Australia’s startup news from the first month of 2020, providing a round-up of January’s tech, startup and funding news items. Technologies covered include fintech and banking-related news, Australian incubator and accelerator news and more, focusing where possible on the early-stage startup space.
Australia’s startup news across other monthly news collections, and quarterly news round-ups, can also be read online.
- Australia: Victoria State Gov’t rolls out map of current and planned electric vehicle charging stations across the state
- Sydney Landing Pad Cohort 2 applications close January 24 for March intake, seeking int’l companies and startup wishing to explore the Australian market
- Australia: TAGZ crypto exchange grows user base to more than 480K active users, overtaking Binance and Coinbase as largest crypto exchange by trade volume
- Australia: A look at Sprintlaw, aiming for software to take care of the majority of everyday tasks handled by lawyers
- Australia: Dep’t of Industry, Innovation and Science believes blockchain is promising in agriculture and food manufacturing, providing transparency and authentication
- Australia: Reserve Bank believes it is unclear whether there will be strong demand for global stablecoins, particularly for domestic payments
- Australia: Fishburners Sydney Pitch Nights return February 7th
- Australian IT Journalism Awards 2020 applications close January 17th
- Australia: An intro to Groupee, real-time payments app allowing groups to share the cost of a purchase, via prepaid Visa card
- Australia: Adventure Junkies startup makes finals of Sustainable tourism category in UN World Tourism Organisation Global Tourism Startup Competition
- Australia: Arc Hardware Startup Weekend set for March 6-8 in Queensland, focused on developing physical products and prototypes
- Australia: Collider Accelerator applications now open for 4th batch of 12-week program
- Australia’s Girl Geek Academy launches in Samoa to teach more women and girls ‘life-changing’ coding skills
- Australia: A video intro to Seabin, floating waste removal device removing water-borne plastic pollution
- Australia: Antler early-stage VC and tech startup generator launches second Australia program in Sydney with intake of 81 founders
- Australia: Banxa digital banking infrastructure provider raises $2M Series A
- Australia: Women in Tech Australia Melbourne launch event set for February 6th
- Australia: QODE Innovation Festival set for March 24-25 in Brisbane, bringing together business, entrepreneurs, government, startups and more
- Australia: CrowdFilm startup partnered by Appetiser web and mobile app development firm for mobile multi-camera video capture
- Australia: Reverse Pitch Night with Sydney accelerators and incubators set for April 3rd in Sydney – find out the difference and which best fits your startup’s needs
- Australia: Raiz micro-investment startup preps to bring Bitcoin fund options to its user base of over 210K investors
- South Australia’s health department to remove all closed-circuit television cameras made by China’s Hikvision due to security concerns
- Australia: Fintech startups Afterpay, Raiz, Brighte and 86 400 on the issues and obstacles facing the country’s fintechs
- Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has suggested better accommodations for digital wallets, payment services and other stored-value facilities
- Australia: An intro to Elbaite, P2P exchange platform combining fiat escrow with blockchain verifications and support for multiple blockchains
- Australia: Liven dining rewards and digital payments app lands Apple Pay partnership with in-store invisible payment integration
- Australia: Mumbrella Automotive Marketing Summit Melbourne event set for March 17th, with key sessions from DiDi ANZ marketing and AWS digital innovation leads
- Australia: Melbourne’s first Sextech Hackathon set for February 14th
- Australia: Springboard Enterprises Tech Program applications close February 10th for female-led startups
- Australia: Startup Weekend NextGen set for March 13-15, hosted by Queensland University of Technology
- Australia: Dep’t of Foreign Affairs and Trade opens submissions for project proposals for Cyber Cooperation Program focusing on Indo-Pacific region
- Australia: Hitachi Collaborative Creation Hackathon for Digital Mobility set for February 8-9 in Sydney
- Australia: Envirotech Alliance formed by TechSydney advocacy body, startups and environmental businesses
- Australia: Loop+ medtech startup secures $3M with health tracker, allowing wheelchair users to take control of their wellbeing and monitor health risks
- Australia: “A new digital ID system will gather piles of personal information in one place – and you won’t have full control over who has access”
- Australia: A look at FLAIM Systems, using a VR training simulator to prepare firefighters
- Australia: Tetramed medicinal cannabis producer takes equity crowdfunding route in search of $1M funding
- Australia: AustCyber adds Tasmania to National Network of Cyber Security Innovation Nodes with Launceston launch
- Australia: A brief look at the debate around ‘screen scraping’ in fintech
- Japan: “…open banking would put Japan in the company of the UK and Australia, which are freeing up data access to spur competition and create innovative financial solutions”
