Press for Progress, the theme of International Women’s Day (8 March) this year, is a call for us all to not be complacent when it comes to taking action to promote gender equality and working towards a more equitable future. [Related: “You can’t be what you can’t see”: addressing gender imbalance in the startup ecosystem] With only […]
Marriage and fatherhood fuelled the desire of Intact Group MD, Scot Pittaway, to ensure his building maintenance services company isn’t the last frontier for women. [Related: Entrepreneur Kate Middleton on rescuing a company in free fall, shaking up the status quo] Pittaway recently took home the Leader in Gender Diversity in Industry Award at the Facility […]
The husband and wife team behind Socialsuite – an SaaS platform that enables not-for-profits to measure and prove their social impact to funders – overcame a controversial ‘Oscars moment’ to win Salesforce World Tour Sydney PitchComp (7 March) and take home US$100,000 in prize money. [Related: “It was very intense”: Sydney start-up PractiFI crowned winner of […]
The brains behind medtech startup Solus Health outpitched 46 other founding teams to secure victory at the 54-hour Creative Tech competition, held at Techstar’s recent Startup Weekend in Brisbane (2-5 March). The winning startup is developing a shoe sole embedded with technology that detects changes in the gait of the wearer’s feet, with the aim […]
Startup founders in search of the ‘right investor’ mustn’t let themselves be blinded by the cash placed on the table, lest they make a deal with the devil… OKAY, perhaps that’s a little melodramatic, but the underlying point is valid – money alone is no guarantee of a long, fruitful founder/investor relationship. This week, […]
Real estate agent comparison service LocalAgentFinder has closed an oversubscribed funding round, having not only raised $5.5 million from investors but achieved a pre-money valuation of more than $60 million. The round was led by Scaleup Mediafund, which is owned and supported by News Corp Australia, Network Ten, Nova Entertainment, and Fox Sports Australia, together with […]
Online pet care marketplace Mad Paws has secured $5 million in Series A funding, with ‘super-fast, sustainable growth’ over the past year cited by CEO Alexis Soulopoulos as a key reason why his ‘Airbnb for pets’ is in demand amongst investors. Launched in November 2014 by Soulopoulos and his co-founders Jan Pacas, Rolf Weber, Justus […]
Hot on the heels of its recent expansion into the $35 million Sydney Startup Hub, Tank Stream Labs has launched its first tech startup co-working space on Australia’s east coast. [Related: “Huge coup for Sydney” – $35m startup hub to host exclusive Microsoft accelerator program and The NSW Government is launching a $35 million innovation hub; the […]
The Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) Visa, which is expected to replace the subclass 457 Visa this month, continues to divide the business community, with employers contending onerous requirements and costs will impede their ability to hire critical talent. [Related: PM announces the end of 457 visas, proclaiming Australians must have priority for local jobs, Start-ups […]
After a long, fruitless search for meaningful engineering work in Australia, Pakistanti expat Usman Iftikhar resolved to ‘create his own future’ by starting a business. Eager to help other highly-skilled migrants overcome barriers to their professional fulfillment, he partnered with Jacob Muller and launched Catalysr – a startup incubator program for ‘migrapreneurs’ located in the […]
