July, August & September 2019
July 2019 / August 2019 / September 2019
Australia’s startup news:
July 2019
- Australia’s Raiz ‘spare change investor’ startup preps for Vietnam entry
- Australia: Lygon blockchain-based bank guarantee company formed by partnership between ANZ, CBA, Westpac, IBM, Scentre and Westfield
- Australia: Evie Networks and US partner, EV Connect, propose national electric vehicle network of 80 ultra-fast charging points across 42 sites
- Australia: Micro-X startup partnered by Thales electrical giant for medical and airport checkpoint applications using next-gen X-ray imaging
- Australia: EnergyLab Energy-IoT Accelerator launches in Tasmania, focused on hardware internet-of-things solutions for clean energy
- Australia: A brief intro to 7 of the agritech startups taking part in SparkLabs DemoDay in September
- Australia: Employment Hero cloud-based HR, payroll, and benefits startup, raises US$15M, in part from SEEK employment marketplace
- Australia: A video look at ThirdAurora’s augmented reality-driven ‘self-translating’ wine bottle labels
- ANZLF Trans-Tasman Innovation and Growth Awards applications open, seeking 4 prize-winners
- Australia: OpenSC blockchain startup partnered by Nestle to enhance dairy supply chain operations
- Australia: A brief intro to Me Squared, personalised health-tech startup focusing on the corporate wellness industry
- An overview of how TAFE South Australia uses virtual reality in vocational training
- Australia: RealTechX government-backed incubator, sets sights on real estate technologies in Asia-Pacific
- Australia: Massachusetts Institute of Technology selects Adelaide as 4th location, wordlwide, for data-focused Living Lab
- 2019 Australia and New Zealand Sports Technology Awards applications close July 25th
- Australia: New South Wales minister talks up facial recognition system as Opal card replacement for public transport payments
- Australia: UK’s Pitch@Palace Australia event returns for 3rd edition in September – applications now open
- An overview of the recent TechBoard roundtable on Western Australia’s need for a dedicated startup fund
- Australia: Major universities announce reviews over links to surveillance tech used by Chinese Government
- Australia: Melbourne’s Otrafy selected for Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator with supply chain management platform powered by blockchain
- Australia: IOT Impact 2019 Conference and Exhibition set for October 15-16 in Sydney
- Australia: Techstars partners LaunchVic, Tennis Australia and Victoria University to launch Techstars SportsTech Melbourne Accelerator
- Australia: An intro to the winners of the recent Australian Blockchain Industry Awards
- South Australia Gov’t announces ‘Foment – SA’s Wine and Tourism Tech Revolution’ program to aid wine and tourism startups to take advantage of new tech
- Australia: Sydney Airport continues facial recognition systems trial, stating machines recognise but don’t store facial images
- Australia: An intro to Codebots platform for building software, leaving you free to focus on the creative side of things
- Seven company founders discuss what they’d like to see change in Australia’s startup landscape
- Australia: An introduction to Vampr, a musician’s equivalent to Tinder with over 450K users
- Australia: Payright buy-now-pay-later startup for big-ticket items raises $27M in debt and equity funding
- Australia: Lumachain secures $3.5M with blockchain platform for tracking origin, location and condition of items in food supply chains, ensuring ethical sources
- GRAFT AUS-IND AgTech Market Access Program launched by India and Australia, seeking agritech startups
Australia’s startup news:
August 2019
- Australia: Myriota IoT firm partners Goanna Ag for rain gauge that uses a satellite network to transmit remote rainfall data to farmers
- Australia: Team safAR wins UNSW Maker Games competition with instructional augmented reality system designed to save lives in industrial plants
- Australia: Power Ledger blockchain-driven P2P energy trading startup extends energy trading trial in Fremantle
- Australia: Curtin University to launch Blockchain Research and Development Lab in Perth, focusing on distributed ledger and cryptocurrency tech
- Australia: Penfolds winemaker puts famous Bin 407 on the blockchain for Chinese market using VeChain for enhanced anti-counterfeiting and traceability
- Australia: Ynomia construction industry tech startup secures $3.6M with Bluetooth-powered materials tracking and on-site communications
- Australia’s Verrency payments service partners Denmark’s Coinify virtual currency provider to help banks provide customers with secure virtual currency payments
- Western Australia’s Curtin University launches Cryptocurrency PhD Scholarship Fund, enabling donations for crypto-related PhD study
- Australia: A look at Longevity App, enabling users to save and make money on everyday spending with superannuation tie-in
- Australia: An intro to the 6 startups chosen for Seeds of Change accelerator, from edible bugs to plant-based cheese and meats to fermented foods
- Australia: HealthHack Brisbane set for September 20-22, aiming for open-source health solutions
- Australia: WithYouWithMe raises $5M with worker capability testing platform
- Australia’s University of New South Wales Sydney to partner India’s The George Institute for Global Health medical research institute on Health10x accelerator
- Australian Gov’t Austrade releases Korean Startup Ecosystem Guide, providing an overview of Korea’s startup ecosystem, key industries, accelerators and more
- Researchers from the University of South Australia and Iraq unveil response solution for elderly falls, using drones, smartphones and sensors
- Australia: Research collaboration uses AI to detect brain aneurysms, with participation by Fujitsu Australia, GE Healthcare, Macquarie University
- Australia: The 9 music-tech startups pitching at September’s BIGTECH Conference, part of the BIGSOUND music festival in Brisbane
- Australia: The Impact Accelerator launches, focusing on environmental and social issues around urban living
- Australia: Instagram censors Melbourne artist’s work commenting on Beijing’s influence in Australia but permits ongoing death threats
- Australia: High court rules public servants can be fired for political social media posts – even if posted anonymously
- Australia: LaunchVic sets $350K funding for Australian Sports Technologies Network to deliver 4 programs to scale startups in human performance and sports tech
- Australia: Techstars Startup Weekend Whyalla set for September 6-8 at new Innovation & Collaboration Centre
- Australia: An intro to sameview, a platform to streamline disability care coordination within families and people’s choice winner of Remarkable accelerator
- Australia: A round-up of the country’s tech and startup news from the past month, covering fintech, agtech, blockchain and beyond
- Australian Angel Awards 2019 are now open for nominations
- Australia: Startmate Fellowship applications are open for applications to August 26th
- Australia: Bitcoin Cash City Conference set for Townsville in September
- Australia: A look at OpenSparkz, fintech platform for loyalty and payments allowing consumers to earn and redeem points in one step within one app
- Australia: An intro to CivVic Labs, accelerator bringing startups and government together to solve public sector challenges
- Australia: Circle In parental support startup raises $1.5M with sights set on US and UK expansion
- Australia: National Innovation Games launches to connect SMEs, corporates and institutions with students and graduates to solve real-world challenges
- Australia: Seer, epilepsy diagnostics startup, takes win at Startup Victoria’s Best of Startup State pitch night
- Australia: An intro to 23 of Melbourne’s startup incubators and accelerators, from Founder Institute
- Australia: Plus Eight Sprint 6-week pre-accelerator applications are now open for October intake
- Australia: Westpac Innovation Challenge launches, giving startups, scale-ups and entrepreneurs a chance at $50K and professional support
- Australia: Lumary raises $2M with workflow management platform for disability and aged care providers
- Australia: 11 regional New South Wales startups selected for Sydney Startup Hub bootcamp in August
- Australia: Government makes second attempt at national facial recognition database, claiming it will not be used for mass surveillance
- Australian Securities Exchange partners VMware to replace current registry, settlement and clearing systems with a blockchain-backed alternative
- Australia: Boosting Female Founders Initiative opens consultation process, focusing on barriers to women’s economic participation in the workforce
- Australia: Tipi travel-tech startup lands $4.5M with hardware/software for hostels to streamline check-in
- Australia: Access Threat AI startup lands partnership with global law firm, Clyde & Co, with Tera terrorism risk assessment product
- The Startup Board Report: A new playbook for founders & board members of Australian startups, from Think & Grow and KPMG High Growth Ventures (pdf)
- Australia: An intro to Locify, app aiming to increase transactions for participating businesses, help acquire and retain new customers
- Australia: The SportsTech Report – Advancing Victoria’s startup ecosystem, from LaunchVic and KPMG (pdf)
Australia’s startup news:
September 2019
- Australia: An intro to Junction AI, using ML to remove the guesswork from selecting creative and copy for Google Ads, social media ads and web promotions
- Australia: University of Adelaide unveils ‘frailty map’, providing a tool to help plan services for healthy ageing and seniors’ quality of life
- Australia: A quick look at 7 agtech startups presenting at SparkLabs Cultiv8 Demo Day
- Australia: Kapiche raises $1.75M with AI-powered text analytics focusing on customer surveys, reviews and feedback for businesses
- McDonald’s aims to have AI-driven voice-recognition tech up and running at over 14K US and Australian locations by year-end, following Dynamic Yield acquisition
- Australia: Third Aurora to add location-aware services to Winerytale augmented-reality platform by year-end to build on consumer engagement
- Australia: OpenSC, blockchain startup focused on sustainable and ethical supply chain tracking, raises $4M
- Australia: Real Estate Institute of Queensland partners Igloo blockchain startup to have residential tenancy agreements executed as digital smart contracts
- The Australian Coworking Market Report 2018/2019 (pdf)
- Australia: A look at Two Space, setting up offices and coworking spaces in unused hospitality spaces like restaurants and pubs rather than via formal office leases
- Australia: Coworking could soon be a thing of the past with predicted 25% increase in desk numbers and likely impact on per-desk rates
- Australia: Liven App to add Bitcoin Cash as payment option for near half a million users
- Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs: 5G needs to be looked at with not only an economic security mindset, but a national security mindset as well
- Australia: 2020 National Cyber Security Strategy paints picture of dramatically changed cyber-environment, and significantly different roles for gov’t and business
- Australia: Recognising and Responding to China’s Technology Transfer Efforts seminar set for September 19 in Canberra
- Australia: BindiMaps instals indoor wayfinding solution in Sydney Startup Hub to provide improved access for blind and vision-impaired visitors
- Australia: Tell Me Baby, baby product review site, completes $5.5M capital raise for in-country growth, and to prepare for e-commerce launch into China
- Australia: Mogo car sales matchmaking startup lands $1M via NewsCorp’s Scaleup Mediafund to launch nation-wide marketing campaign
- Australia: Power Ledger moves into rural Western Australia to trade surplus energy via DLT
- Australia: Fortress Esports announces Fortress Melbourne plan, targeting a March 2020 launch date of the largest esports venue in the southern hemisphere
- Australia: Criminal investigation into esports reveals game industry faces match-fixing and betting anomalies; industry worth more than films and music combined
- Australia: An overview of Afterpay fintech’s growth with buy now, pay later options for consumers
- Australia: Xinja Bank online-only banking firm gains banking license, allowing the startup to compete against the country’s ‘big 4’ lenders
- Australia: An intro to Heuros, cellular agriculture startup creating lab-grown cat food whilst looking at far wider potential
- Australia: University Foreign Interference Taskforce to assess the level of foreign interference in universities, with cybersecurity a key focus
- Australia: Culture Amp HR tech firm secures $82M with a focus on analytics and employee engagement, retention and performance
- South Australia’s Ping Services to install 55 IoT devices on wind farm turbines in state of Victoria in 3-month pilot program
- Australia: The Things Conference Asia Pacific On Tour 2019 set for November 19th in Adelaide, with LoRaWAN masterclass on the 18th
- Australia: Immediation online dispute resolution platform launches, aiming to givelawyers, general counsel and clients fixed fee expert-facilitated outcomes
- Australia: Brandcrush marketing-tech startup lands over Au$1M to connect brands with a network of businesses and events to boost real-world customer engagement
- Robotics Plus takes ANZLF Trans-Tasman Innovation and Growth Award with agricultural automation
- Facebook Journalism Project expands Local News Accelerator program to Australia and New Zealand, in partnership with the Walkley Foundation
- Australia: AIRE proptech startup gains $1M with RITA, SaaS application using AI and automation to deliver a daily list of optimised leads to real estate agents
- Australia: REACH Australia real estate and proptech growth accelerator applications close September 15
- Australia: An intro to TUDI, prop-tech startup using AI and predictive algorithm to identify investible suburban hotspots, drawing data from over 15K suburbs
- Australia: Car Next Door car-sharing platform gains additional $6.2M investment from Hyundai, taking total to $8M in 12 months
- Australian Landing Pad in Singapore unveils 9th startup cohort
- Australia: Brisbane’s The Commune Space launch grants program to support social enterprises with branding and design services
- Australia: An intro to Jetson Industries, using chip-embedded sports equipment to collect movement data and provide insights to players, coaches, and fans
- A broad collection of Australia’s tech and startup news from the month past, via Startup News Asia
- Australia: Perth Podcast Week set for October 1st – interactive workshops, panel talks and discussions
- Australia: StartCon startup and growth conference and expo set for November 22-23 in Sydney
- Australia: Spark Festival set for October 10-27 in Sydney and across NSW – over 100 events for startups, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators
- Australia: Biometric bill ‘hands control of powerful new forms of surveillance to Home Affairs with virtual carte blanche to collect and use…sensitive personal data’
- Australia: A brief intro to 4 startups working on eliminating food waste given that, each year, more than 5M tonnes of Australian food ends up in landfill
- Australia: UQ Ventures ilab Accelerator 2020 applications to open late September – info workshops start tomorrow
- Australia: Startup Onramp Founders course set for 18-19 October in Brisbane – coaching, panel discussions, advice and the chance to pitch
- Australia: Q-CTRL quantum computing startup completes $22M Series A fundraise
- Australia: RMIT University researchers produce ‘smart textile’ which is waterproof, stretchable and readily integrated with energy harvesting technologies
- Australia’s Blys startup to expand internationally after New Zealand entry, aiming to tap growing interest in wellness and services-on-demand
- Australia: League of Extraordinary Women launches global mentee-mentor matching platform
- Australia: An intro to Qponics, algae farming startup leading the charge in the plant-based protein space
- Australia: 10 fintech firms and startups selected as guinea pigs in testing open banking scheme before official launch in early 2020
- Australia: Incent startup launches limited-time deal offering 20% back in INCNT, cryptocurrency for purchases at United Petrol stations
- Australia: Lakeba Group pilots blockchain-based proptech platform dividing apartments into 20 ‘bricklets’ which can then be freely traded
- Australia: Virtual Startup Internship Program launches, offering a chance to experience and gain understanding of what it’s like to work in a startup
- Australia: Ideas Feast Pitch Night for international students set for October 21st as part of Melbourne’s Spark Festival
- Australia: Lawcadia raises $1.3M pre-Series A with aims to provide more transparency, accountability, and cost-savings for in-house legal teams
- Australia: Antler venture builder to present demo day at Sydney Town Hall, in partnership with City of Sydney’s Tech Startups Action Plan, on November 7th
- Australia: StartVR launches SJx, virtual reality-based first aid training platform, designed for St John Ambulance Victoria
- Australia: An overview of the winners of the TechBoard 2019 Australian Angel Awards
- Bhutan: A brief look at the startups from Druk Entrepreneurial Challenge, part of the Australia Awards short course for Bhutanese entrepreneurs
- Singapore: Australia Cyber Startup Showcase set for September 26
