Startup news, Australia
Australia’s tech, startup and venture funding news, as covered in the online press across December 2019.
Our summaries focus primarily, but not exclusively, on Australia’s early-stage startup and funding space, regardless of industry, covering fintech, blockchain, agritech, digital payments and beyond.
- Australia: AgriFutures EvokeAg Conference set for February 18-19 2020 in Melbourne
- An overview of Australia’s Sendle and its launch in the US, providing low-cost, carbon-neutral delivery services by placing items in underutilised shipments
- Australia: Gov’t releases AI tech roadmap, built around 3 specialisations – health, ageing, disability; cities, towns, infrastructure; natural resources and environment
- KPMG rolls out KPMG Origins, blockchain-based track-and-trace platform for trade, in Australia, China and Japan
- Australia: A brief intro to Melbourne’s Hatch Quarter, coworking hub focused on migrant and refugee entrepreneurs
- Australia: Okra Solar takes Hardware Battlefield champion prize at TechCrunch Conference in Shenzhen in November with plug-and-play smart grid technology
- Australia: StartupAus Crossroads Report 2019 now online and available to download
- Australia: Blockchain and the creative industries – how cultural institutions would cooperate to build shared infrastructure to grow this segment of the economy
- Australia: ICYMI – Minimum Viable Product grants are available to qualifying NSW startups, providing funds to progress from POC stage to MVP
- Australia: Remarkable Accelerator Program applications open to February 2020 for disability-focused tech startups
- Australia: CivVic Labs unveils 3 startups from inaugural 3-month program, working in health, and transport
- Australia: Upcoming Finder personal finance-focused app aims to help you find better rates, less fees and more savings automatically
- Australia: An intro to Upcover, delivering pay-as-you-go insurance with a focus on the gig economy, domestically and overseas
- Australia: CAASie ad-tech startup launches open marketplace aiming to make out-of-home advertising accessible and flexible for small and growing businesses
- Australia: Invest Wollongong launches, a partnership between NSW Government, Wollongong City Council and the University of Wollongong
- Australia: Startupbootcamp Australia unveils the 10 startups selected for third edition of Smart Energy Accelerator
- Australia: Another look at SilVR Adventures, providing tailored VR to groups of seniors in aged care facilities to aid mental health issues resulting from isolation
- Australia: QUT’s CEA Fashion360 Accelerator Program applications close 16th December
- Australia: RMIT University to launch Cyber Ready Cloud Innovation Centre in 2020, in partnership with federal gov’t and Amazon Web Services
- Australia: Quicka invoicing startup aims to capitalize on the fact that business owners would rather lose a portion of revenue and simply get paid on time
- Australia: A podcast interview with founder Liam Scanlon of Eat Your Water, independent surf brand, on New Economy Media
- Australia: Welcome to Day One, a podcast amplifying the stories of regional startups and founders
- Australia: UBank and Basiq partnership focuses on open data banking, leveraging machine learning to give customers a more complete picture of their finances
- Australia: Optus partners with Ericsson to make its first 5G data call over 2300MHz spectrum in what is claimed to be a world-first by a telecoms carrier
- Australia: An intro to Avertro, startup aiming to ensure executives fully comprehend the risks their digital front line faces
- Australia: Adelaide China Biotech Investment Fund launches with $45M corpus, for commercialisation of health and biotech research
- Australia: Pod & Parcel launches barista-quality compostable coffee pods in the US via e-commerce platforms
- Australian companies operating in China to be forced to allow Chinese gov’t access to encrypted data, described as legalising in-country theft of trade secrets
- Australia: “…we will arrive at a situation in which unelected bureaucrats will decide what is real and what is fake, what is fit for public consumption and what is off-limits…”
- Australia: A look at Freighty, new insurance product offering point-of-sale insurance on goods purchased online
- Australia: A quick intro to OrigoFarm, IoT-based agtech providing real-time data monitoring, data analysis and automatic map generation
- Australia: The Melt launches, country’s first industrial prototyping lab, collaboration between Slingshot accelerator, Dantia economic dev company and Ampcontrol
- Australia: An overview of Victorian International Container Terminal in the Port of Melbourne, the country’s first fully-automated facility of its kind
- Australia: An intro to AirRobe, luxury fashion resale platform focusing on consumers who want to dress with sustainability in mind
- Mastercard launches digital ID pilot program with Australia Post and Deakin University, cross-referencing from mobile to bank or government for verification
- Australia: An intro to the 9 startups selected for the University of Queensland’s 2020 ilab Accelerator program
- Australia: Opera Queensland and Google Creative Lab partner to create prototype AR app with a version of The Magic Flute, aiming to open opera to new audiences
- Australia: An intro to ColourSpace, social enterprise sourcing artwork from local and emerging artists, leasing them to corporate and communal spaces
- Australia: An intro to 9 startups and entrepreneurs that hit their stride in 2019
- Lime, US e-scooter startup, launches LimePass weekly subscription plan in Australia and New Zealand, giving users unlimited unlocks for e-scooters and bikes
- Australia: CoverHero insurtech firm launches Hustle Cover product, providing instant, customisable income protection insurance for gig workers
- Australia: Macquarie University researchers develop device to turn electric vehicles into EV charging stations
- Australia: Enlighten Imaging gains gov’t funding with simple eye test that detects signs of Alzheimer’s disease
- Australia: La Trobe University Bendigo campus adds VR and AR to help students better understand the intricacies of human anatomy
- Yume surplus food reselling platform partners Suez global waste management giant on installation to demonstrate the scale of Australia’s food waste problem
- Australia: SendGold peer-to-peer platform gains pre-A investment to allow individuals to build and transfer wealth outside of banks
- Australia: AUSTRAC anti-money laundering agency revokes licences of three cryptocurrency exchange operators due to alleged criminal ties
- Australia: Find out more about The Studio, in Sydney’s Startup Hub, in January 2020 – a workspace for Australian media-tech and creative-tech startups
- Australia: An intro to PeepsRide, platform for care and transport providers to manage transport services for people with a disability, the elderly or those in care
- Australia: A brief intro to the new board of Blockchain Australia
- Australia: Duct Tape magazine launches inaugural issue, a joint initiative by Victoria University and StartupVic, supported by Australian Landing Pads
- Australia: Deakin University reportedly to be first offering fully-accredited cybersecurity qualification under country’s first cybersec course accreditation scheme
- Australia: Somehow, Brisbane’s Cross River Rail Authority contracts China’s Huawei for digital signalling system, ignoring federal government ‘high-risk vendor’ status
- Australia: SoldierLy tech startup a winner in global finals of Pitch @ Palace 2019 in London with military PTSD-focused IDSTRESS app
- Australia: An intro to Groupee, social payments startup with real-time payment app allowing groups to share purchase costs anywhere that accepts Visa tap-and-go
- Australia: An intro to investment platform Wholesale Investor and its focus on connecting companies and startups with potential investors
- Australia: An at-a-glance infographic outlining the country’s entrepreneur support organisations, by state
- Australia: Blockchain and the Creative Industries, from RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub (pdf)
- Vodafone Australia to launch 5G services in H1 2020 on network comprising end-to-end Nokia equipment, an alternative, economically viable Huawei-free model
- Mapping more of China’s tech giants: Australian Strategic Policy Institute update on companies mainly in the artificial intelligence and surveillance tech sectors
- MIT Review unveils Innovators Under 35 list for the Asia-Pacific region, featuring 20 innovators, inventors and pioneers
- India: Uttar Pradesh, state with over 200M inhabitants, testing blockchain-powered solar energy trading platform, with participation from Australia’s Power Ledger
- India’s Ola ride-share giant rolls out ‘Guardian’ AI-enabled safety feature in 16 cities across India, and Perth in Western Australia
- India-Australia Waste to Wealth Design Comp applications close January 5th, student-focused and seeking sustainability, circular economy and waste mgmt concepts
- Australia’s :Different property management startup doubles down on Sri Lanka team investment in local engineering culture and talent pool
- Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City reiterates goal of becoming a strategic partner of Australia in innovation and education in recent state-level visit
Other subject-specific news from December 2019:
Blockchain in Asia • Crypto news, Asia • AI news • Fintech in Asia
To stay up-to-the-minute with ongoing daily updates:
in: on LinkedIn
tw: on Twitter
fb: on Facebook
app: on Google Play
