bitcoin
Cryptocurrency

ASIC has launched legal action against the Kraken crypto exchange alleging more than 1,100 customers lost $13 million on a product that didn’t meet regulatory rules

- September 21, 2023 2 MIN READ

Financial regulator the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has launched Federal Court against Bit Trade Pty Ltd, the company behind the Kraken crypto exchange in Australian, alleging it failed to comply with regulations designed to protect consumers. ASIC’s case alleges Bit Trade’s failure to make a “target market determination” for its margin trading product,… Read more »

Paul Tory, Josh Goulburn
Funding

Produce marketplace Foodbomb acquired by hospitality ordering company

- September 20, 2023 2 MIN READ

Foodbomb, a six-year-old wholesale food marketplace, has been acquired by hospitality ordering platform Ordermentum for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2017 by Paul Tory and Josh Goulburn, Foodbomb raised $4.5 million in a Series A two years ago. Its backers include EVP, Athletic Ventures, Aura Ventures, Tony Gandel’s family investment vehicle, Tahmedia, and Platform Advisory Partners.… Read more »

Tikpay
Funding

Fintech tikpay pockets $1.6 million pre-Seed round to transform transport ticketing

- September 19, 2023 2 MIN READ

Melbourne fintech tikpay has raised $1.6 million in a pre-Seed round ahead of the launch of its pioneering account-based ticketing (ABT) and payments platform. The round was led by AfterWork Ventures and Black Nova VC with participation from Investible, Func Ventures, Metagrove Ventures, and two transport industry insiders. While Sydney commuters have been able to… Read more »

Drone, farm, agriculture, agtech
Events

CSIRO has launched a free online innovation program for agrifood startups

- September 19, 2023 2 MIN READ

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, is offering a new online learning program for free for startups focused on innovation in agrifood. The ‘Innovate to Grow: Agrifood’ program runs for 10 weeks from November and is designed to help early-stage companies assess how they can advance their technologies, solutions and ideas through research and development (R&D).… Read more »

Women carrying water in Kabul, Afghanistan
Data

How the consumer data right could be as revolutionary as plumbing – and also make personal information safer and easier to share

- September 19, 2023 4 MIN READ

Back in 2017, The Economist published a headline that became a meme. It said data had become the new oil. By that it meant that the world’s biggest and most profitable companies no longer worked with oil, as they had throughout the 20th century, but with data. By 2022, three of the world’s five most… Read more »

Rammp founder Dr Anna Henderson
Events

3 Aussie startups: Rammp, Cape and Theodore, land slots at TechCrunch’s ‘Startup Battlefield’

- September 19, 2023 2 MIN READ

Three Australian startups have been chosen from more than 3000 applications globally to take part in the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield event at Disrupt in San Francisco this week. AI-based marketing B2B Rammp, fashion tech venture Theodore, and fintech Cape will follow in the footsteps of unicorn alumni such as DropBox, Cloudflare and FitBit in taking… Read more »

R&D, science, man looking in microscope
Funding

Breakthrough Victoria pours $43 million into five universities to help turn research into startups

- September 19, 2023 2 MIN READ

The Victorian government’s $2 billion investment fund, Breakthrough Victoria has backed five Victorian universities to help them bring research to market in a deal worth $87 million.  Deakin, La Trobe, Monash and Swinburne universities have contributed $9 million funding matched by Breakthrough Victoria, with RMIT matching the $7.5 million it has received. Each partnership will… Read more »

Meditation, beach
Social Media

Why you should meditate if you’re still using Twitter

- September 18, 2023 2 MIN READ

While owner Elon Musk denies X, his rebranded Twitter, is an even bigger cesspit of abuse, racism, and unfettered nastiness than it already was, perhaps one way to improve things is meditation, according to Kiwi academics. Researchers from University of Auckland (UaA) trawled through more than 60,000 Twitter posts by users who’d completed a two-month… Read more »

Accelerator

Startmate reveals the 13 new startups it’s backed ahead of SXSW Demo Day

- September 15, 2023 4 MIN READ

Female founders are involved in nearly 40% of the 13 startups in the Startmate class of winter 2023, with climate tech and AI among the key themes backed by the accelerator and investment program. The Winter23 Accelerator cohort spans everything from AI-powered recruitment to misdiagnosed prenatal ultrasounds and inflatable space solar panels.  Two of the… Read more »

Brownee team
Climate Tech

EnergyLab backs 13 climate tech startup for new program to help them through the ‘valley of death’

- September 15, 2023 3 MIN READ

Climate tech accelerator EnergyLab has singled out 13 startups for its new Climate Tech Charge program, offering them 12 months of support to help them make it through the current investor downturn. The Charge program provides critical support for early-stage founders contributing to decarbonisation amidst a challenging economic environment where VC funding in Australia substantially… Read more »

Taryn Wiilliams, Martin Karafilis, Samantha Martin-Williams
People

Taryn Williams and Samantha Martin-Williams join Fishburners board

- September 14, 2023 2 MIN READ

Fishburners has appointed Taryn Williams and Samantha Martin Williams to the board of the Early-stage startup community hub. They replace Jacqui Feeney, who leaves to become CEO of Screen Queensland, and Andrew Thornton, whose term has expired.   Taryn Williams is the founder and CEO of theright.fit and WINK Models, and entrepreneurship thought leader.  Fishburners CEO… Read more »

Advanced facial recognition technology identifies the face of woman in bustling crowd, utilizing the power of big data analysis scanning for enhanced authentication through face. generative ai
Politics

The Australian government has revived facial recognition as part of a national ID plan

- September 14, 2023 3 MIN READ

The Australian government will continue to authorise a one-to-many facial recognition system connected to the national ID database but is limiting its use to helping identify “shielded persons” like undercover police and protected witnesses. Once referred to as ‘the Capability’, the Department of Home Affairs built a system for the public and private sector to verify people’s… Read more »