Queensland at-home catering platform Gathar has raised nearly $800,000 in a crowdfunding on the female-founder focused Microwd. The private chef platform, dubbed the Airbnb of dinner parties, partnered with expat celebrity chef Curtis Stone to take the concept to the US, kicking off in his home state of California at the start of 2023. More… Read more »
ASX-listed jobs marketplace is looking to ramp up its UK business in a deal with leading TV station Channel Four. The broadcaster’s VC arm, 4 Ventures, Britain’s leading media-for-equity investor, is tipping in $6.5m million (£3.5m) in value for a 20% stake in Airtasker UK, the company’s UK subsidiary. Channel 4, which gave the world… Read more »
If you’ve written a will – and if you haven’t, you may want to consider it – you’ve almost certainly thought about what you would like to happen to your assets, like property, after you pass away. But have you also considered getting your digital affairs in order? As our lives become increasingly digitised, most… Read more »
Online health brands company Eucalyptus is putting the $50 million it recently raised to use acquiring the online assets of the Australian Jenny Craig brand from its administrators as the rest of the weight loss business looks set to be liquidated. Voluntary administrators FTI Consulting were appointed on May 9, but a month on, have… Read more »
Deep tech incubator Cicada Innovations has chosen its first cohort of startup founders showcasing world-changing innovations at the annual deep technology conference Cicada x Tech23. Cicada became custodians of Tech23 last year, reviving Australia’s longest-running deep tech event to support Australian deep tech innovators The 23 ventures were chosen from more than 130 applications nationally… Read more »
Last week we were among the many startups and small businesses who suffered a kick to the guts by the sudden (and quiet) halting of Investment NSW’ MVP Ventures grant program. In one brief email, our plans for the year were turned upside down. Only last month we publicly praised the NSW Government for its… Read more »
Tech giants will be forced to scan Australians’ emails, online photo libraries, cloud storage accounts and dating sites for illegal content or face fines of nearly $700,000 per day, the eSafety Commissioner has said after rejecting two proposed industry codes as inadequate. Developed by key service providers and delivered to eSafety in February for review, the problematic… Read more »
Link-in-bio startup Linktree has cut staffing again, with 27% of its workforce, mostly in Australia and New Zealand, to depart as the company turns its attention to the US. Cofounder and CEO Alex Zaccaria told staff in an email that with the US being their largest market, with the White House and the Denver Nuggets… Read more »
From networking events and panel discussions to fireside chats and an eye-opening workshop, the City of Sydney’s Visiting Entrepreneur Program is tackling the most topical conversations in tech, from AI to sustainability. This month, Sydney will bring together some of the world’s leading global entrepreneurs and tech experts for its annual program of free events… Read more »
The annual Spark Festival, the largest national event for Australia’s startup community, is the latest victim of a reduced funding for the sector, with the director departing and the board looking to refresh the event to present later this year. Festival director Maxine Sherrin left the organisation on Friday after nearly seven years, having successfully… Read more »
One of the most important roadmaps to Australia’s startup sector is set to return after a five-year hiatus, with Startup Muster once again looking to take the pulse of the local ecosystem. UTS Startups director of entrepreneurship Murray Hurps, a driving force behind Startup Muster between 2014 and 208, has enlisted Adam Spencer, producer of… Read more »
Sydney VC OneVentures has pledged $15 million as a cornerstone investment towards a $25 million Series B raise for life sciences startup ImmVirX. The biotech startup is developing cancer treatments using oncolytic viral immunotherapies (viruses that infect and destroy cancer cells without damaging normal cells). The remaining $10 million in the Series offered to existing… Read more »
The federal government is seeking feedback on mitigating any potential risks from the use of artificial intelligence technologies (AI) and how to build a safe framework for its use amid growing global concerns that seeing machine learning as potentially an existential threat to humanity. Science and industry minister Ed Husic released two discussion papers on… Read more »
ASX-listed jobs marketplace Airtasker will have its first female board leader with Cass O’Connor stepping into the chair role next month as James Spenceley departs after eight years. Spenceley, the founder of telco Vocus, is a prolific VC investor and North Sydney councillor and more recently founded humanitarian organisation Aus Ukraine Aid, was a seed… Read more »
Agri-food tech accelerator SparkLabs Cultiv8 is turning its attention to cleantech startups in a new program to fund and develop them. The SparkLabs Cultiv8 CleanTech Accelerator has selected 10 startups for its initial cohort backed by Malcolm Nutt and Jonathon Quigley’s VC fund Cultiv8 Funds Management. Since its launch in 2017, the SparkLabs accelerator program… Read more »
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