Liven cofounders William and Grace Wong
Business

Hospitality platform Liven acquires four companies in $152 million spending spree

- July 25, 2023 2 MIN READ

Nine-year-old restaurant loyalty platform Liven has spent $152 million acquiring four complementary hospitality tech companies – two in Australia, plus one in Singapore and another in California, as it looks to expand its product range and international presence. The Melbourne data company snapped up the veteran online meal ordering business OrderUp, seven-year-old restaurant point-of-sale solution… Read more »

Mike Cannon-Brookes
People

Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie are separating

- July 24, 2023 3 MIN READ

Atlassian co-founder and father of four Mike Cannon-Brookes has separated from his US-born wife, Annie, after 13 years of marriage. News of the demerger emerged over the weekend in Nine newspapers, citing “sources close to the family”. An Atlassian spokesperson declined to comment. An unauthorised source told the media: “They’re both focussed on their children… Read more »

Nikki Tugano SeenCulture
Accelerator

Here are the 12 startups in the first Techstars Tech Central program in Sydney

- July 24, 2023 2 MIN READ

Twelve startups are part of the first cohort of the new NSW government-backed Techstars accelerator in Sydney. The 3-month program at Sydney’s Tech Central provides startup founders with seed funding, training and access to a network of mentors to develop their entrepreneurial skills. The selected startups work across a range of sectors including AI, climate… Read more »

Gecko cofounders Ben Kennedy, Lal Birch and Cody Fisher-Peel.
Funding

Sydney’s new TechStars accelerator backs events rental startup Gecko in $350,000 pre-Seed round

- July 21, 2023 2 MIN READ

Event rental e-commerce platform Gecko has raised $350,000 in a pre-Seed round led by the NSW government-backed Techstars program in Sydney. Gecko is one of 12 startups selected for the inaugural Techstars Tech Central accelerator program, which got underway earlier this month. US investors Goodwater Capital and Launch House also backed the startups pre-Seed raise.  … Read more »

RiTA, powered by CoreLogic, proptech, Sarah Bell
Events

Here are the winners of the 2023 Proptech Awards

- July 21, 2023 2 MIN READ

  The annual Proptech Awards have chosen a woman as Proptech Leader of the Year for the second year in a row, with Sarah Bell, cofounder of AiRE Software, taking the top gong, following on from Trish Mackie-Smith in 2022.  More than 350 people gathered in Sydney this week for the Proptech Association Australia awards… Read more »

Marvin the Paranoid Android and Arthur Dent, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
AI/Machine Learning

Machine unlearning: Just 8 months after its launch, ChatGPT is getting worse at writing code and other tasks

- July 21, 2023 2 MIN READ

ChatGPT’s ability to write code has been getting worse over the last few months with the percentage of prompts that produce working code results dropping severely between March and June, a new study has found. A team of researchers from Stanford and the University of California Berkely set out to test how the large language… Read more »

Yanir Yakutiel, CEO and founder of Lumi
Funding

Small business lending fintech Lumi raises $15 million

- July 20, 2023 2 MIN READ

Small business alternative lender, Lumi, has raised $15 million with Harel Insurance and Finance Group signing on as the fintech’s newest investor.  Harel is Israel’s largest insurance group and listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Existing backers, including the private investment arm of Perennial as well as Melbourne’s Josh Liberman Investment Group, Arbel, and… Read more »

Simfuni cofounders Damon O'Neill and Shaun Quincey
Funding

Kiwi insurtech Simfuni banks NZ$2.8 million in Series A

- July 20, 2023 2 MIN READ

Auckland-based insurance premium payments platform Simfuni has raised NZ$2.8 million in a Series A to save brokers time and money.  The round was led by Kiwi VC funds Icehouse Ventures and GD1, with support from K1W1 and NZVC. The insurtech platform integrates with any insurer, broker group or premium funder’s quoting and invoicing software in… Read more »

Kate Pounder
AI/Machine Learning

A new report from the Tech Council reckons AI could be worth up to 5% of GDP by 2030

- July 20, 2023 2 MIN READ

Generative AI could contribute between $45bn & $115bn annually to the Australian economy by 2030 That represents 2% to 5% of total economic output. 4 key sectors will benefit: healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and professional and financial services. Barriers include technology capability, enterprise readiness, awareness & skills, and responsible AI Using artificial intelligence (AI) in business… Read more »

artificial intelligence, robot
AI/Machine Learning

There are hidden costs to the AI boom, including social exploitation and a massive carbon footprint

- July 20, 2023 4 MIN READ

Mainstream conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) have been dominated by a few key concerns, such as whether superintelligent AI will wipe us out, or whether AI will steal our jobs. But we’ve paid less attention the various other environmental and social impacts of our “consumption” of AI, which are arguably just as important. Everything we… Read more »

hostplus, Sam Sicilia
Funding

Super fund Hostplus tips another $100 million into uni commercialisation fund IP Group

- July 18, 2023 < 1 MIN READ

Industry superannuation fund Hostplus has poured another $100 million, on top of its existing $210 million investment, into listed early-stage science investor IP Group Australia.  The $310 million IP Group Hostplus Innovation Fund has invested in several university spin-outs, including electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft startup AMSL Aero, UNSW telecommunications traffic analysis venture Canopus… Read more »