This Week in Australian Startups #59, 17th March 2024
It’s the first week of Ramadan, and as I’m getting into my routine it’s meant I didn’t have time to do a deep dive this week. Here’s a nice guide written by the Global VP, People of HelloFresh Yasar Ahmad shared on LinkedIn if you’re curious about how you can support any colleagues that may also be observing.
But as a follow on from last week Richard Holden, an economics professor at UNSW published the following article in the AFR outlining a similar viewpoint to mine which I thought was worth a read.
Australia
Top News
Queensland has opened 2 grant programs for women founders, worth up to $200K a pop (Startup Daily)
LaunchVic is writing $300K cheques to set up angel networks to back Victorian startups (Startup Daily)
Finder just had a big win against the corporate cop, ASIC, over its crypto wallet (Startup Daily)
Why Choice Matters for Every Australian (Ben Thomspon)
‘No superannuation fund has done more’: Hostplus fires back on Employment Hero founder’s ‘tirade’ (Startup Daily)
Employment Hero cofounder goes nuclear over investor Hostplus pressing to sack him (Startup Daily)
Airtree the victim in Hostplus and Employment Hero battle for the truth (SmartCompany)
Employment Hero CEO levels up Hostplus feud, as VC backer Airtree searches for middle ground (SmartCompany)
Ben Thompson: Employment Hero tried negotiating with Hostplus before public super feud (SmartCompany)
The real issue at the heart of Employment Hero’s super stoush (AFR)
Kogan.com cofounder David Shafer offloads $16M worth of stock (Startup Daily)
ASX-listed VC Touch Ventures and its CEO part ways after Gannet Capital investment (Startup Daily | BNA)
Global Tech Advocates launches an Australian arm (Startup Daily)
Queensland renewables startup Redback Technologies placed in voluntary administration (Startup Daily)
Elaine Stead launches a crowdsourced research for the tech industry to address sexism in Australian tech & investment (Elaine Stead)
EnergyLab’s climate tech alumni raised $289 million in 2023 (SmartCompany)
Grant opens for $8.1M small business cyber crime ‘triage’ service (SmartCompany)
Former Google Play exec David Yin to lead Mighty Kingdom as game developer rattles tin for $6.2M (BNA)
Iress has agreed to sell its UK Mortgages arm to Bain Capital for $164.3 million (BNA)
"Full circle moment" for Cape founder as fintech acquired by Anna.Money (BNA)
Kanyini satellite passes critical testing hurdle ahead of its planned mid-2024 launch (BNA)
New Jersey-based Innodata withdraws $153M takover offer for Appen (BNA)
US suitor Par Technology prepared to pay a big premium to secure TASK Group for $288M (BNA)
Canva COO Cliff Obrecht says investors are wanting to buy $3.6B of stock in share sale as revenue growth hits 60% YoY (AFR)
Victorian government venture capital fund referred to auditor-general (AFR)
Sqreem Technologies has acquired bootstrapped adtech Trade Indy for $30M (AFR)
Dubber secures loan of up to $5M from Alex Waislitz (The Australian)
‘No plans’ to ban TikTok in Australia as US passes bill to ban app or force its sale (The Australian)
Citi has upgraded its rating on Zip Co, with accelerating US growth and the launch of Zip Plus in Australia (Capital Brief)
Emerging VCs fear big super stranglehold over startup ecosystem (Capital Brief)
LaunchVic unveils the latest 30x30 cohort (LaunchVic)
Relume has knocked back acquisition offers of $35 million, instead backing themselves to build a company they think can become the next Canva (SMH)
Funding Rounds
Bazaa, an antiques marketplace, has raised a $650K pre-Seed round (Startup Daily | SmartCompany)
FLK it over, an esignature platform, has raised $2.5M as it looks to expand beyond real estate with its electronic document signing solutions. (Startup Daily)
Bae Juice, a Korean hangover drink, has raised $1M as it looks to expand into the US (Startup Daily | BNA)
Fremantle Seaweed, the startup aiming to combat climate change with the power of macroalgae, has raised $1.26M in an equity crowdfunding campaign on Birchal (SmartCompany)
Doohly, an independent digital out-of-home AdTech platform focused on realtime transactions, has raised a $500K pre-Seed round (SmartCompany)
Rocco, a modern appliance brand, has raised an undisclosed sum from AfterWork (AfterWork Ventures)
Around The World
Top News
Laid-off techies face ‘sense of impending doom’ with job cuts at highest since dot-com crash (CNBC)
TikTok Bill’s Progress Slows in the Senate (NYT)
Silicon Valley Bank is back, after collapse and acquisition (The Washington Post)
Deal on EU AI Act gets thumbs up from European Parliament (TechCrunch)
How TikTok Was Blindsided by U.S. Bill That Could Ban It (WSJ)
Apple's Vision Pro was used in surgery to help perform spinal operations (Business Insider)
IBM is cutting jobs as tech's shift to AI continues (Quartz)
Trump asked Musk to buy Truth Social last year in new revelation (The Washington Post)
Telegram hits 900mn users and nears profitability as founder considers IPO (FT)
Elon Musk says xAI will open source Grok this week (TechCrunch)
Reddit removes CEO pay incentives in signal of reduced hopes for IPO (FT)
Funding Rounds
inDrive raises additional $150 million led by General Catalyst (Republic World)
PayPal Ventures-Backed PPRO Raises $93 Million for Local Payments Platform (PYMNTS)
US-based CarbonCapture raises $80 mln from Saudi Aramco, others (Reuters)
Applied Intuition lands $6B valuation for AI-powered autonomous vehicle software (TechCrunch)
‘Banking-as-a-Service’ startup Griffin raises $24M as it attains full banking license (TechCrunch)
Eclipse Labs raises $50 million in Series A funding ahead of expected Q2 mainnet (The Block)