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Leading entrepreneurial minds, including Sir Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak, have deemed a South Australian startup’s use of artificial intelligence to improve the success rate IVF the “best idea” at the 2017 Talent Unleashed Awards. In winning “Best Idea – One to Watch” (Global/APAC) category at the global technology awards program, the South Life Whisperer […]
The heated Sydney-Melbourne rivalry has played out over many years, with both cities laying claim to having the nation’s best coffee, culture, standards of living… well, the best of just about everything. But how do Australia’s two largest cities – and, more broadly, NSW and Victoria – stack up against one another in terms of […]
Deep tech startups are addressing some of society’s biggest problems and creating the jobs of tomorrow but they’ve been neglected in the government’s love affair with co-working spaces, according to Petra Andrén, the CEO of Sydney-based super incubator Cicada Innovations. Ahead of her appearance at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Sydney, earlier this month, […]
Cross-border payments startup Airwallex has received a US$6 million investment from VC firm Square Peg, bringing its total Series A capital raise to US$19 million The Melbourne-based fintech company previously closed its Series A funding round in May, having raised a combined US$13 million from Mastercard, Sequoia Capital China and the world’s fourth largest internet […]
When Mick Spencer entered a lucrative contract to produce 500 cycling jerseys, five years ago, his fledgling sportswear startup was operating with little more than an old screen printer. There was, he admits, an element of ‘fake it until you make it’. Today, ONTHEGO is a rapidly growing e-commerce company with an enviable customer base […]
Over the past seven months we’ve been on an incredible roller-coaster of a journey – the kind that only an early-stage startup is capable of experiencing. We’ve hired, fired, experimented, failed, and ultimately succeeded in getting Found to that magic milestone of $83,333.33 of monthly revenue – more commonly known as $1m per year annualised […]
Today’s savvy consumers increasingly demand authenticity from businesses, both in terms what they stand for and how they tell their story. If a business doesn’t align with their values, they’ll find one that does. And if a business talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk, well… consumers will call BS, jeopardising the business’s chances […]
As competition heats up in the venture capital space, it’s becoming tougher for VC firms to participate in funding rounds. Meanwhile, deep-tech startups face difficulties attracting ‘smart money’ in the seed stage because investors lack domain expertise and patience. These were some of the takeaway message from a panel discussion held at the Global Mobile Internet […]
Due to the ‘gigantic profits’ banks derive from processing the ‘lion’s share’ of home loans in Australia, traditional lenders haven’t had a compelling case for servicing small businesses – rejecting around 50% of their loan requests, according to Simon Isaacs, founder and CEO of fintech startup ebroker. “Banks can lend $62.50 for every dollar* of their […]
Small Australian retailers need to figure out what they can ‘uniquely own’ on Amazon and not waste their time on products that won’t win them the Buy Box, according to Brent Bellm, the CEO of ecommerce solutions provider BigCommerce. Bellm described Amazon as the “best online retailer we’ve ever seen”, adding that the company […]
Millennial-centric fintech lender MoneyMe has hit some impressive milestones in 2017. In addition to reaching $150 million in loans funded, the North Sydney startup received a $120 million capital injection and debuted on the coveted Fintech100 list, placing it amongst the world’s most innovative fintech companies. Despite reaching lofty heights, co-founder and CEO Clayton Howes […]
The financial services industry is in the midst of a digital revolution led by fintech startups. These nimble, customer-centric companies are rapidly establishing a new status quo as they hone in on the consumer and business pain points the large incumbents have failed to address. This week, for our exclusive “Let’s talk…” feature looking at […]
To draw more talented non-technical entrepreneurs, including women, into the world of startups, BlueChilli is eschewing the Silicon Valley stereotype of founders being hoodie-wearing coders and using language that promotes inclusivity, according to co-founder and CEO, Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin. Ahead of his appearance at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Sydney (5-6 December), where he’ll participate […]
Asked how King Kong came to be crowned Australia’s fastest-growing digital marketing agency, founder Sabri Suby said his team practice what they preach, put skin in the game, don’t hide behind vanity metrics and focus on bringing cash in the door – “We’ve had no choice, being bootstrapped, but there’s no smarter way to grow”. […]
Although it’s becoming easier for startups to raise capital in Australia, high-growth companies are hamstrung by a shallow pool of global talent, warned Alex McCauley, CEO of StartupAUS and lead author of the 2017 Crossroads Report. The report, a comprehensive review of the nation’s startup ecosystem, features a state-by-state brief on the progress of local startup […]
In the United States, it is becoming vogue for companies to pay for female employees to freeze their eggs, with the likes of Apple, Facebook and Google introducing the policy. It’s being sold as a means for women to further their careers, free of pressure to have children at a particular point in time. However, […]
The legendary unicorn, frequently depicted as horse with a horn protruding from its forehead, has captured imaginations since antiquity. In 2013, the term was appropriated by venture capitalist Aileen Lee to refer to a statistical rarity – namely, a startup with a market valuation of at least $1 billion. Since then, the ranks of the […]
The brains behind mentoring software startup Mentorloop have closed an oversubscribed seed round, raising $725,000 from Blackbird Ventures, Rampersand and Tempus Partners to bring their total funding to more than $1 million. Launched in 2015 by Heidi Holmes (COO) and Lucy Lloyd (CEO), Mentorloop is a cloud-based, mobile-first platform that assists corporates, universities, not-for-profits and government with […]
For those entrepreneurs who envision their business as the next big thing, it will pay dividends to take cues from forward-thinking leaders, such as Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, and surround themselves with inspirational peers. Likewise, it’s incumbent on entrepreneurs seeking to both disrupt the market and avoid being disrupted to continually leverage – […]
In the wake of Startup Muster handing down its fourth annual report, co-founder and CEO Monica Wulff spoke to Dynamic Business about the portrait it paints of the local startup ecosystem including her concern for the one in five founders whose cash runways are fast running out. This year’s report was informed by data from […]
