#StartupAus news
January, February & March 2019
- Australia: Sendle raises $20M to double down on its challenge to Australia Post
- An introduction to Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs
- Australia: myCryptoWallet considers legal action against NAB for account closures
- Australia: LoopLearn secures $470K for facial recognition technology focusing on school roll-calls
- Australia: Swinburne university offering 3 fintech postgraduate courses in 2019
- Australia: Nexsis accepted to Mastercard Start Path accelerator with clean water, solar power and IoT technology
- Australia: LaunchVic’s Expert-in-Residences for Coworking Spaces program open for applications to end of February
- Australia: Power Ledger blockchain tech startup to partner Japan’s Sharing Energy renewable energy firm
- Australia: Darwin Innovation Hub unveils first incubator cohort
- Australia: The 6 firms sharing $2M in the January 2019 round of federal government $23M Incubator Support initiative
- Australia: Volt becomes the first challenger bank to gain a full banking licence
- Australia: A podcast intro to what big tech companies gain from the 10 year challenge
- KPMG reports that VC investment in Australian startups hit a record high of US$899M in 2018
- Australia: Startup Onramp Brisbane program now open for registrations
- Australia’s @SteveGlaveski launches new book: Employee to Entrepreneur – How to Earn Your Freedom and Do Work that Matters
- An intro to Adelaide’s Trust In Taste, using WeChat to introduce Chinese consumers to Australian wineries
- Australia: Lumi fintech startup raises $31.5M with small business lending focus
- Australia: Matilda smart transport hub, world-first integrated driverless technology trial, launches in Adelaide
- Australia: Collider Accelerator by QUT Creative Enterprise Australia now open for applications
- Australia and Vietnam develope tech partnership with launch of Aus4Innovation project
- Australia: An intro to the CSIRO-developed Rural Intelligence Platform
- Australia: Woolworths focusing on voice-enabled shopping with conversational AI platform
- Australia: China Canvas Challenge now open for applications
- Australia: How blockchain-based proof-of-provenance could revolutionise the food industry
- Australia: Startup Gippsland’s 12-week mentoring program now open for applications
- Australia: Techstars Startup Weekend Brisbane set for February 15-17
- Australia: Atto remote pre-accelerator program launches to help Australia’s women founders
- Australia: An intro to StreetHubs, tech startup aiming to connect communities one street at a time
- Australia: Baraja raises $32M for autonomous vehicle lidar system
- Australia: FluroSat, agtech startup leveraging AI technology to improve agricultural yields, awarded Au$3M in funding
- Australia: mCryptoCard launches, enabling shoppers to spend XRP, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin and Power Ledger anywhere EFTPOS is accepted
- The 2019 Class of Techstars-powered Air Force Accelerator, including Australia’s Bitwoke IoT cybersecurity startup
- Australia: Huawei attempts to pressure Telstra and Google over defence policy think tank funding
- Australia: Government opens $1.1M grant round aiming to solve five public policy challenges
- Australia: Hut34 launches cryptocurrency wallet using Google ID and security models to access Ethereum and Ethereum-based tokens
- Australia: Government mulls new regulatory framework to better manage initial coin offerings
- Australia: Plus Eight Sprint open for applications – 6-week part-time pre-Accelerator program in Perth, WA
- Australia: Chief executives of Cicada Innovations and Fishburners announce resignation on the same day
- Australia: Buddy dinner deals startup lands partnership with Uber prior to Melbourne expansion
- Australia: Horizon State blockchain tech to be used by South Australian Gov’t to conduct election
- Australia: ‘Government agencies should look at the problem they are trying to solve rather than embracing technologies like blockchain’
- Australia: Hemideina medtech startup secures $1M with tiny alternative hearing devices
- Australia: Curious Thing recruitment-focused AI startup secures $1.5M
- Australia: LaunchVic offers grants up to $250K in open funding round worth total of $2M
- Australia: Global Legal Hackathon 2019 set for Melbourne’s Monash University, February 22-24
- Techstars Music unveils its next cohort of 9 music-tech startups
- Australia: ‘The production of journalism is too important to be left entirely to market forces’
- Australia: WorldStack open-source startup secures $500K for cyber-intelligence tool
- Australia: Hometime property management startup aims for capital raise on 750% growth across 18 months
- So, why are Australians still using Facebook?
- Australia: Artesian Venture Partners launches Au$50M agtech fund
- Australia: Fishburners startup hub adds virtual membership model to capture regional founders and remote workers
- Australia: PocketDolla an online marketplace launches, enabling communities to lend or rent spare items
- Australia: An intro to Designerex dress sharing platform, making international moves with marketing based on Instagram and micro-influencers
- Australia: The Finnies 2019 financial technology awards open for application in March
- Australia: Fleet Space nanosatellite business lands Kennards Hire tool and plant hire for Aus/NZ equipment tracking
- Australia: Austal defence and fast ferry shipbuilder in ‘proof of value’ stage for IoT system to fuel consumption, improve ride comfort
- Australia: GoFar IoT startup raises $1.3M to improve drivers’ skills
- A brief intro to 15 startups taking part in e27’s TOP100 APAC 2019 pitching competition
- Australia: Forcite ‘smart helmet’ startup secures $1M to prep motorcyclists for driverless roads of the future
- Australia: Shebah women-only rideshare company launches equity crowdfunding campaign
- Australia: Girls in Tech Australia conference set for May 15 in Melbourne
- Australia: Plus Eight Sprint seed-fund accelerator open for applications for March 2019 cohort
- Australia: An intro to SpacetoCo, platform connecting unused spaces to communities
- Australia: Techstars Startup Weekend Perth set for February 22-24
- Australia: QUT CEA Collider Accelerator applications close March 3rd
- Australia: QUT Creatuve Enterprize Australia Collider Accelerator open for applications
- Startup capital – 12 ways to fund a new venture in Australia
- Australia: 12 startups graduate from first Microsoft Sydney ScaleUp Program
- Australia: $28M Research, Commercialisation and Startup Fund launched, targeting new and existing business and research enterprises in South Australia
- Australian Startup Salary Guide 2018 (pdf)
- Singapore’s largest ‘co-living space’ Hmlet expands to Australia on back of US$6.5M funding
- Australia: SA Museum, in partnership with Civic Ledger, named finalist in State Government Blockchain Innovation Challenge
- Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre trials blockchain to automate international fund transfer instructions reporting
- Australia: RACV launches Arevo, country’s first all-in-one mobility-as-a-service app
- Australia: Kerb startup takes win at Toyota Hackathon
- Australia: An intro to Adelaide’s Wright Technologies’ drone identification and tracking system
- Australia: OpenSparkz loyalty platform raises $1.5M
- Australia: Trunk designer-focused file versioning startup acquired by InVision
- Australia: Oovvuu AI-driven media startup gains $4.8M with video matching technology
- Australia: Tribe influencer marketing platform preps for US launch after $10.5M capital raise
- Australia: Brandcrush launches product sampling and brand experience marketplace to take activations beyond supermarkets and train stations
- Australia: GoMicro launches AI diagnostics tool that combines a microscope and smartphone to deliver agtech solutions and beyond
- Australia: A look at The Guardian’s first article generated by ReporterMate, an experimental automated news reporting system
- Australia: An intro to Cipher, app system giving museum visitors virtual access to information beyond what can be seen on display
- Australia: An intro to Jaunt, adventure startup converting gas vehicles into electric road trippers
- Australia: Abacus combines AI and automation for tenants to bid and negotiate rental agreements with workspace operators
- Australia: Binance launches cash-to-Bitcoin service in 1300 locations via newsagents
- Australia’s International Cyber Engagement Strategy (pdf)
- Australia: Melbourne commuters able to buy transport tickets using Android smartphones from Thursday
- Australia: LoungeBuddy backed by American Express to allow users to book airport lounges in 450+ locations globally, usually at a lower cost than airlines charge
- Australia: Antler ‘startup generator’ launches offering professionals $4000 to build a new startup
- Australia: Startup World Cup global pitch competition applications close March 27
- Australia: ClubsNSW partners Slingshot to launch ClubsTHRIVE accelerator
- Australia: ANZ Bank catalogues blockchain technology’s list of non-uses
- A brief look at 17 of Australia’s blockchain startups
- Australia: Government unveils national blockchain roadmap and strategy
- Australia: Airwallex cross-border payments platform secures US$100M funding, taking it into unicorn territory
- Australia: Government unveils ‘digital transformation’ recipients, set for up to $20K in digital support as part of Digital Champions initiative
- A brief look at some of Australia’s challenger banks
- Australia: Salesforce launches Au$50M Australia Trailblazer Fund startup fund
- Australia: Envato Foundation launches grants totalling $630K aimed at creating education and careers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Australia: Hireup tech startup takes award for support worker services for people with disability
- Australia: Shortlyster HR tech startup lands $5M with AI to help companies choose the right people to hire
- Australia: Stone & Chalk partners Barayamal for Indigenous Accelerator, providing indigenous entrepreneurs with coworking and investor access
- An overview of what Australia’s cyber strategy means for Asia Pacific
- Australia: Facebook launches $5M journalism program, along with Walkley Foundation partnership
- Facebook partners Girls in Tech for female entrepreneur support in Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Korea
- The 9 startups selected for the current Techstars Music Accelerator
- Australia: LJ Hooker real estate giant preparing for world-first live Bitcoin auction
- Australia: Inspace XR, VR prop-tech start-up, raises $750K seed round
- Australia: Senscity IoT monitoring platform for citiy green spaces selected for Amsterdam-based Arcadis City of 2030 Accelerator
- Australia: TRIBE social influencer startup raises $7.5M; makes US move
- Australia: Optus partners Metigy social media management startup for automated marketing services to small business customers
- Australia: UniSA Venture Catalyst incubator program now open for applications
- Australia: Adgile Media advertising tech startup secures $4.5M funding from Singaporean VC firm
- Australia: AgFrontier Agtech Incubator launched for regional and rural startups
- Australia: Nura headphones startup now offers subscription option with upgrades built-in
- Australia: Monash University RepuCoin blockchain system makes it prohibitively expensive to attempt hacking
- Australia: Fulcrum3D renewable sensor startup secures near $1 for wind and solar farm energy forecasting projects
- Australia: Stone & Chalk partners Enterprise Ireland to bridge Aussie-Irish fintech gap
- Australia: Earnd fintech startup secures $2.5M for app allowing people to withdraw wages as they’re earned
- Australia: Waddle online lender secures $3M series A with SME focus
- Australia: Games Career Incubator launched by Girl Geek Academy and Film Victoria partnership
- Australia: Lumi Interactive, woman-founded mobile games developer, secures 500K pre-registrations for inaugural game
- Australia: Business Research and Innovation Initiative open, providing SMEs with grant funding for government policy and service delivery solutions
- Australia: GO1 corporate training online marketplace gains backing from Microsoft’s M12 global VC arm
- Australia: Ping IoT-connected startup secures $170K for tech that detects wind turbine damage
- Australia: Cicada Innovations MedLab accelerator unveils first graduating cohort of medtech startups
- Australia: Hometime property management startup preps for Asia-Pac growth
- Australia: An intro to Spacenow, connecting customers to spaces for short-term rentals
- Australia: 2nd Hype UQ Spin sports tech accelerator preps for April run
- Australia: Innovation Vouchers Program launched in WA to help SMEs commercialise ideas and innovations, and to create jobs
- Australia: An intro to the University of Queensland’s new Chief Student Entrepreneur, and the uni’s entrepreneur-focused initiatives
- Australia: An intro to King River Capital, VC firm aiming to invest in 15-20 companies over 3-4 years
- Startup World Cup Australia Finals 2019 set for April 10 in Brisbane
- Australia: QODE tech festival set for April in Brisbane
- Australia: A brief overview of some of the government grants for startups
- Australia: Startup Shakeup pitch night set for April 4 in Wangaratta – $100K and attendance at Jiangsu Victoria Startup Summit in China in prizes
- Australia: Nugget’s News crypto/blockchain platform partners Konkrete startup for country’s first end-to-end solution for security token offerings
- Australian startups: Applications open for Global Startup Talents @ Taipei program hosted by Taipei City Government
- Australia: University of South Australia unveils Paola, virtual assistant to promote physical well-being
- Australia, New Zealand to adopt Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line interoperability framework for eInvoicing
- Australia: Sensadata IoT company based at LaTrobe University selected for Plug And Play global accelerator
- Australia: Telstra-backed muru-D accelerator unveils latest batch of 10 startups
- Australia: Pendula secures $3.5M, doubles local team and expands to the US
- An intro to 13 of Australia’s female startup founders and small business owners
- Australia: Shebah women-only rideshare startup raises Au$1M with equity crowdfunding campaign
- Australia: FanPlus marketplace platform launches to connect fans with sports and entertainment celebs
- Emerging hubs for fintech: Australia, South America and Africa
- Myanmar: Australia’s AsiaCarGroup launches Mymyancar, online marketplace for automobiles
- Australian Government Austrade releases report on Vietnam’s Innovation Ecosystem 2019
- Singapore: Nanyang Technological University and Volvo Buses launch world-first full size autonomous electric bus
