecured business loans of… Read more »
The plant-based mince and burgers developed by the CSIRO-backed alternative protein startup v2food will start hitting the shelves in more than 600 Woolworths stores from today, less than a year after it was first released as the burger in the Hungry Jack’s Rebel Whopper. V2food launched last year in a collaboration between the CSIRO, its… Read more »
Atlassian says it will invest US$50 million in early-stage startups, but the funds come with a catch – the ventures must all be working on projects that help build out the US-listed tech giant (Nasdaq: TEAM). The company’s US-based head of corporate development, Chris Height, said in a blog post on the company site that… Read more »
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Australia’s first ever incubator, Cicada Innovations. To date, Cicada Innovations has incubated over 100 startups, and helped more than 300 companies raise over $450 million in venture capital and government grants, create hundreds of jobs, build local manufacturing capability, file more than 500 patents and trademarks, and launch… Read more »
The Morrison government today announced A$1.9 billion over ten years to develop clean technology in industry, agriculture and transport. In some ways it’s a step in the right direction, but a far cry from what’s needed to drive Australia’s shift to a low emissions economy. The big change involves what the money is for. The… Read more »
Consumer fintech FelixGroup (ASX: FXL) – rebranding under its BNPL name, Humm – has scored a major victory over the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in the fight for a slice of the renewable energy sector by buy now, pay later providers. The Australian Competition Tribunal issued a summary determination today rejecting the consumer… Read more »
Swedish buy now pay later (BNPL) fintech Klarna is now Europe’s most valuable fintech – the 4th most valuable globally – following a US$650 million equity raise that values the business at US$10.65 billion (AU$14.54bn). The latest valuation nearly doubles the US$5.5 billion valuation following a US$460 million raise in August 2019. The round was… Read more »
Workplace tech platform SafetyCulture has made its first acquisition, taking over mobile training startup EdApp in a deal that values the business at $40 million. SafetyCulture, most recently valued at $1.3 billion following a $60.5 million raise, has invested $9 million in five-year-old EdApp in recent years, including $1 million convertible note in early 2020.… Read more »
Impact Investment Group (IIG) is on the hunt for $70 million from wholesale investors for a new fund targeting sustainable and socially conscious startup investments. IIG CEO and co-fund manager Daniel Madhavan said the Impact Alternatives Fund will be a mix of investments, including renewable energy infrastructure such as solar farms, impact private equity, venture… Read more »
National security is like sausage-making. We might enjoy the tasty product, but want to look away from the manufacturing. Recent news that Chinese company Zhenhua Data is profiling more than 35,000 Australians isn’t a surprise to people with an interest in privacy, security and social networks. We need to think critically about this, knowing we… Read more »
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Australia’s first ever incubator, Cicada Innovations. To date, Cicada Innovations has incubated over 100 startups, and helped more than 300 companies raise over $450 million in venture capital and government grants, create hundreds of jobs, build local manufacturing capability, file more than 500 patents and trademarks, and launch… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank has launched a near-identical “no interest” credit card just a day after NAB announced it was launching its flat fee StraightUp Card on Thursday. Aside from slightly different monthly fee rates, the only other key difference is that while NAB partnered with Visa, CBA’s “CommBank Neo” is a Mastercard product. Like StraightUp,… Read more »
Big four bank NAB has responded to the growing popularity of buy-now-pay-later services among millennials eschewing credit cards, by introducing a “no interest” credit card that instead charges a monthly fee. The NAB StraightUp Card offers credit of up to $3000, and has a “no use, no pay” feature, meaning that if there’s a $0… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank’s VC fund, x15 ventures, is holding a second Xccelerate fintech pitch event, with the winning idea landing $150,000 from CBA. The virtual pitch on November 3-4, and applications for Xccelerate are open until September 27. You can apply here. The shortlisted startups will be notified by October 23. x15 ventures is running Xccelerate… Read more »
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