Even tech experts have been astonished by the recent, rapid growth of AI technology, able to hold human-like conversations in multiple languages, create music and pass medical exams. While the potential benefits of AI in fields such as healthcare are indeed inspiring, the pace of change is rapid, and there is still lots of uncertainty… Read more »
State and territory governments have agreed, with the Commonwealth, to increase their use of biometrics for identification in a bid to make the federated ID scheme more resilient to fraud and identity theft. Identification services are spread across the states and territories, that are in charge of driver licences and birth certificates, and the Commonwealth… Read more »
A Kiwi B2B marketplace for the hospitality and food service industry developed by a cofounder Xero has crossed the ditch to Australia after raising NZ$6 million (A$5.5m). Upstock is the brainchild of Duncan Ritchie and Philip Fierlinger, who was part of the 2006 founding team of ASX-listed accounting platform Xero. The raise was backed by Icehouse… Read more »
Residential property management startup Different, has been handed to administrators, unable to attract new capital, despite being backed by Airtree and the Commonwealth Bank’s venture arm, X15. Seven-year-old Different Technologies Pty Ltd was placed in voluntary administration with KPMG on Thursday. Founded in 2017 by expat Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Mina Radhakrishnan, a former Uber global… Read more »
Australia’s newest biotech incubator, Jumar Bioincubator, is seeking expressions of interest from early-stage biotech to be part of the Melbourne-based program. The $30 million incubator will connect early-stage and scaling biotech ventures with state-of-the-art facilities, infrastructure, and support to turn ideas into treatments and commercialise medical research. Jumar is a mountaineering technique where climbers receive… Read more »
There’s plenty of doom and gloom about the availability of capital at the moment. Right across the tech landscape from seed-round startups to listed tech companies, founders are feeling the brunt of a dramatic shift in sentiment thanks to the high-interest rate environment. But while much of the commentary seems to label this as an… Read more »
EnergyLab has chosen six Australian climate tech startups in a cohort of 10 for its latest scaleup program Now in its fourth year, the industry-led EnergyLab’s Scaleup Program helps the startups involved develop initiatives to fast-track decarbonisation of the grid. The program offers startups the chance to collaborate with Australia and New Zealand’s most innovative… Read more »
Subscription craft gins startup Gintonica has been placed in voluntary administration, 5.5 years after its launch. The drinks business, best known for its Australian craft gin Advent calendars, was put up for sale by founder David Box in early May, but last week he handed the keys and books to David Ross of Sydney firm… Read more »
Waave has recruited former Qantas exec and eBay Australia chair Belinda Jonovska as payments fintech’s Chief Operations Officer (COO) to oversee risk, governance and commercialisation. Jonovska joins the startup after the open banking payments fintech raised $4.7 million in a Seed round in April. Cofounders Ben Zyl, Mark Connolly and Peter Traianou launched Waaveearier this… Read more »
Cybersecurity startup Nullify, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help software developers and security teams detect and fix potential vulnerabilities in code as it’s being written, has raised $1.1 million in a pre-Seed round led by OIF Ventures. Former XM Cyber founding team Adi Ashkenazy and Zini Shahar, now running the security advisory firm Skylight… Read more »
Australia’s Ocean Impact Organisation (OIO) has selected six startups working on ways to improve the ocean’s health to take part in the latest Ocean Impact Accelerator Program. The three startups from Australia, and as well as three from the US. will spend five months working alongside OIO to expand their business, and impact on cleaner seas.… Read more »
New Zealand carbon footprint management fintech Cogo, which works with banks to help their customers measure and reduce their carbon impact, has raised NZ$1 million (A$910k) from existing impact investor Soul Capital. Soul’s NZ$20 million ‘Te Pae ki te Rangi’ Fund is focused on helping Kiwi startups with their global expansion. Cogo currently operates in… Read more »
What do Regrow Ag CEO and cofounder Anastasia Volkova and Skims founder Kim Kardashian have in common? Well, they’re both among the 20 industry leaders chosen by Time magazine for its list of the world’s 100 most influential companies. Regrow began life in 2016, as part of Sydney University’s “Inventing the Future” innovation program. Its… Read more »
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman downplayed the potential for the technology to take over jobs at an event in Melbourne last week, saying instead the technology will instead put “higher expectations” on human beings. Altman has an unsurprisingly optimistic view about human nature will respond to the rise of AI, saying he doesn’t think people will… Read more »
In the final week of March 2023, the Future of Life Institute made headlines with its open letter, signed by some of the biggest names in tech, calling on all artificial intelligence (AI) labs to “immediately pause the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4”. It cited the need to allow safety research and… Read more »
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