Beauty and fashion

From landing in Coles to redefining haircare for everyone: how this female founder rewrote the rulebrook for cracking a crowded market

- September 3, 2025 5 MIN READ

When Katherine Ruiz launched People Haircare, she didn’t tiptoe into the market. She went straight into over 800 Coles stores nationally. No soft launch. No boutique trial. Just premium, high-performing haircare on the shelves of one of Australia’s biggest retailers – right from day one. “From day one, Coles was part of the vision,” she… Read more »

Agrifutures female farmer
Accelerator

The changing face of Australian farming: 7 agtech startups to watch

- September 2, 2025 3 MIN READ

The recent Productivity Roundtable in Canberra focused on how to increase productivity and resilience with technology, but one niche sector was overlooked, as it often is: agtech. Yet agriculture is where some of the most urgent innovation is taking place, particularly in adapting to climate change, increasing yields and productivity. Beanstalk’s Drought Venture Studio, backed… Read more »

STEM
Business

Newcastle Uni is on the hunt for aspiring female founders and leaders

- September 2, 2025 < 1 MIN READ

The University of Newcastle is backing women entrepreneurs and aspiring leaders around the Hunter and Central Coast regions with a new program to help them take charge. FLIP is a nine-week program aimed at building entrepreneurial confidence, validating business ideas and developing an authentic leadership presence in a supportive, hands-on environment. It’s run by the… Read more »

Business

Bootstrapped Queensland rising star The Laundry Lady bags $1 million Seed round for global ambitions

- August 19, 2025 2 MIN READ

Sunshine Coast-based laundry solution The Laundry Lady, has ended 13 years of bootstrapping to raise $1 million in Seed funding for international expansion.  The round was led by Brisbane investor and Techniche chair Karl Jacoby with support from Brisbane Angels, AngelLoop, AI ethicist Dr Catriona Wallace, and several local angel investors. The Queensland government’s Female… Read more »

Accelerator

Touchable VR, better sexual health, ADHD focus, leaky pipes & startup hiring: Startmate reveals the clever 13 in its latest cohort

- August 18, 2025 8 MIN READ

The Winter ’25 cohort is full of founders chasing the edge of what’s possible and dragging the future closer. A future where period poverty is a thing of the past. Where anyone can service a machine like an expert. Where AI doesn’t just answer questions, but books your Uber, edits your work and fills a… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

In defence of AI: composer Charlie Chan on how technology has shaped their musical creativity over 40 years

- August 13, 2025 9 MIN READ

Picture this: It’s 2023 and I’m 26 hours into what would become Supernova, the world’s longest improvised piano concert. My mental and physical acuity is fading and the Gold Coast sun is beating down on the HOTA outdoor stage. But here’s the thing that blew everyone’s mind – when I needed those precious micro-breaks for… Read more »

Happy group
Business strategy

The power of online branding in a noisy market

- August 4, 2025 2 MIN READ

At a recent panel discussion on building and scaling tech teams, a recurring challenge stood out – hiring and opening doors is significantly harder without a strong company brand. Building a company’s brand takes time; a logo or catchy tagline is no longer enough. People still seek genuine connections in an era of information overload… Read more »

Life hacks

Startup 360: Know thy podcast, where there’s a Will there’s a media way & the Vegemite space race

- August 1, 2025 2 MIN READ

Happy horse’s birthday! The way the cofounders of podcasting community engagement startup Dome met is positively old-school in an era of swiping left and right. Sophie Greiner and Bella Filacuridi met at an International Women’s Day event in Sydney, and the mutual love for the pop culture podcast Shameless launched their friendship. Six months later,… Read more »

Funding

LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund backs pet genetics startup Elita’s $1.1 million pre-Seed

- July 25, 2025 2 MIN READ

LaunchVic’s sidecar fund for women founders, the Alice Anderson fund, has completed a pre-Seed $1.1 million raise for Melbourne pet health startup Elita. The commitment brings to a close the long-running raise for Elita, which is building a stem cell bank for Australian pets. Founded by Paloma Newton and Jackson Gritching, the genetics startup, which… Read more »

Beauty and fashion

The VC market-fit problem no one is talking about

- July 23, 2025 4 MIN READ

The majority of women entrepreneurs aren’t building software – they’re quietly launching and scaling the breakout consumer brands that will define the next decade, without a cent of venture capital (VC). According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2022/23 Report: Less than 3% of women globally are building in ICT/tech sectors. Nearly 50% of women… Read more »