A broad round-up of Australia’s tech, startup and funding news, from November of 2019.
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- Australia: An intro to the FOMENT accelerator focusing on the wine tourism industry, and the 7 agtech startups selected for the pilot program
- Australia: SpaceX starts regulatory process for permission to operate Starlink satellite broadband service, with intended initial launch of 12K satellites
- Australia: The Freelancer API Hackathon set for November 22-23 as part of StartCon 2019 in Sydney
- Australia: Westpac bank selects UK’s 10x Future Technologies for build of standalone banking-as-a-service platform
- Australia: Muso live music marketplace secures Au$1.5M to connect venues and musicians
- Australia: Block2 blockchain firm implements EY’s OpsChain Tesseract blockchain for 2Mota vehicle services marketplace
- Australia: Facial recognition system trial now underway in 5 schools, raising privacy, surveillance and data security fears
- Australia: An intro to BlueVolt, owner-installable, self-designing solar system startup focused on urban environments in the Mirvac/INCO Impact Accelerator program
- Australia: An intro to AI-powered Sortal, a trainable and personalised digital asset management system
- Australia: Lawpath legaltech firm secures Au$4.4M with online legal solutions
- Australia: StartCon Pitch for a Million applications close soon, so get in quick – Australian regionals take place at StartCon, November 22 and 23 in Sydney
- Australia: John McAfee, founder of McAfee AntiVirus, to speak at StartCon, Australia’s premier startup conference and expo, set for November 22-23
- Australia: An intro to HealthMatch, health-tech startup that recently raised $6M to match patients with clinical trials
- Australia: Former Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to speak on innovation policy at StartCon Conference and Expo in Sydney, November 22-23
- Australian Government releases AI ethics principles document, outlining 8 recommendations when designing, developing, integrating or using AI systems
- Australia: Greenfield MC Global medicinal cannabis startup launches equity crowdfunding round aimed at smaller-scale investors
- Australia’s Skyy Network makes it to semi-final list of New York’s GENIUS NY competition unmanned aircraft systems traffic management system
- Australia: Growave startup to commence trials using microwave tech to control herbicide-resistant weeds
- Australia: A look at the recent Innovation Bay and ARENA event, and the 5 renewable energy startups that pitched
- More on the Blue Dot Network, led by the US, Japan and Australia, and how it differs from China’s Belt and Road Initiative
- Australia: Power Ledger to integrate Virtual Power Plant energy trading application with Powerclub electricity wholesaler, giving users wholesale pricing and more
- Australia: DayTek Capital to launch Infinity challenger bank by mid-2020, aiming to deliver unique products and services to retail and business
- Australia: SheStarts program a likely casualty of BlueChilli restructure in the firm’s move away from early-stage startups towards scale-ups and established outfits
- Australia: New Venture Institute at Flinders University takes top place in UBI World Benchmark Study focused on university-linked incubators and accelerators
- Australia: An at-a-glance infographic of 188 of the country’s proptech firms
- Australia: A look at SimpleKYC, reg-tech startup aiming to take its AML compliance solution to global markets
- Australia: Adelaide Startup Resource List – 250+ accelerators, incubators, investors, and more, from Founder Institute
- Australia: Startmate Climate Cohort launches, seeking 10 teams or solo founders for 12-week program
- Australia: Zoom2U on-demand courier startup raises $4.2M on e-commerce roots, with sights on services expansion
- Australia: Vygo peer-to-peer mentoring startup to back soon-to-launch Mentor Academy platform for training domestic and international student mentors
- Australia: EY Foundry unveils 4 startups selected for accelerator program, focusing on the accounting, tax, fintech, legal-tech and regulatory sectors
- Australia: NASA’s Christyl Johnson to keynote at StartCon 2019 in Sydney next week, outlining vision for 2024 moon mission
- Australia: An intro to SILVR, bringing seniors together through shared experiences in virtual reality
- Australia: Nokk proptech startup – over 7K customers, 3K properties and a $1M fundraise whilst still in Beta
- Australia: Carly, a flexible monthly car subscription service, inks $2.2M deal with SG Fleet, offering an alternative to car ownership
- Australia: Blockchain Australia National Meetup Roadshow’s Perth edition set for December 3rd
- Australia: Federal government Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes to back new $30M VC fund targeting agrifood sector
- Australia: An intro to Powershop’s Your Community Energy project, allowing customers to boost energy payments to benefit charitable organisations
- Australia: A look at the University of Queensland’s recent development in performance around image processing and algorithms in digital pathology
- Australia: Hometime Airbnb property management startup raises $6.7M on top of May fundraise of $6M, in part from NAB Ventures
- Australia: Tyro payments services provider files domestic IPO prospectus aiming to raise as much as Au$252M
- Australia: Theatrix VR takes Gold eNVIe at Flinders University’s New Venture Institute eNVIes Awards
- Australia: thingc Robotics to commence trials of electric agriculture robot, aiming to deliver autonomous vehicles for farming
- Australia: Government proposes national cyber regime for IoT and smart devices based on 13 principles – but makes it a voluntary scheme
- Australia: Westpac partners Microsoft for Data Driven Experience Platform, AI/ML-driven banking hub to provide more personalised services to customers
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- Australia: A brief intro to the 8 tech startups that received funding under the government’s Accelerating Commercialisation grants program
- Australia: Video interview with NASA’s Dr Christyl Johnson on plans to put the first woman, and the next man, on the moon by 2024, as also outlined at StartCon
- ICYMI: SheEO, global women’s organisation providing funding to female founders opens Australia applications for 2020 Venture Funding program
- Australia’s Linktree makes CNBC list of the world’s 100 most promising startups of 2019 with social media ‘front door’ management
- Australia: Canngea to establish Australia’s largest pharmaceutical-grade indoor facility to grow and manufacture high quality medical cannabis products
- Australia: More on Tenacious Ventures agri-foodtech VC firm’s $16M fundraise, and an interview with TV co-founder Sarah Nolet
- Australia: How to get more VC investment into WA companies – Techboard Roundtable event set for December 3rd in Perth
- A video interview with Dan Lok from Australia’s StartCon 2019 event, held in Sydney on November 22 and 23
- Australia: Rio Tinto to unveil $10M program to identify education providers to work with Amazon Web Services, aiming to boost skills in STEM subjects
- Deloitte Australia partners ioTium, California-based IoT startup, to explore opportunities in industrial IoT in Australia
- Australia: Sydney Quantum Academy soft-launches, a government-funded collaboration between 4 universities focusing on quantum computing research and applications
- Blocking Huawei from Australia’s 5G network may not mitigate risks around the company’s telecommunication gear being used elsewhere, says defence strategist
- Australia: ‘The AI Dilemma – is it possible to perfect ethical decision making?’ Lucy Lin’s talk from the recent StartCon Conference and Expo in Sydney
- Australian Strategic Policy Institute launches China Defence Universities Tracker, detailed resource on defence/security links of 160+ Chinese universities & research institutions
- Australia: Attorney-General says social media platforms should be held legally accountable in the same way as publishers for defamatory comments posted
- Australia: Monash University launches Monash Blockchain Technology Centre, building outwards from faculty-level internal research lab
- Australia: A look at LaunchVic’s new delivery strategy following changes in the state budget allocation for the body
- Australia: Power Ledger unveil 2 new wins – one expanding into National Energy Market, another to trial P2P energy marketplace in India’s Uttar Pradesh state
- Australia: Stone & Chalk coworking space formally launches in Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen, and opens applications for startup residencies
- Australian Navy to deploy SPEE3D metal 3D printing in trial program aimed at streamlining patrol vessel maintenance
- Australia’s TravelByBit startup to launch cryptocurrency-based payments and travel rewards card in partnership with Binance global crypto exchange
- ICYMI: Fresh Equities wins Australasian Startup Award for Best Fintech Startup of 2019 at StartCon Conference and Expo in Sydney
- Australia: Applications open now open for the Sydney edition of Founder Institute pre-seed accelerator
- Australia: Impact Investment Group launches BOLD, loans with positive action in mind, rewarding businesses for policies that benefit society and the environment
- Australia: Each of the Big Four banks agree to $100M participation in Government’s $520M SME-focused Business Growth Fund
- A look at why Australia’s mining giants are racing for automation
- Australia: Kasada anti-bot startup raises $7M Series A from US In-Q-Tel VC fund with solution that combats malicious automation
- Australia’s ‘robodebt’ debacle – algorithmically-generated notices to welfare recipients around alleged income discrepancies, or repayment of alleged debt
- A brief intro to the 12 Australian and New Zealand tech startups chosen to compete in the $1M Ingram Micro Comet competition
