Event Details
AFR Entrepreneur Summit 2024
The annual summit for both established and emerging entrepreneurs looking to get it right in the ever-evolving business landscape.
Entrepreneur Summit - Final release registration
Join the AFR journalists in sessions with leading entrepreneurs and business founders as they reveal invaluable insights and strategies essential for not just surviving, but thriving in the current atmosphere of economic uncertainty.
Featured
- Exclusive
- Funding
NSW surgeons bet they can beat investment bankers with VC fund
Two surgeons behind a new $50 million venture capital fund based in Bowral, NSW, have launched a new venture capital fund.
- Tess Bennett
- Opinion
- Start-ups
Why we should celebrate the unsung heroes of the Aussie tech scene
Successful start-up exits deliver rich returns to investors and create wealth for founders and some employees, and hopefully recycle talent back into the sector.
- Leigh Jasper
How a uni dropout went from Maccas to building a $100m company
Mark Woodland was expanding his education start-up before realising he’d overlooked a critical component for its success and he had to fix it.
- Julie-anne Sprague
Biotech start-up raising $20m pre-IPO amid missed payment claims
Plasma start-up Aegros has been accused of not paying suppliers and missing payroll, put is still planning on a 2025 IPO.
- Yolanda Redrup and Carrie LaFrenz
- Analysis
- Start-ups
Growing pains: Tougher times put VC on a collision course with media
From rumblings of a boycott to senior technology investors complaining, Australia’s start-up and media industries aren’t as close as they used to be.
- Nick Bonyhady
This Month
$100m Sydney fintech raises $34m to take on global rivals
Ellerston Capital has taken a stake in digital identity and verification player Data Zoo, in a deal that values the Sydney-founded business north of $100m.
- Tess Bennett
R&D boost needed for Future Made in Australia plan to fly
Australian firms that develop innovative technologies say they are disincentivised to build their products in Australia and are calling for R&D incentive changes.
- Tess Bennett
April
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
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
AFR Entrepreneur Summit 2024
The annual summit for both established and emerging entrepreneurs looking to get it right in the ever-evolving business landscape.
February
- Exclusive
- Funding
The Gold Coast’s answer to SpaceX is now worth $605m
Gold Coast-based rocket company Gilmour Space has closed a $55m funding round, which will give it enough cash to make its first four launch attempts.
- Tess Bennett
June 2023
- Opinion
- Tech Observed
VCs told to get real about their role in the tech wreck
A seasoned investor watching last week’s AFR Entrepreneur Summit was stunned to see their VC peers’ lack of self-reflection about hugely over-valued start-ups.
- Paul Smith
Rate rise that broke retail | How VC picks the next big thing | Chalmers’ Lowe dilemma
In this week’s podcast episode, James Thomson and Anthony McDonald see more signs rate rises are hitting consumers, and discuss how investing can be an art.
- Analysis
- Government Observed
Australia’s dud report card on innovation and entrepreneurship
The collapse in venture capital is likely to stall already tepid R&D spending and innovation, raising profound questions about Australian entrepreneurialism.
- Tom Burton
- Analysis
- Analysis
Ozempic’s ‘an eating disorder’: Kayla Itsines and tech entrepreneur clash
The high-profile fitness instructor hit out at the use of drugs like Ozempic on a Financial Review panel alongside the CEO of weight-loss injection selling start-up Eucalyptus.
- Nick Bonyhady
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Three things Blackbird looks for in a start-up founder
As much as equities investors may be put off by venture capital’s white sneakers and airy approach, the two are looking for the same thing: a magnetic leader.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Creative crunch time for entrepreneurs
Crunch times are part of the process of concentrating the allocation of ultimately scarce capital to the entrepreneurs who have the best chance of long-term success.
- The AFR View
I would do it all again, Theranos whistleblower says
Erika Cheung says putting Elizabeth Holmes in jail was never her intention, but potential harm to patients made her speak up.
- Jessica Sier
- Opinion
- Entrepreneur
Tech wreck forces entrepreneurs to wash their own face
Australia’s best tech start-ups know they will survive tougher market conditions, and don’t mind if frothier companies fall by the wayside.
- Paul Smith
Australia’s food, drug and finance regulators can be progressive
Founders say Food Standards Australia and the Therapeutic Goods Administration are open to supporting new business models.
- James Eyers
Larry Marshall says Australia needs more ‘scientist CEOs’
Before he steps down at the end of the month, the CSIRO chief executive has issued a call to arms to founders to find a ‘market vision’ to drive innovation.
- James Eyers
NSW government aims to build innovation hub nightlife
Investment NSW says it wants to help create a vibrant nightlife around its innovation precincts to make them attractive places to work and socialise.
- Tom Burton
Take the cash in a start-up sale, not golden handcuffs, founders say
Several large Australian venture capital firms launched their first funds a decade ago, putting pressure on them to find exits.
- Nick Bonyhady
After a $205m exit, this founder shares his ‘first-world problem’
The former Adelaide Crow footballer says he had tied his identity to business success, and opened up about the fallout of leaving that behind.
- Nick Bonyhady
Better to list in Australia rather than on the Nasdaq: WiseTech boss
Richard White told The Australian Financial Review Entrepreneur Summit that a shrinking sharemarket was a global phenomenon.
- Tess Bennett
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
VC investors talk tough after year of ‘madness’
The boom in venture capital shifted the power balance from investors to founders. But now the capital has dried up, a new reality has set in.
- James Thomson
