The Daily Edited
Business

The retailer that bought luxury fashion startup The Daily Edited from voluntary administrators 15 months ago went into VA today

- April 4, 2024 2 MIN READ

Monogramed luxury fashion startup The Daily Edited (tde.) is back in voluntary administration, just 15 months after the brand was sold to former Myer boss Bernie Brookes. Marquee Retail Group (MRG), which scored tde.’s flagship store in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building, when it bought the 10-year-old business in December 2022, handed the books to administrators… Read more »

Aurie smart catheter system i
Funding

Disability tech accelerator and investor Remarkable goes global, backing US catheter startup’s $9.1 million Seed round

- April 4, 2024 2 MIN READ

Australian disability tech accelerator Remarkable has backed a US med tech startup reducing urinary tract infection (UTI) risks in a US$6 million (A$9.1m) Seed raise. The round for New York medtech startup Aurie, was led by existing investor Lakehouse Ventures. Founded in 2018, Aurie has developed a reusable, no-touch, intermittent catheter system used by people… Read more »

Starboard Maritime
Funding

Kiwi sea crimes startup Starboard Maritime Intelligence floats $4.6 million seed funding round

- April 4, 2024 2 MIN READ

A New Zealand data analytics startup using machine learning to detect suspicious activity by vessels at sea has raised a NZ$5 million (A$4.6m) in a Seed round. The round for Starboard Maritime Intelligence was led by Kiwi VC Altered Capital, supported by Icehouse Ventures, Invest South, Soul Capital, and Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation, as well as marine-focused… Read more »

Google Incognito
Global tech

Turns out Google kept private browsing data to sell – but will now delete it as part of a class action settlement

- April 3, 2024 3 MIN READ

Google has agreed to delete data collected on users while they were in private browsing mode and properly inform them of how “incognito” this service actually is as part of a class action lawsuit settlement. Google-owner Alphabet settled the class action lawsuit, brought on by users of its Incognito private browsing mode in 2020 late last year,… Read more »

CEO and founder Olympia Yarger
Business

CSIRO is spending $20 million to help up to 750 startups and small businesses dive deeper into R&D

- April 3, 2024 2 MIN READ

National science agency CSIRO has allocated $20 million towards supporting startups and smaller companies with greater access to vital research and development (R&D) opportunities to accelerate their growth. Up to 750 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) will be supported under the banner of SME Connect via programs that provide facilitation, training, dollar-matched funding and support… Read more »

The NextGen Ventures Melbourne team: Varad Chaudhari, Ikya Thearam, Mitchell Hughes and Donald La. Photo: Valent Media.
Venture Capital

Students are getting into VC with NextGen Ventures to back uni-founded startups

- April 2, 2024 3 MIN READ

Australian universities are creating extraordinary startups founded by students that are changing the world. Think tech giant Atlassian – cofounders Mike and Scott met at UNSW – to more recent successes such as gaming platform Immutable, diagnosis medtech Harrison.ai, and drone deep tech venture Propeller Aero. Now students are taking charge of the investment side… Read more »

Femtek founder Olivia Orchowski
Funding

Women’s hormonal cycle tracker Femtek pockets $1 million Seed round

- April 2, 2024 < 1 MIN READ

Women’s healthtech startup Femtek has raised $1 million in Seed funding to give women better data around their menstrual cycle. The round was led by startup incubator and early-stage investor Arcanys Ventures, which also has an office in Melbourne led by managing partner Frederic Joye, alongside Philippines-based software outsourcing and a Swiss office. Techstars and… Read more »

Funding

Northern Territory government puts $10 million into co-investment fund to back startups

- April 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

A $20 million business investment fund has launched in the Northern Territory in a partnership between the government and Darwin investment firm Paspalis Corporation. The Territory government is tipping in $10 million through the Local Jobs Fund, matched by Paspalis, with funding of up to $5 million available for domestic and international businesses looking to… Read more »

First Australians Capital Brian Wyborn
Funding

First Australians Capital scores $500,000 from QBE to back Indigenous startups with Seed funding

- April 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

The QBE Foundation has given Indigenous-led investor First Australians Capital (FAC) a $500,000 to provide Seed funding for Indigenous startups. The grant will form part of a seed capital pool established by FAC to fund startups and early-stage businesses run by Indigenous Australians. FAC is an Indigenous-led organisation focused on business advisory services coupled with… Read more »

Funding

Banking fintech Constantinople pockets $50 million Series A

- April 2, 2024 < 1 MIN READ

Banking-in-box fintech Constantinople has raised $50 million in a Series A. The round was led by Dutch internet investment firm Prosus Ventures, with support from existing Australian backers Square Peg and AirTree. The Sydney startup, founded in 2022 by former Westpac managers Macgregor Duncan and Dianne Challenor, previously raised US$23 million (A$32m) in a Seed… Read more »

SunDrive cofounder Vince Allen with PM Anthony Albanese, climate change minister Chris Bowen and company director, advisor and former MP Wyatt Roy.
Politics

Mike Cannon-Brookes is in the thick of the Australian government’s $1 billion plan to turn a coal mining region into a solar manufacturing hub

- March 28, 2024 4 MIN READ

Here’s an astonishing figure. While a third of Australian households have solar power, making us the world leader on adoption, just 1% of those panels are locally made, even thought we invented the technology. So the federal government is hoping to transform the coal mining Hunter Valley region, north of Sydney, into a solar manufacturing… Read more »

Prof Andrew Dzurak
Quantum Computing

HOT STUFF: Sydney quantum computing startup Diraq gets processors to work in warmer temps

- March 27, 2024 2 MIN READ

Sydney startup Diraq appears to have cracked one of the many challenges facing the future success of quantum computing – an absolute zero operating temperature Diraq has demonstrated its spin-based quantum processors operating at temperatures 20 times warmer than previously demonstrated while maintaining stability and high accuracy, with the results published in a peer-reviewed study in… Read more »

Events

Blackbird reveals the full lineup for Sunrise Australia

- March 27, 2024 2 MIN READ

Venture capital firm Blackbird’s annual Coachella for startups, Sunrise Australia, will feature more than 50 speakers across three stages, with the full lineup for the two-day event in May revealed today. New speakers include Bluey creator Joe Brumm, ethicist and philosopher Peter Singer, MONA curator Kirsha Kaechele, Gilmour Space  cofounder Adam Gilmour, Wedgetail VC CEO… Read more »

People

Finder Australia CEO Chris Ellis is leaving the building

- March 26, 2024 2 MIN READ

When Finder shed around 60 roles last month – 17% of its workforce – turns out one of them was the comparison site’s Australia CEO, Chris Ellis. SmartCompany’s Tegan Jones revealed Ellis was among the company’s cost savings, pointing out he’s disappeared from Finder’s leadership page and will leave the business at the end of… Read more »

whale
Business

Canva gobbles up UK rival Affinity in its biggest spend yet

- March 26, 2024 2 MIN READ

Design software platform Canva is fattening up for its public listing in 2026, acquiring UK professional graphic design and photo editing software business Affinity for an undisclosed sum. It’s believed to be the biggest outlay yet by Canva in a string of merger and acquisition deals in recent years, including fellow British data startup Flourish in… Read more »