The quarterly round-up of technology, startup and funding news from across Australia in Q2 of 2024, covering April, May and June.
In June 2024 | In May 2024 | In April 2024
SXSW Sydney 2024 / October in Australia
Australian tech news: June 2024
- Australia: Indigenous-led First Australians Capital hits first close on Catalytic Impact Fund with $20M in commitments / full item
- Australia: Samsara Eco raises $100M Series A with enzyme-based plastic recycling, with sights on a new commercial facility in SE Asia / full item
- Australia’s Space Machines Company inks Launch Service Agreement with NewSpace India, government company under Indian Space Research Organisation, for SMC’s next sat launch / full item
- Australia: Channel Seven YouTube page hacked to play looping video of AI-generated Elon Musk telling viewers to invest in cryptocurrency / full item
- Australia: National Australia Bank’s NAB Ventures backed Zodia Custody, an institution-grade crypto and digital assets safekeeping platform, joining Standard Chartered and others / full item
- Australia: Government considering options around ensuring Meta platforms continue to publish news content / full item
- Download: ‘Digital News Report – Australia 2024’ from the University of Canberra News & Media Research Centre (direct pdf link) / full item
- Australia: Guide Dogs Victoria adds BindiMaps to ‘gold standard for accessible buildings’ in development of Kew Campus, world-first sensory-accessible campus / full item
Australia: “Northern Territory has defined mineral resources for 17 globally recognised critical minerals…[and] has geological potential for a further 12 emerging critical minerals.” / full item
- Australia: Breakthrough Victoria, $2BN state gov’t tech fund, backs Liquid Instruments with $15M to bring wide-use test equipment manufacturer to Melbourne / full item
- Australia: The State of Open Banking 2024 report is online, a deep dive into the industry’s opportunities and challenges, from Frollo / full item
- Australian Startup to Scaleup Summit, S2S Summit, is set for September 26th / full item
- Australian Internet Observatory launches with 6 universities investigating misinformation, consumer targeting, political messaging and social media-related issues / full item
- Australia: Medibank hack which exposed near 10M customers’ details believed to stem from absence of multi-factor authentication protecting access to IT systems / full item
- ‘Less than half of Australian children and teens think they can tell real news stories from fake. So how well are we preparing them for a new media world order?’ / full item
- Google Australia launches AI First Accelerator initiative to provide Australian startups with cutting-edge AI capabilities including guidance, mentorship and resources / full item
- Australia: A quick intro to 6 startups selected for the Venture Catalyst acceleration program from the University of South Australia Innovation & Collaboration Centre / full item
- Australian quantum tech firm, Diraq, to produce sample chip devices using GlobalFoundries plants, with chips featuring both quantum-focused and standard circuitry / full item
- AWS Generative AI Spotlight program applications are open to June 28 for seed and pre-seed GenAI startups in Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia / full item
- Australia: Crypto ban in online gambling is now in place, with users no longer able to use credit cards or digital currency to place bets online / full item
- Australia hits milestone in cryptocurrency as third-largest host of Bitcoin ATMs globally, over 1000 / full item
- Blockchain Australia rebrands to Digital Economy Council of Australia ‘to extend its remit to be more inclusive in response to the rapidly evolving needs of the digital economy’ / full item
- Australia: Tech in Gov conference and expo is set for July 23-24 in Canberra, bringing together government, providers, IT services and professionals / full item
- Australia: Member of Parliament proposes use of blockchain tech as enabler to boost productivity growth by as much as $60BN / full item
- Australia: Costa Rica’s CRDC Global opens Melbourne plant, converting plastic waste into concrete additive / full item
- Australia: The Leaf Protein Company secures $850K funding with plant-based ingredients for the F&B industry, with backers including the University of Melbourne / full item
- Australian singer, Iggy Azalea, to roll out ability to use recently-released MOTHER cryptocurrency to pay for phones and services from her planned telecom firm / full item
- Australian Cyber Security Summit is set for June 20th in Canberra / full item
- Australia: Blockchain Week 2024 is June 11-14 in Sydney / full item
- ‘Australia’s space race: From red dirt to the stars’ / full item
- A quick intro to 5 Australian startups that raised $54.4 million in the week to June 7th 2024, working in health-tech, logistics and more / full item
- Australia: Gov’t orders 5 China-linked firms to divest shares in Northern Minerals rare earths project, citing national interest concerns / full item
- Australia: The Monochrome Bitcoin ETF, Australia’s first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund that holds the asset directly, launches for trading / full item
- Australia: Government’s $17M AI Adopt Program rolls out 4 new centres, aiming to help SMEs identify and adopt appropriate AI tools for growth and efficiency / full item
- Australia: Monash University targets space industry credentials with appointment of Aus Space Agency and former CSIRO chief as chancellor, and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab exec hire / full item
- Australia: ‘Celebrating Indigenous Entrepreneurship’ online event is set for August 9th, hosted by Barayamal for International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples / full item
- India’s Tata Steel and Australia’s Monash University ink MoU to establish sustainability-focused innovation centre / full item
- ‘A growth agenda for India-Australia economic ties’, a short piece that touches also on blockchain, digital payments and, of course, geopolitics / full item
Deloitte: Generative AI in Australia
Australian tech news: May 2024
- Australia: Ice Cube hip-hop and film star partners MyPremo to help artists better monetise their digital and online work / read it here
- Hydrogen Systems Australia and The Desert Springs Group, an Indigenous Australian business group, ink MOU to work on hydrogen development and production / read it here
- Australia: SpatialAI raised Au$5.1M with AI-boosted efficiency in construction and space design across architecture, education, healthcare, retail and beyond / read it here
- Australia: Western Sydney University discloses data breach, notifying 7500 ‘impacted individuals’ / read it here
- Australia: An overview of the government’s $36M Critical Technologies Challenge Program, looking at national challenges from medical imaging to quantum tech / read it here
- Australia: Gov’t endorses ban on children registering social media accounts until age of 16, saying too much online engagement at a young age damages mental health / read it here
“Australia has the chance to resolve the problems the AUKUS partners and their friends and allies have with critical minerals, particularly with rare earths…” / read it here
- Australia: An intro to The Daily Aus, news outlet for non-news people, speaking to as many as one in eight Australians aged 18-35 / read it here
- Australia: A brief intro to 5 startups that collectively raised $163M in the week to May 17th, working in insurance-tech, ID verification, real estate tech and more / read it here
- Australia: Deakin University invites submissions by end of May for ‘Digital Complexity and Disinformation in Indo-Pacific’ conference in September / read it here
- Australia: A brief first look at the cybersecurity-related provisions in the 2024 Federal Budget / read it here
- Germany’s HyImpulse completes launch of SR75 rocket from Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range in South Australia, marking a milestone for Australia’s commercial space launch capabilities / read it here
- Australia: Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2024 nominations are now open across 15 categories / read it here
- Australia: Government earmarks Au$288M for national digital ID program / read it here
- Australia: China’s Xpeng EV brand appoints Australian distributor, with expectation of launching rival model to compete with Tesla Model Y by year-end 2024 / read it here
“Australia urgently needs to put into place well-funded public disinformation literacy campaigns, augmented by digital media literacy education in schools…” / read it here
- Australia: Hysata has raised $111M to scale up its more efficient method for producing hydrogen / read it here
- Researchers at Melbourne and Manchester universities unveil breakthrough technique for manufacture of highly-purified silicon, critical for quantum computers / read it here
- Australia: An intro to RapidGraphite, transforming waste carbon into high-purity graphite, key component of lithium-ion batteries / read it here
- Australia: MetroElectro secures $680K from Singapore’s Wavemaker Impact venture builder to develop mid-sized renewable power plants, looking to unused rooftop solar potential / read it here
- Australia: A brief intro to 6 firms selected for South Australia’s Growth Ramp space pathway, working in electronics, illegal fishing monitoring, space debris and more / read it here
- Australia: A quick intro to 9 startups that collectively raised $233M in the week to May 10th, working in agri-tech, music technology, AI and more / read it here
Critical minerals: “…there are clear ongoing efforts, including by China’s state-owned entities, to extend their nation’s monopoly by controlling Australia’s rare earths deposits…” / read it here
- Australia: China’s Xpeng EV brand appoints Australian distributor, with expectation of launching rival model to compete with Tesla Model Y by year-end 2024 / read it here
- Australia: H2PowerBox launches mobile, off-grid solar-hydrogen energy system, generating and storing hydrogen via electrolysis in the day and using a fuel cell to convert back to electricity as needed / read it here
- Australia: Firstmac, non-bank lender focusing on mortgage lending, investment management and securitization, hit by data breach of potentially 500GB / read it here
- Australia: Government earmarks Au$288M for national digital ID program / read it here
- Australia: Airwallex for Startups launches, aiming to be Australia’s most comprehensive program for local startups looking to accelerate their growth / read it here
- Australian gov’t makes near $1BN investment in quantum tech firm, PsiQuantum, with sights on delivery of the country’s first quantum computer / read it here
- A quick intro to 7 Australian and New Zealand startups that collectively raised over $27M in the week to May 3rd / read it here
- Australia: Dep’t of Foreign Affairs & Trade Cyber & Critical Tech Cooperation Program opens call for funding proposals, aiming to boost cooperation with and capabilities across 8 SEA nations / read it here
- Australian Technologies Competition 2024 applications are now open for startups and tech firms across 16 award categories / read it here
- Australia: Victorian state gov’t fund, Breakthrough Victoria, draws US stratospheric near-space exploration firm, World View, to Melbourne in $37M deal / read it here
- Australia: University of Sydney awarded $18.3M federal grant over 4 years to establish research and commercialisation group for the country’s quantum sector / read it here
- Australia: Thinktank proposes big tech companies face a digital platform tax to fund trusted news media, in bid to confront ‘rising tide of misinformation and disinformation’ / read it here
- A quick look at the impact of the Australian government Investing in Women program on women-led small businesses in The Philippines / read it here
- India’s Digantara joins Space-MAITRI – Mission for Australia-India’s Tech, Research & Innovation – project, adding optical tech to Australia’s Space Machines for debris monitoring / read it here
Panthur: Affordable web hosting services in Australia
Australian tech in April 2024
- Australia: Stables, digital wallet and payments startup, launches international remittances powered by stablecoins, focusing on Australia-Philippines transactions / read it here
- Australia: Canada’s WonderFi to acquire FX Institutions, yet-to-launch Australian crypto exchange, giving WonderFi its first crypto licence outside Canada, to provide OTC crypto trading services / read it here
- Australia: Cicada Innovations deep-tech incubator launches Cicada HealthTech Hub in Sydney, targeting health-focused pre-revenue stage startups, spinouts, research projects and more / read it here
- Australia: iLAuNCH Trailblazer initiative commissions Nikon multi-metal 3D printer to make space missions more affordable and efficient with lighter, faster and more robust aerospace components / read it here
- Australia: Cauldron Ferm fermentation-focused foods company secures Au$9.5M Series A to build large-scale facility to manufacture high-value ingredients / read it here
- Australia: QuantumTX 2024 Queensland METS Technology Incubator Program applications are now open for solutions in the mining equipment, technology and services sector / read it here
- Australia: An intro to the Seabin, a simple world-first product aiming to clean the oceans, one marina at a time / read it here
- Australia: Diraq quantum tech firm hits milestone for spin-based quantum processors, functioning at temperatures 20 times warmer than before while holding stability and accuracy / read it here
- Sunrise Australia tech, startup and creativity conference set for May 1-2 in Sydney / read it here
- Australia: AGL Energy and SunDrive Solar cells firm partner for facility feasibility study into commercial-scale solar cell manufacturing / read it here
- Australia: An overview of the recently-announced Solar SunShot, a Au$1 billion government initiative to bring solar manufacturing back to Australia / read it here
- Australia-India Cyber & Critical Technology Partnership Grant Round 4 applications are open – deadline is May 24th / read it here
- Australia: First Australians Capital gains $500K grant to provide seed funding for Indigenous Australian-led startups / read it here
- Australia’s Vow alt-meat firm gains Singapore approval for sale of quail-derived cultured meat products, making it just the 4th company approved globally to sell cultivated meat products / read it here
- Australia: Monochrome Asset Mgmt has applied for a spot bitcoin ETF with Cboe Australia listing exchange which, if approved, will allow the country’s first direct investor holdings of bitcoin / read it here
- Video: ‘Australia’s Place in the Global Quantum Economy’, a panel discussion from the recent Quantum Australia 2024 conference / read it here
- Australia: Gap Drone secures partnerships to develop drone delivery capabilities for remote and regional communities, targeting payloads of 60-90kg at speeds of 120km/h and a range of 1100km / read it here
- Australia: Space Machines Company reportedly struggling to establish and hold communications with Optimus spacecraft, following launch of on-orbit satellite inspection, servicing and protection vehicle / read it here
- Australia: UK’s Founders Factory Nature & Biodiversity Tech Accelerator sets up in Perth, with $7.2M, 3-year WA gov’t support, and Rio Tinto lined up for separate mining-tech accelerator / read it here
- Australia: Westpac is in talks with Amazon for Project Kuiper satellite system use to make banking more accessible, particularly for remote Indigenous communities / read it here
- Online now: March 2024’s collected tech news summaries from across Asia and the Indo-Pacific / read it here
- Australia: Vudoo selected by Amazon Web Services Partner Network with shoppable video tech, turning content and ads into directly-shoppable on-screen assets / read it here
- Australia: BHP and Rio Tinto piloting electric smelting that may reduce steel industry gas pollution in first-of-its-kind move in Australia, potentially cutting blast furnace C02 by 80% / read it here
- Australian Federal Police and US FBI join for arrest of individuals believed to be behind development and distribution of Firebird/Hive remote access malware / read it here
- Australia: Billionaire and philanthropist accuses Facebook parent of ‘blatantly refusing’ to take action against crypto scam ads using his likeness / read it here
- Australia: Jumar Bioincubator opens doors, unveiling 16 early-stage firms taking residency in Melbourne Biomedical Precinct / read it here
- Australia: First Australians Capital gains $2M investment from Visa Foundation for its FAC Catalytic Impact Fund, focusing on Indigenous business development / read it here
- National Australia Bank partners CrowdStrike global cybersecurity firm to provide eligible small businesses with free cybersecurity protection for 12 months / read it here
- Australian Federal Police arrests 5 in EuroPol-coordinated global raid on cyber-criminal gang linked to industrial-scale phishing believed to have impacted 94000 in Australia alone / read it here
Australia: “Holding social media companies accountable for seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation on their platforms has never been more important…” / read it here
- Australian gov’t makes near $1BN investment in quantum tech firm, PsiQuantum, with sights on delivery of the country’s first quantum computer / read it here
- Space Law and Policy Conference 2024 set for May 30th with theme of ‘To Orbit and Beyond: Challenges and Outlook for Space Law and Policy in Australia, New Zealand and the Global Context’ / read it here
- Australian National University researchers and Queensland’s CQSola join on Au$2.25M project to speed commercialization of solar-to-hydrogen systems, incorporating NZ, US and German involvement / read it here
- Australia: University of Sydney awarded $18.3M federal grant over 4 years to establish research and commercialisation group for the country’s quantum sector / read it here
- An intro to 9 Australian and New Zealand tech startups that collectively raised $60.3M in the week past / read it here
“With a collective exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of over sixteen million square kilometers, the Pacific Islands occupy nearly 10 percent of the world’s maritime space…” / read it here
- Japan to participate in AUKUS Pillar 2 component, joining Australia, the US and the UK in collaboration on defence tech across fields including quantum and artificial intelligence / read it here
- India Australia Rapid Innovation & Startup Expansion – RISE – Accelerator unveils 15 startups and SMEs selected for the program’s first edition, focusing on circular economy solutions / read it here
- FinTech Australia and Thai Fintech Association ink MOU around collaboration and promotion of fintech capabilities between Australia and Thailand / read it here
Critical technologies, globally, in Q2 2024 – space, semiconductors, cyber…
Asia/Indo-Pac tech news
Our other tech news editions and formats span the range from daily to quarterly, and are available on a range of platforms so as to provide readers with the widest array of reading options.
Daily on LinkedIn • Daily on X/Twitter • Daily on Facebook