The grand New York experiment for New Zealand rental accomodation startup Kiki is over, with cofounder Toby Thomas-Smith announcing he’ll end his Big Apple ambitions for a second time. “The beginning of Kiki’s intense fire in NYC,” as he described it 13 months ago, is being snuffed out by regulation, he says, announcing the decision… Read more »
Jensen Huang believes questions of whether artificial intelligence could destroy humanity are fear-mongering – and get in the way of progress. The founder of Nvidia, which makes the computer chips enabling AI such as ChatGPT, he was rankled when a journalist wondered if he is “an AI Robert Oppenheimer”. He’s not building bombs, he responded.… Read more »
ETF – exchange traded funds – have become a popular investment since OG fintech entrepreneur Graham Tuckwell pioneered the sector in Australia more than 20 years ago. The local market grew by more than 30% last year to around $250 billion, but a decade has passed since a new player appeared on the seen bearing… Read more »
New research reveals the alarming state of founder mental health across all stages of business and why we must act now. If you’re reading this at 11pm while checking your emails, wrestling with cashflow projections, mulling over that staff issue, or losing sleep over your next quarter’s performance, you’re not alone. But according to new… Read more »
Victoria’s leading startup founders, investors, and ecosystem builders were honour at the annual Governor of Victoria Startup Awards at Government House last week. Her Excellency Professor Margaret Gardner AC recognised outstanding contributions to the state’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem Government startup agency LaunchVic helps coordinate the awards, now in their 4th year, with 4-5 startups… Read more »
A Cloud Guru’s Sam Kroonenburg has teamed up with Go1’s Andrew Barnes and more than a dozen other founders of tech companies that achieved a $1 billion valuation to back a new $50 million venture capital fund to invest in the next wave of potential unicorns. Glitch Capital also involves two OGs of local tech,… Read more »
A no-holds-barred and very public blow-up between the world’s richest man and the president of the United States has had social media agog in recent days, with each making serious accusations against the other. And while tech billionaire Elon Musk appears to have cooled the spat somewhat – deleting some of his more incendiary social… Read more »
Joel Macdonald’s been busy resetting his thinking in the last few years after the cofounder of Getswift was banned by the Federal Court from running companies in Australia for 12 years. He’s been in therapy, busy journaling, writing affirmations on glass walls in an apartment, taking psychedelics, including ayahuasca and mushrooms, and the former CEO… Read more »
EVP has added 20 more defendants, including earlier VC investors – taking the total to 32 – in its legal action to recover $10.4 million invested in StrongRoom AI. EVP has a freezing order over the company’s assets and during a case management hearing on Wednesday added the company’s other early investors, including Artesian Ventures,… Read more »
Just as Techstars Sydney MD Christie Jenkins was about to go hiking in Patagonia, taking her offline for 10 days, she got a call from Sir Richard Branson’s Caribbean retreat, Necker Island. They wanted the acclaimed athlete to speak there. It was “a pinch me moment to be on stage talking about investing in women’s… Read more »
Three months of hard work building deep tech startups came to a climax today when their founders told their stories at CSIRO’s ON Accelerate showcase in Melbourne. The ninth cohort of the national science agency annual program to support founders from Australian universities and CSIRO itself featured 11 finalists, spanning drug development, healthcare delivery, and… Read more »
Quantum physicist and deeptech startup founder Professor Michelle Simmons has joined the board of The Tech Council of Australia (TCA). Her appointment dramatically improves the representation of women in the industry lobby group, which last year came under fire last year for failing to act when former board member Richard White faced inappropriate conduct allegations.… Read more »
Kiwi startup founders take around 29 months on average to score their first pay cheque, but when they get there, they’re doing of okay, with 50% of them on more than NZ$195,000 (A$182k) according to the New Zealand Founder Pay Report 2025. The first deep dive into startup life in Aotearoa, by LiveRem and Oxygen Advisors,… Read more »
Mistakes happen – at work and everywhere else. Everybody makes them. While it’s easy to spiral into self-loathing when you slip up, a mistake isn’t a sign that you’re unskilled. It simply means you’re human. Here’s the even better news: Your mistake doesn’t have to define you, especially if you find the right way to… Read more »
This week’s Startup 360 sees Simon Thomsen return with a new cohost – Fishburners CEO Majella Campbell. And to celebrate episode 15’s new team, their guests this week are two “Fishies” founders – Barb Woodruff Swanson from Done Life, and Mossy Taheri from proptech Rising Returns. There’s a bit of a travel theme to this… Read more »
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