Startups across the US, UK and Australia have had their fears confirmed that banking will feel much more ‘traditional’ in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, potentially stifling innovation and ambition. The collapse and aftermath serves as a reminder that we need greater global banking competition, particularly in the technology industry, to serve… Read more »
The week-long Something Fest, Queensland’s digital, innovation, and technology festival, is back and kicks off on August 26 with the SomethingQ event, which will shine a spotlight on all things Queensland. That’s followed by the two-day conference, Something Digital (SD), now in its 6th year, on August 29-30. Something Fest 2023 will offer a series… Read more »
Recent public interest in tools like ChatGPT has raised an old question in the artificial intelligence community: is artificial general intelligence (in this case, AI that performs at human level) achievable? An online preprint this week has added to the hype, suggesting the latest advanced large language model, GPT-4, is at the early stages of… Read more »
Tech community pioneer Innovation Bay has partnered with collaboration platform Edda as it launches in Australia and New Zealand. Edda is a software tool that helps professional investors collaborate more easily and effectively, making it easier for people to choose investments, manage portfolios, and sell them with more transparency and efficiency. Innovation Bay’s VC investor community,… Read more »
New Zealand agtech startup, which developed a GPS-enabled solar collar that “guides” cows around pastures using sound and vibrations, has raised NZ$85 million (A$79.5m) in a Series C. The round was led by US VC Bessemer Venture Partners with existing backers Blackbird, Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck Kiwi VC Icehouse Ventures and DCVC. Mechanical engineer Craig… Read more »
Brisbane fintech Paypa Plane, which is at the forefront of instant payments, has raised $10 million in a Series A. The round was led by the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) through the government’s $100 billion Business Investment Fund, with support from payments platform Cuscal, Mastercard and Queensland VC Sprint Ventures. Paypa Plane is hoping to… Read more »
Sir Richard Branson’s space tech startup Virgin Orbit, which launches rockets mid-air from under a 747, is shutting down after it failed to find more funding. CNBC reports that Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart told staff most operations will cease “for the foreseeable future” with 675 people losing their jobs and a skeleton staff of… Read more »
Three Monash University students have launched an alcoholic seltzer brand, Wonki, for pre-sale on the crowdfunding platform Pozible. They are almost halfway into raising the $30,000 target to turn Wonki into a ready-to-drink reality. Wonki was developed at Monash’s Fastrack Accelerator program by cofounders Gabriel Tucker, Max Moolman, and Briget Lansell. The alcoholic seltzer brand… Read more »
A team of University of Queensland (UQ) engineers who designed a sustainable and affordable 3D-printed rocket engine has won two awards for their invention Herik Labs won the Entrepreneur of the Year and People’s Choice awards at the UQ’s Ventures ilab Accelerator Pitch Night for their oxygen and hydrogen-powered engine. Made in a fraction of… Read more »
Senator Andrew Bragg is pushing once again to introduce regulation for the cryptocurrency sector in Australia, amid ongoing exchange collapses and US regulators investigating alleged illegal activity by Binance. The NSW Liberal, now in opposition, introduced a private senator’s bill to the Senate on Wednesday, accusing financial services minister Stephen Jones of being “uninterested in… Read more »
Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and over 1300 academics, tech and business luminaries have signed a Future of Life Institute (FLI) open letter calling for a 6-month freeze on “out-of-control” AI development that, they say, poses “profound risks to society and humanity.” That development has accelerated at a furious rate since last November’s release of GPT-3… Read more »
ASX-listed buy now play later fintech Zip has struck deals to offload Twisto, the European BNPL it acquired two years ago, as well as its South African business, Payflex. The business is also winding down its Middle Eastern operations, as previously flagged, as it looks to stem losses and quarterise its cash burn. Zip (ASX:… Read more »
The Albanese government’s plan for a $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to invest in technology, science and manufacturing became a reality today after the Senate passed the legislation last night, before the House of Representatives gave final approval at lunchtime today. Industry and science minister Ed Husic said passing the legislation delivers on a major Labor… Read more »
The shift to renewable energy to meet net zero targets will mean Australia has to dramatically scale up its battery storage capacity, a new report from national science agency,CSIRO says. The Renewable Energy Storage Roadmap outlines a 10 to 14-fold increase is required in electricity storage capacity between 2025-2050 for the national electricity market (NEM) to… Read more »
Sydney cultured meat startup Vow Foods has created the world’s first edible protein developed from the DNA of an extinct animal – the woolly mammoth. Pitching their technology as a solution to climate change – and using the mammoth as “a monumental symbol of what we stand to lose now” – Vow unveiled its latest… Read more »
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