Waymo is talking to local regulators about trialling the company’s self-driving taxis in Australia, as the autonomous vehicle company begins lobbying governments around the country. Owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, Waymo describes itself as the “world’s first autonomous ride-hailing service” and says its vehicles have completed 10 million driverless rides in five US cities,… Read more »
Uniseed CEO Dr Peter Devine as called time on two decades leading the university-backed research commercialisation fund, staging his own exit at the end of 2025. Taking the helm in January 2026 is Dr Alistair Hick from Monash University, where he’s been its inaugural chief commercialisation officer, with responsibility for overseeing its IP commercialisation program,… Read more »
Last week, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser that promises to revolutionise how we interact with the internet. The company’s CEO, Sam Altman, described it as a “once-a-decade opportunity” to rethink how we browse the web. The promise is compelling: imagine an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that follows you across every website, remembers your… Read more »
Officials from corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Federal Police officers raided the headquarters of ASX-listed WiseTech Global on Monday over concerns about share sales by founder Richard White and three others. WiseTech (ASX: WTC) shares fell more than 16% to around $71 in opening trade on Tuesday morning after… Read more »
Twelve standout teams from the Hunter and Central Coast have made it to the final stage of this year’s I2N accelerator program, including several ventures led by University of Newcastle students and alumni. The 2025 cohort is tackling mental health breakthroughs, menopause support, smarter job platforms for international students, next-gen loan tech, foolproof plant care… Read more »
Auckland-based NZVC is planning to invest in 50-60 Australia and New Zealand early-stage founders with its new NZ $50 million Fund II. Fund II invests from Pre-Seed to Series A, with smaller initial cheques and significant follow-on reserves. General partner Mark Pavlyukovskyy founded NZVC in 2021 as Aotearoa’s first operator-led venture fund, having relocated to… Read more »
A Brisbane startup developing hydrogen-powered aircraft engines and hypersonic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has raised $46 million in a Series A as NASA prepares to test its 3D-printed ideas. The round for Hypersonix Launch Systems was led by UK national security investor High Tor Capital, with support from European defence company Saab and Polish family office RKKVC,… Read more »
The federal Labor government has flatly rejected calls from the likes of Google, OpenAI, and the Productivity Commission to carve out a copyright exemption for AI training data.
DDLoop, a Sydney-based startup, has taken first place at the 2025 Legal Pitch Night, impressing judges with its AI-powered platform that has the potential to automate due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, financing, and investment deals.
Amender was first runner-up with Clearly by Lext closely following. AIOrdinate took home the People’s Choice Award.
The competition regulator alleged Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plan subscribers were told to either pay higher prices for Copilot or cancel.
This was false or misleading, the ACCC claims, because there was an undisclosed third option for subscribers to keep their existing ‘classic’ plan, without Copilot or the markup in price.
The only way customers could find out about the ‘classic’ plans was when they opted to cancel their subscription because that was when a new page appeared offering the option to switch to the ‘classic’ plan instead.
Melbourne biotech ENA Respiratory has raised $34 million (US$22.4m) in a Series B funding round to support the development of its virus-agnostic nasal spray, INNA-051, designed to boost the body’s natural defences against respiratory infections. The raise was led by existing investors Brandon Capital and Uniseed, with participation from Stoic Venture Capital, the Gates Foundation… Read more »
Right now, more than 311,000 Australian Facebook users can apply for a slice of a A$50 million compensation fund from tech giant Meta – the largest ever payment for a breach of Australians’ privacy. But the clock is ticking. Even if you’re eligible, you only have until December 31 2025 to make your claim. Similar… Read more »
Startup operator community Overnight Success has partnered with Aussie Angels to launch a new angel syndicate and education pathway, opening early-stage startup investing to more operators by lowering cheque size barriers.
The Victorian government is investing $75 million across five specialist venture capital firms. The funding, via Breakthrough Victoria, will go to VCs backing climate-tech, life sciences, and female founders, as well as a cornerstone investment in an unnamed US specialist healthcare fund manager as they launch their first Australian fund. All five have committed to… Read more »
After a decade of work, the federal government has committed to finalising formal road rules, regulations, and technical and cybersecurity standards for self-driving cars by 2027, even as autonomous vehicles are already on Australian roads. The new National Road Transport Technology Strategy (NRTTS), including the 2024-27 National Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Action Plan nationwide framework, replaces National Land… Read more »
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