Topic Archives

The federal government just tipped another $5 billion into its runaway home battery program, but its existing problems remain

Rohan Best - December 16, 2025 3 MIN READ

Over the weekend the federal government announced major changes to its A$2.3 billion home battery subsidy program. The changes include nearly $5 billion in extra funding and adjustments to the financial support provided for different-sized batteries. They follow recent reporting by The Conversation that the program is subsidising unnecessarily large home batteries and blowing out… Read more »

ASX

ASX-listed payments platform Tyro is buying NAB-backed rising star fintech Thriday

Simon Thomsen - December 16, 2025 2 MIN READ

ASX-listed Tyro Payments (ASX: TYR) is acquiring small business “CFO in your pocket” startup Thriday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, with the acquisition expected to complete in January 2026. Thriday is an AI-powered financial management platform for SMEs that automates invoicing, expense management, accounting and banking workflows. CEO Michael Nuciforo, a former… Read more »

Ag tech

US VC Insight Partners backs $23 million Series A for Melbourne AI beef grading platform

Simon Thomsen - December 16, 2025 < 1 MIN READ

Red meat analysis and verification platform MEQ Solutions has raised US$15 million (A$23m) in a Series A from New York software VC Insight Partners. The agtech startup began life in Adelaide in 2016, with its first product, MEQ Probe, going on to raise $500,000 in late 2018 for industry trials. MEQ has built the world’s… Read more »

Climate Tech

Melbourne energy grid fault detection startup raises $50 million

Simon Thomsen - December 16, 2025 2 MIN READ

A veteran startup detecting faults in powerlines to prevent bushfires has raised $50 million from US and local venture funds. IND Technology was cofounded by RMIT Professor Alan Wong and Kokwai Leu Melbourne in 2013 following the 2009 Black Saturday fires, to develop Early Fault Detection (EFD) systems for preventing bushfires and grid failures. The… Read more »

People

‘What do we say? And more importantly what do we do?’ – Australia’s tech sector reacts to the Bondi terrorism attack

Simon Thomsen - December 15, 2025 9 MIN READ

Australians and the world have been left horrified and reeling after at least 16 people were killed, with another 40 injured following a mass shooting involving two gunmen at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday evening. NSW police declared the incident a terrorist attack, which began at about 6.40pm on December 14. Alongside a typically busy… Read more »

Fintech

Cheque-in: 6 startups banking a whopping $568.1 million two weeks before Christmas

Eloise Keating & Tegan Jones - December 12, 2025 5 MIN READ

With 12 more sleeps to Christmas, Melbourne-born Airwallex wins the 2025 Australian capital raising stakes with a massive $498 million Series G that values the fintech at $12 billion. Meanwhile, cybersecurity startup Kasada and sole trader accounting platform Hnry also booked $30 million and $26 million raises, respectively. Keep reading to learn more about six… Read more »

Business strategy

Digital food safety startup Squizify lands in Japan after $10 million Series A

Simon Thomsen - December 12, 2025 < 1 MIN READ

Digital food safety platform Squizify has continued its Asian expansion, launching a subsidiary in Japan following a $10 million Series A earlier this year. The Brisbane startup, founded in 2018, by CEO Daniel McDouall, helps restaurants, retailers and food manufacturers automate hygiene tasks, digitise HACCP (Hazard analysis and critical control points) compliance, monitor equipment performance… Read more »

Politics

Research reveals the government is on a major political winner with the u16s social media ban

Simon Thomsen - December 12, 2025 2 MIN READ

Nearly three-quarters of Australians aged 18-14, and eight in every 10 adults have backed the federal government’s social media ban for children under 16. While support for the ban was lowest among young adults (72%), it rose to 80% for people aged 50-64 and 87% for over 65s, taking the national average to 79%. There… Read more »

Accelerator

Team Techstars Sydney: Meet Briefcase, the case-management platform speeding up legal decisions

Startup Daily - December 11, 2025 4 MIN READ

In celebration of the TechStars Sydney ‘Demo the Future’ evening, Startup Daily is profiling the 12 startups and their founders in the 2025 cohort. Next is Briefcase – helping the justice system to streamline with tech, without dehumanising it. Briefcase Founder: Kirk Simmons One-liner: Enabling faster and smarter decision-making for justice and arbitration systems What’s… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Albanese government scraps AI advisory board plan

Tegan Jones - December 11, 2025 3 MIN READ

Australia will not proceed with a permanent AI advisory board, after the federal government confirmed it has abandoned the plan despite growing pressure for stronger oversight of the technology. As reported by InnovationAus, recent answers to Senate estimates questions on notice show the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) will not establish the AI advisory… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

When King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard quit Spotify, an AI rip-off turned up – and the streaming platform’s algorithm promoted it

Wellet Potter - December 11, 2025 3 MIN READ

Imagine this: a band removes its entire music catalogue off Spotify in protest, only to discover an AI-generated impersonator has replaced it. The impersonator offers songs that sound much like the band’s originals. The imposter tops Spotify search results for the band’s music – attracting significant streams – and goes undetected for months. As incredible… Read more »

Cyber security

Data-scraping bot blocker backed by Malcolm Turnbull pockets $30 million

Simon Thomsen - December 11, 2025 2 MIN READ

Data-scraping bot blocker Kasada has raised US$20 million (A$30m) in a round that values the business at $300 million. The round was backed by Swedish private equity giant EQT, with support from existing investors, including Malcolm Turnbull’s Turnbull & Partners, Westpac’s VC fund Reinventure, CSIRO-backed Main Sequence and OIF Ventures, and in the US, New… Read more »

Advice

Everything startup founders need to know about moving to San Francisco – by an Aussie who did

Ben Kennedy - December 10, 2025 10 MIN READ

I’ve spoken to over 100 founders over the past 18 months about the pros and cons of moving to San Francisco (SF), so I decided to compile everything into this post. Why it’s worth moving to SF? Firstly, SF is not for everyone. SF is for the most ambitious and driven people in the world.… Read more »

Business

From broke at 16 to billionaire: Airwallex CEO Jack Zhang says 2025 is the year his global fintech finally stopped ‘almost dying’

Simon Thomsen - December 10, 2025 5 MIN READ

The arc of a tech company’s success is often sprinkled with near death experiences. And according to Airwallex cofounder Jack Zhang, the business, which raised $498 million in a Series G this week, had so many lives in its first 10 years, it should probably be nicknamed “Catwallex”. London-based Zhang took to social media overnight… Read more »

Business

Which Bank just got smacked with a record $792,000 penalty for open banking breaches

Simon Thomsen - December 10, 2025 2 MIN READ

The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has paid $792,000 in penalties following action by he ACCC over breaches of the Consumer Data Right (CDR). It’s the second time in six months that a major bank has been busted for dragging its feet over CDR, also known as open banking, which launched in Australia 5.5 years ago. NAB… Read more »