October 2019
A round-up of key tech, startup and funding news from Australia through October of 2019.
To get Australia’s startup news daily:
• Follow Wade K Wright on Twitter
• Read Startup News Asia on Facebook
• Check our daily LinkedIn updates or
• get the Startup News Asia Android app
- Australia: Optus adds to its range of 5G phones, totalling three for now, but without in-building 5G services yet available
- Australia: Member-based angel investor group Investible closes first fund of $22M, with sights set on early-stage startup funding
- Australia: Sempo blockchain startup takes Impact Pitch Night win from Startup Victoria for financial inclusion solution
- Australia: A look at Karst Stone Paper, making biodegradable paper from limestone with 67% less carbon emissions than traditional paper-making
- Australian Computer Society appoints Director of Scale Up and Innovation Labs, former CEO of HashChing fintech startup
- Australia: Payment Logic rolls out Yak Pay in partnership with Visa, with cost-effective payments processing
- Australia: Woolworths tasks WooliesX unit with creating ‘high quality online grocery service’ for business customers, capable of delivering $1BN revenue by 2024
- Australia goes backwards on 63-nation ranking across study’s 3 main criteria: Knowledge, Technology, and Future Readiness
- Australia: Android and Apple iOS users can now create myGovID digital ID to access government services online
- Australia: Proptech startup :Different raises $3.5M, aiming for national expansion with app-based full-spectrum property management
- Australia: Aboriginal Entrepreneur Hub to be established at Lot Fourteen innovation neighbourhood in Adelaide’s CBD by year-end
- Australia: Basiq open banking startup gains Series A funding from Salesforce Ventures, NAB Ventures and Westpac’s Reinventure
- Australia: Immutable, gaming startup, hit by concerted cyber attack for supporting professional gamer banned by Blizzard for endorsing HK democracy protests
- …the scope of the Bills dramatically and inappropriately exceeds Australian’s reasonable expectations to…the right to privacy and freedom of association
- Australia: Decade-long dataset of global cyber-threat landscape unveiled, to enable cybersecurity specialists to mine insights and predict future malicious activity
- Australia: Sydney Knowledge Hub launched by the University of Sydney to create deep connections with STEM entrepreneurs
- Perth Mint launches gold-backed Ethereum token guaranteed by the government of Western Australia
- Australia: Startup Founders Research Report – research into the wellbeing of startup founders and entrepreneurs, from KPMG (pdf)
- Australia: West Tech Fest set for 2-9 December in Perth, celebrating Asia Pacific’s startup ecosystem and showcasing innovation, investment and entrepreneurship
- Australia: WA Health Digital Strategy 2020-2030 unveiled, aiming to transform the healthcare system over the next decade
- Australia: UK’s TrueLayer open banking startup gains expansion footprint with new APAC hub, aiming for growth into Singapore and Hong Kong
- Australia: University of Queensland’s ilab Accelerator opens 2020 program applications, closing November 1st
- Senior members launch campaign against corporatisation proposed for the governance structure at the Australian Computer Society
- Australia: AusTrade unveils new report outlining $7.3BN cybersecurity opportunity in Southeast Asia
- Australia: Median fintech revenue is up 80% but access to capital has shrunk, finds EY FinTech Australia Census 2019
- SingularityU Australia Summit set for October 22-23 in Sydney, aiming to look at the latest in exponential technologies and positive impact
- Download: EY FinTech Australia Census 2019 (pdf)
- Australia: Smart Cities Week 2019 event set for October 30 in Sydney
- Australia: Cyber-security branch established by Parliamentary Services to improve analysis of threat intelligence and detection following February cyber-attack
- Australia: Reimagination Thought Leaders’ Summit 2019 from ACS set for December 4th in Melbourne
- United Nations questions the legality of Australia’s controversial Centrelink robo-debt scheme, and the country’s use of cashless welfare cards
- Australia: Devika tech startup partnered by HP Australia for end-to-end virtual reality solutions for HP customers
- Australia’s Sound Scouts hearing test startup 1 of 3 to win investment at Fire Pitch Competition in Texas
- Australia: Future Agro Challenge 2019 for agtech and foodtech innovators set for 1st weekend in November on the Atherton Tablelands
- Australia: Canva raises $85M led by Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital VC firm, taking valuation to $3.2BN and making it one of the most valuable female-led startups globally
- Australia: Code Barrel acquired by Atlassian for automation tooling on Atlassian’s Jira team ticket tracking product
- Australia: Applications now open for the 2020 Fashion360 Accelerator Program from QUT’s Creative Enterprise Australia
- An intro to FlexCareers, platform connecting talented individuals, entrepreneurs, carers, adventurers and others seeking a balanced life, with progressive employers
- Australia: AirTree Ventures closes Au$275M fund
- Australia: An intro to Pellar, white label blockchain solutions firm with applications currently used by 21 car manufacturers globally
- The Things Conference Asia Pacific On Tour 2019 – Adelaide, November 19th
- Australia: 5 student startups from Australian National University recognised at InnovationACT 2019 Awards Night, sharing $50K of grants and other support
- Australia: Humanitix NFP ticketing platform which redirects booking fees for events to charities gains events ticketing partner integration with Facebook
- Australia: National facial recognition system plans in disarray after bipartisan committee orders legislation redraft due to privacy and transparency concerns
- Australia: eftpos to launch public API program in early 2020, and will partner Stone&Chalk to build closer relationships with the Australian fintech community
- Australia: An intro to Strong Room, methadone dispensing software with facial recognition-based patient verification, patient alerts and stock management
- Australia: An intro to 4 women-led startups working on eliminating food waste
- Australia: Government aims to meld driver’s licence databases with facial-recognition technology, now claiming identity theft crimes as reasoning
- Australian Computer Society members vote for organisation to become a company in major governance overhaul
- Australia: An intro to the winners of the Perth leg of NASA’s Space Apps Challenge – SciTech’s data-driven VR game, and Oceanth Generation’s low-cost ‘net access
- Australia: Meet Refueler, allowing users to pre-purchase fuel when the price is low, then pump it into their vehicle later
- Australia: A brief look at how recruitment startups are preparing for Uber’s entry to the recruitment space with Uber Works
- Australia: Devika tech startup partners with Equalution health-tech app to deliver AI-driven customised health plans
- An intro to Australia’s Okra Solar, aiming to eradicate energy poverty using solar minigrids, starting in Cambodia
- Australia: Frankly Co prep for $2.5M equity crowdfunding campaign for women-focused coworking with childcare and fitness options
- Australia: Medical Device Partnering Program aims to foster collaborations between researchers, industry, end-users and gov’t for medical tech with global potential
- Australia: “…most surprising thing about the failure of…planned facial recognition database…is that there hadn’t been broader debate and outcry…”
- Australia: An intro to 4 clean energy startups selected for EnergyLab incubator
- Australia: ACS Australia Digital Pulse 2019 report – a snapshot of Australia’s digital economy, workforce and policy landscape
- Australia: Activate Angels initiative launches to help South Australian startups to access private sector funding
- Australia’s Power Ledger partners Malaysia’s Sustainable Energy Development Authority to trial peer to peer energy trading
- 4 startups selected for BlueChilli Australian accelerator’s inaugural Singapore healthtech accelerator
- Good Life X, Sri Lanka’s first international startup accelerator program, launches in partnership with Hatch coworking and Australia’s iAccelerate
To get Australia’s startup news daily:
• Follow Wade K Wright on Twitter
• Read Startup News Asia on Facebook
• Check the daily LinkedIn updates or
• get the Startup News Asia Android app
