Today
Start-up lender Kashcade perks up for new deals with $23m raise
The proceeds are earmarked for Kashcade’s push into research and development lending, which allows start-ups to borrow funds against future R&D Tax Incentive refunds.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Yesterday
Labor’s bold $1b bet on Aussie quantum start-up
Australia will invest $940 million in Silicon Valley start-up PsiQuantum in a major bet that it will build the world’s first commercially useful quantum computer.
- Nick Bonyhady
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
VCs are banking on Canva staff cash, but they’re buying houses instead
While most staff say they plan to put the money towards real estate, an investing program just for Canva staff already has the interest of more than 100 people.
- Nick Bonyhady
- Exclusive
- Inside China
Aussie tech pushes into China, Taiwan despite geopolitical risks
Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht has warned start-ups China should not be their first market but says it has massive rewards for companies that can make it there.
- Updated
- Jessica Sier
Labor urged to restrict rather than ban non-compete clauses
Leading economists have urged the Albanese government to significantly restrict the use of non-compete clauses to revive Australia’s ailing productivity growth.
- Euan Black
This Month
Got a small audience? This start-up could help you monetise it
Kindling is figuring out what AI tools can help podcasters and YouTubers “supercharge” their content, and find someone willing to pay for it.
- John Davidson
- Exclusive
- AI
Kyrgios, Smith-backed fantasy football start-up valued at $0
The company has laid off staff and had a co-founder depart, but is hoping to grow with more humans in its AI-driven fantasy football product.
- Nick Bonyhady and John Davidson
A year after Milkrun’s demise, the quick commerce founders are back
The collapse of the high-flying start-up 12 months ago this week marked the end of the easy-money free-for-all. These new ventures are everything it wasn’t.
- Nick Bonyhady
New legal AI tools target partners, dealmakers
Two new artificial intelligence tools have entered the increasingly crowded legal market, as in-house counsel push firms to pass on the cost savings being made though AI.
- Maxim Shanahan
Blackbird, New York fund back start-up to count supply chain emissions
The Funded blog is the home for news on the tech deals that are done in Australia, as soon as we hear about them.
- Updated
- Paul Smith
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
‘We’re not lemmings’: What happens when Blackbird drops a start-up
The fund is seen as the purest expression in Australia of the venture capital playbook of doubling down on best bets. What happens to the rest?
- Nick Bonyhady
Tritium is ‘a lost opportunity’ for local manufacturing, says PM
The closure of the fast charger company’s Brisbane factory is the sort of thing the government is seeking to prevent with its new policy.
- Tess Bennett
Canva agrees to settle unfair dismissal case from senior engineer
The company initially refused to make any settlement payment to the employee, who had been earning $221,000 a year when he was sacked in January.
- Nick Bonyhady
- Exclusive
- Funding
Start-up deals fall to six-year low as tech winter persists
Just 66 Australian companies raised funds from venture capital investors in the first quarter of this year, and total funding has dropped 45 per cent year-on-year.
- Tess Bennett
Woolworths partners with Tesco on $190m start-up investment fund
The global fund will be run from Sydney and counts retailer chains from Europe, Canada and South Africa among its investors.
- Nick Bonyhady
Canva millionaires made as $US1.6b share sale completes
The design software giant has finalised the first tranche of a share sale it has signalled will reach $3.6 billion, with rich rewards for early staff and investors.
- Nick Bonyhady and Tess Bennett
This Aussie start-up could change fashion forever
Samsara Eco has patented technology that can break down fabric into new yarn, which can be recycled infinitely. Its CEO thinks it could upend the industry.
- Lauren Sams
‘Not honourable, but lawful’: Uber justifies using spyware on rival
Uber’s lawyers said taking private data from its rival GoCatch was not like burglary, and compared its lawbreaking to publishers selling Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
- Paul Smith
- Exclusive
- Weight loss
Trish lost 25kg on replica Ozempic. She fears for patients like her
Patients like Trish Miller are afraid their weight loss will come to a halt as the regulator mulls a ban on replica anti-obesity drugs made by pharmacists.
- Nick Bonyhady
- Exclusive
- Insolvency
How Macquarie’s $46m investment in an Aussie tech firm turned into $1
Macquarie Capital poured $46m into Plutora, but sold its stake for a dollar, and administrators have met to try to figure out what is left in its operations.
- Paul Smith