Leadership

An AI founder and great-grandfather, on tech’s role in monetising antisemitism and why history shows silence is never an option

- December 21, 2025 10 MIN READ

By age 12, your political operating system is encoded. Everything after is confirmation bias with better vocabulary. This is not cynicism. This is archaeology. Dig into any 50-year-old’s beliefs and you will find layers deposited at the kitchen table, in the schoolyard, at church or synagogue or mosque, in the neighborhood where they learned who… Read more »

Diversity

‘The darkness cannot extinguish the light’: NSW Premier Chris Minns on healing and the way forward for all after Bondi

- December 21, 2025 4 MIN READ

Bondi is beautiful tonight. And not because of its beaches, its sunset, its people, its fun. It’s beautiful because you in your thousands, in your defiance, in your resistance and resolve, you have returned to these sands just seven days after a shocking crime, and have said to the terrorists, we are going nowhere. This… Read more »

Funding

Cheque-in: 7 ANZ startups got $93.1 million in funding Chrissie presents this week

- December 19, 2025 5 MIN READ

Much like the past two years, December is proving to be popular for VC funding. This week saw $93.1 million spread across energy infrastructure, agtech, legal AI and more. IND Technology: $50 million IND Technology founder Alan Wong. Source: IND Technology Leading this week’s funding round-up is energy technology startup IND Technology, which has raised… Read more »

Leadership

Women founders community One Roof names Frances Goh as CEO

- December 19, 2025 3 MIN READ

Melbourne-based women founders community One Roof, has appointed Frances Goh as CEO, replacing her cofounder Sheree Rubinstein. Rubinstein said the transition, after nearly a decade at the helm, follows months of deliberation on the company’s future after it evolved from a women-focused co-working space into a national digital membership community for women entrepreneurs and business… Read more »

Data

How misinterpreting Google Trends data led to Bondi conspiracy theories – an expert explains

- December 19, 2025 4 MIN READ

In the wake of Sunday’s tragic Bondi shooting, conspiracy theories and deliberate misinformation have spread on social media. Many social media posts suggested the name Naveed Akram was searched before the Bondi attacks. Facebook One thing some people have latched onto is the idea Google Trends data show a spike in searches for “Naveed Akram”… Read more »

Business

Here’s the full program of inspiring speakers and fearless conversations at the Melbourne Growth Summit

- December 19, 2025 2 MIN READ

The full program for the 2026 Growth Summit in Melbourne is now live, promising expert insights, powerful leadership lessons, and fearless conversations tailored to Australian startups, scaleups, and SMEs. Presented by SmartCompany and Startup Daily, in partnership with Xero, the Growth Summit will see the nation’s brightest entrepreneurs and innovators inspire a new generation of ambitious business leaders. Leigh… Read more »

Business

Accommodation accessibility startup Heartful is up for grabs – or closing down

- December 18, 2025 2 MIN READ

When Jen Clark launched Heartful, the online accommodation marketplace for sustainable and inclusive travel, just over 12 months ago, the last thing she predicted as a founder was that AI bot attacks could lead to its potential demise. It wasn’t even an attack on Heartful, which has more than 550 high-quality property listings nationally. They came… Read more »

ASX

ASX-listed VC Bailador just got a $13.3 million Christmas gift from UpDoc and PropHero

- December 18, 2025 2 MIN READ

ASX-listed venture fund Bailador Technology Investments has increased the valuations on stakes in two key portfolio companies, Updoc and PropHero, with the latter rising 45.6% in just 10 months. Bailador (ASX:BTI) tipped $12.5 million into real estate investment proptech PropHero in February as part of a $25 million Series A. The investor told the market… Read more »

Treasurer Jim Chalmers
Funding

The government is increasing funding for cash-strapped CSIRO, but startups will pay for it with commercialisation cuts

- December 18, 2025 4 MIN READ

The federal government will tip an additional $233 million into the national science agency the CSIRO over two years in response to budget shortfalls that have forced it to cut hundreds of research jobs, but the startup sector will pay for it with further cuts to commercialisation funding programs. And CSIRO still plans to cut… Read more »

Ferronova CEO Stewart Bartlett
Funding

Adelaide cancer detection startup Ferronova tops up its long-running Series A with $6 million

- December 17, 2025 2 MIN READ

Medical startup Ferronova has raised $6 million in a top up of its five-year-old Series A to $17.5 million.  The fresh funding was led by existing investors Uniseed/UniSuper, South Australian  Venture Capital Fund, Artesian Venture Partners and Renew Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Singapore- based Ultragreen.ai. The Adelaide biotech,  founded in 2016 a spin-out from the… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Annie Liao’s Build Club has launched an AI accelerator to tackle enterprise adoption in just 4 weeks

- December 17, 2025 2 MIN READ

Build Club, the US-based, Australian-born AI learning community, has launched Solaris AI, an AI accelerator for companies to reduce the time taken for organisational AI transformation from a year to a month. Founder Annie Liao said Solaris AI delivers fundamentally different approach to enterprise AI adoption, eschewing training programs that rely on generic use cases requiring… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

How AI played a central role in spreading misinformation about the Bondi terrorist attack – thanks to a fake news site

- December 16, 2025 5 MIN READ

Hours after the Bondi terrorist attack, while many Australians slept, a myth was generated and laundered through artificial intelligence. The sole bright spot from Sunday’s atrocity targeting Jewish Australians that left 15 dead and 29 injured was the heroics of bystander Ahmed al-Ahmed, who was filmed fearlessly tackling and disarming one of the alleged gunmen.… Read more »