Global payments platform Banked has tapped into Australian real-time payments with the acquisition of Waave, a fintech using the consumer data right (CDR) to offer a lower cost direct debit alternative to card payments. The sale, for an undisclosed sum, comes less than 18 months after Waave launched following a $4.7 million Seed round in April… Read more »
Australia’s cyber security industry has welcomed a new advocacy and growth champion with the launch of the Australian Cyber Network (ACN) – a not-for-profit set to pick up where its predecessor AustCyber left off. Launched Wednesday at Parliament House in Canberra, ACN said its goal is to address the “current and future needs” of Australia’s cyber security… Read more »
Canva is no ordinary success story. It’s a $39 billion unicorn with its heart in the right place. Founded by Melanie Perkins, her (now) husband, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams in January 2013, Canva has evolved from a side hustle in a family living room into one of the world’s leading design platforms. As a… Read more »
Mother-daughter duo Tandadzo (Tando) Matanda and Dr Margaret Matanda will step on stage founder at SXSW Sydney this Tuesday as the founders of fintech platform Musa. Musa is the world’s first intelligent venture assessment platform, tackling the funding process for startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Musa Ventures equips founders with the digital tools… Read more »
SXSW Sydney is less than a week away, kicking off on Monday, October 14, and once again startup and tech fans are faced with a mind-blowing array of options across the week. Things kick off on Monday with Canva’s Melanie Perkins talking to legendary US investor Mary Meeker (see below) and we’d be remiss to… Read more »
Serial entrepreneur, investor and LaunchVic chair Leigh Jasper is among the founders who’ll share their insights on what it takes to build a billion-dollar startup at AWS Unicorn Day in Melbourne on Thursday, October 24. Jasper cofounded Aconex, the world’s most widely used cloud collaboration platform for managing construction projects, and as CEO, led the… Read more »
A B2B marketplace that speeds up cosmetics launch times has raised $10 million in a Series A led by Macquarie Capital. Sydney-headquartered Atelier streamlines and manages manufacturing, logistics and packaging for beauty, health or wellness brands to cut time-to-market by two-thirds. Founded in 2018, cofounder Nick Benson bills Atelier as “the future of manufacturing” and… Read more »
AI-focused e-learning platform Build Club has raised $1.75 million in a pre-Seed round led by Airtree and Blackbird. Also hitting the PayTo button for the round were Archangel Ventures, Co Ventures and Treble VC, and angel investors including Startmate’s Small Bets Fund, Curious Thing founder Sam Zheng, Superpower’s Max Marchione, Eric Chan from Aura Ventures… Read more »
Sydney martech startup Mutinex has raised $17.5 million in a deal that’s nearly doubled the marketing spend analytics platform’s valuation in 12 months. The round was led by new backer Marbruck Investments, with support from EVP and Archangel Ventures, and ups Mutinex’s valuation to $132.5 million from $75 million 12 months ago when EVP led… Read more »
ASX-listed venture fund Bailador is having a busy week investing, ploughing an additional $5 million into financial advice software and investment platform Dash Technology Group to fund its acquisition plans. Alongside the $5m equity investment, Bailador is also stumping up $5m in a repayable debt facility for Dash to acquire Integrated Portfolio Solutions (IPS), a… Read more »
Former political advisor and Spark Festival creative director Harry Godber has signed on with the Tech Council of Australia as its new head of policy and strategy. The technology executive and senior policy adviser in the Turnbull and Morrison governments most recently oversaw the sale of fintech unicorn Flare to KKR as general counsel and… Read more »
Investor sentiment and founder optimism appear misaligned with the total amount of venture capital flowing to startups in the first quarter of the 2025 financial year, falling to a multi-quarter low of $695 million, driven primarily by a drop in mega-rounds. The latest quarterly figures from Cut Through Venture (CVT) show that the Q3 (calendar… Read more »
ASX-listed venture capital fund Bailador Technology Investments Limited (ASX:BTI) has increased its stake in people management software platform Rosterfy, investing an additional $3 million. Rosterfy provides volunteer and workforce management software to not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, government volunteering bodies and mass-scale events.The SaaS platform allows organisations to recruit, screen, train, and schedule their volunteers better engage… Read more »
X’s attempt to have a $600,000 fine thrown out as it was issued to its previous company name has been rejected by an Australian court, in a significant legal win for the eSafety Commissioner. Federal Court of Australia Justice Michael Wheelahan ruled on Friday that X could not wriggle out of an Australian government infringement… Read more »
Quantum software developer Q-CTRL has topped up its Series B for a fourth time with an extra $88 million (US$59m) with the Sydney startup’s valuation jumping dramatically in the process. The raise takes the Series B, spanning three years, to $166 million (US$113m) in total and was led by UK late-stage venture firm GP Bullhound.… Read more »
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