James Harkness

Homegrown, US-based property tech startup HappyCo has completed a US$10.8 million Series A round led by Sydney’s Alium Capital Management. Australian VC firms Tempus Partners and PieLab Venture Partners also participated in the round along with HappyCo’s existing investors Larsen Ventures and Sandalphon Capital. Founded in Adelaide in 2011, before relocating to San Francisco the following year, […]

A CEO landed himself in some hot water, this week, due to his participation our latest “Let’s Talk…” feature. When asked by Dynamic Business to name a bad habit startup founders need to break, he sent the following response by email… “I’m currently on holidays and upon arriving at my hotel, I asked my wife, […]

Social networking startup Gather Online, which markets itself as ‘Snapchat for groups’, has accepted a $1 million seed investment from Brett Dawson and onboarded the former Dimension Data CEO as the chairman of its board. Based in Sydney, the social discovery and messaging platform boasts 40,000 active daily users and has now raised $2.5 million […]

ASX-listed fintech Novatti Group has launched a new bill payment solution for members of Australia’s growing community of Chinese residents, migrants, students and toursist, resulting in its shares surging more than 36% in a day. The chinapayments.com platform enables consumers to pay billers registered with the BPAY electronic bill payment system, using funds from their […]

Following an ASIC investigation, mining magnate and former politician Clive palmer has been charged with breaching takeover law arising from a proposed takeover of The President’s Club (TPC). His company Palmer Leisure Coolum (PLC, previously known as Queensland North Australia) has also been charged over the proposed takeover. ASIC alleges that in April 2012 PLC […]

Hot on the heels of an $8 million Series B funding round, Cloud-based HR, payroll and benefits platform Employment Hero has recruited former Google executive Alex Hattingh as its inaugural Chief People Officer. In Conversation with Dynamic Business, Hattingh – an HR specialist who has also served CBA, Yahoo!, St George Bank and Lendlease in […]

At the age of 33, Anubhav “AJ” Jain – a serial entrepreneur who ‘cut his teeth’ in Australia – has achieved an enviable level of success steering companies in a range of markets, including computer hardware, mobile apps, medtech and health products. Jain’s latest venture is GoDoctor, an online network he co-founded with his friends […]

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, has commenced an inquiry into international initiatives designed to address the funding gap for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). [Related: Small Business Ombudsman calls for Govt to consider UK approach to boosting SME finance, Major barriers to SME investment explored by new report from […]

For this week’s “Let’s Talk…” feature, we asked nearly a dozen thought leaders, including startup founders, to discuss how they celebrate success in their businesses. ‘School-style’ awards, wine and cheese afternoons, a whole-of-company trip to Bali, recognition on social media, hot air ballooning and the sounding of a gong were amongst the celebratory traditions named. […]

Fintech startup Xinja has successfully raised more than $2.4 million through crowd-sourced equity funding platform Equitise to close out Australia’s first full retail crowdfunding offer. The fintech startup, which is seeking to become Australia’s first ‘neobank’ (a bank sitting purely on a digital and mobile platform), sought to raise between $500,000 and $3 million through […]