Topic Archives

sunflower ai founder with acs labs director

Words of wisdom: Live caption translator Sunflower AI wins Best New Idea in Best in Tech Awards

Startup Daily - October 8, 2024 3 MIN READ

You may remember the Nicole Kidman thriller The Interpreter, where she’s working as a translator at the UN and overhears something she shouldn’t, spoken in an obscure language. Real-time translation has been the skill exceptional people have managed for centuries, but now artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming what’s possible and Sydney social impact startup Sunflower AI… Read more »

Climate Tech

Westpac & CEFC underpin new $200 million climate tech VC fund

Simon Thomsen - October 8, 2024 2 MIN READ

Specialist climate tech investor Virescent Ventures is halfway towards its goal of creating a new $200 million fund thanks to backing from Westpac and the government-backed Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). Virescent Ventures hit the $100 million first close of its second climate technology investment fund (Fund II), following on from the first portfolio, managed… Read more »

Global tech

When researchers tried to analyse if Facebook was causing harm, the data was manipulated in a move straight from the tobacco playbook

Timothy Graham - October 7, 2024 3 MIN READ

For almost a decade, researchers have been gathering evidence that the social media platform Facebook disproportionately amplifies low-quality content and misinformation. So it was something of a surprise when in 2023 the journal Science published a study that found Facebook’s algorithms were not major drivers of misinformation during the 2020 United States election. This study… Read more »

Business

Australian startup investor Boman Group grabs a $10 million slice of OpenAI

Simon Thomsen - October 7, 2024 2 MIN READ

OpenAI’s gobsmacking US$6.6 billion (A$9.5 billion) raise, announced last week at a US$157bn (A$230bn) valuation, has a small slice of Australia on the cap table, with Melbourne fund manager Boman Group chipping in A$10 million. The record raise for the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup was led by Josh KuschUS VC Thrive Capital with… Read more »

Funding

Antler launches $77 million 2nd Australian fund as brings forward Brisbane launch to 2025

Simon Thomsen - October 7, 2024 2 MIN READ

Global early-stage investor Antler has closed its 2nd Australian fund, raising $17 million more than planned to hit $77 million within 12 months. Antler previously raised its first $46 million local fund in 2019. Fund 2 will back more than 100 new pre-seed Australian startups and is already close to halfway there, having invested in… Read more »

Funding

Education comparison site Enrola schools up on $800,000 pre-Seed

Simon Thomsen - October 4, 2024 2 MIN READ

Online education comparison platform Enrola has raised $800,000 in pre-Seed funding. The round was led by AfterWork Ventures, with support from Skalata Ventures, the startup’s first investor, Antler, and a strategic angel. Enrola was cofounded in November last year by Jo Thomas and Yvette Quinby and launched in 2024 to streamline the complex process of… Read more »

Funding

Bird Seed: AI customer support platform Lorikeet flies high with $7.3 million raise

Simon Thomsen - October 4, 2024 2 MIN READ

An Australian-US startup that’s developed an AI-based customer support agent used by the likes of Chemist2U and Eucalyptus to solve complex problems has raised US$5 million ($7.3m) in Seed funding. Lorikeet, named after the colourful and garrulous Australian parrot, was founded in mid-2023 (originally as Optech) by US-based former Stripe executive Steve Hind and former Google… Read more »

Funding

Event management platform Attekus ends 7-year bootstrapping run with $5 million raise

Simon Thomsen - October 3, 2024 2 MIN READ

A booking and event management platform beloved by local councils has raised $5 million in its first external round after seven years of bootstrapping. The raise for Attekus was led by Five V Venture Capital, with support from Queensland government-backed QIC Ventures. Attekus was founded in 2017 by Tom Muller and Andrew Cutler, who worked… Read more »

Funding

NSW biomanufacturing startup Cauldron Ferm scores Queensland funding for sugar belt plant

Simon Thomsen - October 3, 2024 2 MIN READ

The Queensland government has backed regional NSW biotech startup Cauldron Ferm to build a biomanufacturing facility in the state’s tropical north. The Sunshine State support under the $415 million Industry Partnership Program (IPP) follows a recent $4.3 million federal government grant. The size of the investment, ahead of Queenslanders going to the polls on October… Read more »

Richard Boyd, Prof Alan Trounson and Dr Ian Nisbet

Funding

Biotech startup Cartherics doses up on $15 million raise for cancer treatment trials

Simon Thomsen - October 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

Melbourne biotech startup Cartherics has raised $15 million as it looks to begin trials of its cell therapy product for ovarian cancer. Cartherics, founded in 2015 by Alan Trounson, Bob Moses, and doctors Richard Boyd, Ian Nisbet and Peter Hudson, is developing immune cell therapies to treat cancer and other diseases. The startup previously raised $26… Read more »

Cryptocurrency

Caroline Ellison, who ran the FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, handed 2-year sentence over the crypto fraud

Denham Sadler, Information Age - October 1, 2024 3 MIN READ

Caroline Ellison, the ex-girlfriend of crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried who turned star witness against him, has been sentenced to two years in prison over her role in the $16 billion FTX cryptocurrency scam. Ellison was the CEO of Alameda Research, the trading branch of Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Alameda was found to have taken funds… Read more »

Events

Cake Ventures founder Monique Woodard is heading to West Tech Fest

Startup Daily - October 1, 2024 2 MIN READ

Monique Woodard, founding partner of US-based Cake Ventures, will headline the annual West Tech Fest in Perth this December. Known for championing inclusive innovation, Woodard joins One Earth founder Linzi Boyd and Steve Killelea, founder of the Global Institute for Economics and Peace, among the first round keynote speakers unveiled for the annual event. West… Read more »

Funding

Retail advertising startup Zitcha bags $15 million Series A for US push

Simon Thomsen - October 1, 2024 2 MIN READ

Retail media adtech Zitcha has raised $15 million in a Series A as it looks to set up shop in the US. The round was led by US fund VMG Partners with support from existing investor OIF Ventures, which backed 2022’s $4.7 million Seed raise. It’s VMG Technology’s – the firm’s stage-agnostic venture arm –… Read more »

Business

Startup lender Fundabl rebrands as Mighty Partners

Startup Daily - October 1, 2024 2 MIN READ

Business lender Fundabl is rebranding as it ramps up its focus on venture debt for startups. The three-year-old fintech will be known as Mighty Partners from October, changing its name just 10 weeks after announcing a $3.2 million raise from the likes of Stake founder and existing investor Matt Leibowitz. Ethan Singer and David Salkinder founded… Read more »

ASX

ASX-listed REA chows down on $62 milllion chunk of fintech Athena

Simon Thomsen - September 30, 2024 2 MIN READ

Athena Home Loans is now worth $310 million after REA Group (ASX:REA) unveiled plans to spend $62 million on a 19.9% stake in the fintech. The deal is being funded from the REA’s existing cash reserves and real estate giant will take two seats on Athena’s board. REA already has an existing relationship with the… Read more »