On Tuesday, the Albanese Labor government released the long-awaited National AI Plan, “a whole-of-government framework that ensures technology works for people, not the other way around”. With this plan, the government promises an inclusive artificial intelligence (AI) economy that protects workers, fills service gaps, and supports local AI development. In a major reversal, it also… Read more »
Ahead of the TechStars Sydney ‘Demo the Future’ evening on December 8, Startup Daily is profiling the 12 startups and their founders in the 2025 cohort. Our next profile is Sedso AI – helping brands to shape their own story with AI. Sedso AI Founders: David Sta.Maria & Silven Epistola One-liner: Sedso is an AI visibility platform… Read more »
The Albanese government has unveiled Australia’s first National AI Plan, opting for voluntary transparency measures rather than mandatory rules on how businesses disclose their use of artificial intelligence. The 37-page plan sets out a broad roadmap for building what the government calls “an AI-enabled economy” while maintaining a “careful balance between innovation and protection from… Read more »
Google Asia Pacific will pay $55 million in penalties for engaging in anti-competitive conduct over a deal it struck with Telstra and Optus to only pre-install Google Search on Android phones the telcos sold. The fine was ratified by the Federal Court today, following legal action from the competition watchdog the ACCC. The search giant… Read more »
Leigh Jasper, the serial founder who built construction software platform Aconex into one of Australia’s first tech unicorns, will deliver the keynote opening address at the Growth Summit in Melbourne in February 2026. Presented by SmartCompany and Startup Daily, in partnership with Xero, the Growth Summit is Australia’s premier event for ambitious startup and SME founders and leaders.… Read more »
As omens go, epilepsy medtech Epiminder’s ASX debut on Monday, perhaps the stock exchange’s outage to start December wasn’t the best of signs. A technical glitch meant price-sensitive announcements couldn’t be published for several hours and 50 ASX-listed companies were forced into trading halts. Epiminder’s (ASX: EPI) initial public offering (IPO) at $1.50 per share… Read more »
Startmate CEO Michael Batko has stepped as CEO after eight years of leading the startup accelerator and investor, effective immediately. Taking over is chief operating officer Phoebe Pincus, who’s been with the Blackbird-backed organisation for four years. Batko, who was also a startup founder on the side, most recently exiting his side hustle, Startup Striders, last month,… Read more »
Melbourne workplace software unicorn Culture Amp posted losses totalling A$91.5 million (US$60m) in the last two financial years, including a $37 million (US$24.4m) loss in FY 2025. That loss and the current financial position of the 16-year-old tech scaleup were revealed in filings to the corporate regulator, ASIC, on Friday. On the upside, that’s a… Read more »
Another startup looking to deal with cattle methane emissions using seaweed has raised $2.176 million in Seed funding. The round for Fremantle Seaweed, at an $11 million pre-money valuation, comes a week after seven-year-old Sea Forest (ASX:SEA) listed on the ASX. The Tasmanian startup raised $20.5 million at $2 per share for a $112m market… Read more »
Neighbourlytics, which unpacks behavioural insights on how people use their ‘hood, has been acquired by ASX-listed REA Group. The Melbourne analytics platform, founded in 2017 by Jessica Christiansen-Franks and Lucinda Hartley, it offers real-time lifestyle and mobility data, including foot traffic, visitor trends, lifestyle personas, top destinations and accessibility to paint an informed picture of… Read more »
Back in 2016, around the time LaunchVic was kicking off in Melbourne, Dave McManus left the city for Silicon Valley, determined to become a startup founder. Now he’s back in Victorian capital and the founder of Lightning Ventures has plenty of stories to tell and advice to share on episode 40 of Startup 360. Explaining… Read more »
This week’s funding round-up features a rewards platform for small businesses, a New Zealand agritech company that is tackling methane emissions, a medtech startup pioneering a non-invasive bladder-health treatment, and an edtech venture that is helping ease the admin burden for schools and educators. Keep reading to learn more about Pay.com.au, Ruminant Biotech, Australis Scientific… Read more »
In the eyes of big AI companies such as OpenAI, the troves of data on the internet are highly valuable. They scrape photos, videos, books, blog posts, albums, painting, photographs and much more to train their products such as ChatGPT – usually without any compensation to or consent from the creators. In fact, OpenAI and… Read more »
Indian online gaming platform Zupee has acquired Sydney AI startup Nucanon in a deal reportedly worth $5 million. Nucanon began life as Stori in 2022, with pre-Seed funding from Antler and high profile US investor Jason Calacanis via his LAUNCH Fund. The startup rebranded in 2023 when it raised $500,000 in a Seed round led… Read more »
Ahead of the TechStars Sydney ‘Demo the Future’ evening on December 8, Startup Daily is profiling the 12 startups and their founders in the 2025 cohort. Our next profile is Juxtabyte – a startup helping companies realise the value in their critical data and how to reuse this smartly. Juxtabyte Founder: Hugh Le One-liner: Juxtabyte… Read more »
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