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    Technology

    Start-ups

    This Month

    Jekara partners Jeff Phillips, Kara Frederick and David Finn are raising a $100 million fund to back cleantech start-ups.

    VC firms lured to Qld by government funding

    Early Tritium investors who sold out of the Brisbane-based company close to the peak of its valuation are among four VC firms to receive government backing.

    • Tess Bennett
    WA1 boss Paul Savich spoke at the AFR Mining Summit last month.

    The ASX’s hottest critical minerals stock seesaws on drilling results

    WA1’s market capitalisation was just $9 million in early 2022 but has soared to $1.37 billion after it disclosed more information about its promising discovery.

    • Peter Ker
    Providoor boss Sam Benjamin says there is a big market for online ordered frozen meals, without having to rely on Uber Eats and Menulog.

    Providoor scraps hot food to concentrate on frozen meals

    Online celebrity chef meal provider Providoor will target a growing market for pre-prepared meals, after struggling with delivery services for its hot meals.

    • Paul Smith

    May

    Leonardo Ai co-founder JJ Fiasson at The Australian Financial Review 2024 AI Summit on Tuesday.

    Leonardo Ai co-founder says AI will enhance, not crush, creativity

    Generative artificial intelligence will enhance creative work done by real people rather than replace them, the founder of a Sydney-based start-up says.

    • Max Mason
    Canva’s Create conference in LA.

    Canva enterprise boss out after six months

    Former Google and Microsoft executive Javier Soltero was hired to lead the company’s enterprise efforts, which are key to its IPO plans.

    • Nick Bonyhady
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    Canva co-founders Cliff Obrecht, Melanie Perkins and Cameron Adams.

    ‘If you don’t like it, get a job at a bank’: Canva boss

    The design software giant’s all-singing, all-dancing debut event in Los Angeles came with a host of new features – and rumblings of a cost to its tired staff.

    • Nick Bonyhady
    William Raduchel: “China is run by engineers. The US is run by political lawyers. If you’re on a rocket ship, you’d rather have the engineers running the rocket ship.”

    ‘China is run by engineers, US by political lawyers’: Tech pioneer’s warning

    As senior exec at AOL and Sun, William Raduchel spent 60 years at the forefront of the tech revolution - and once dated Janet Yellen. Here’s what he’s learnt.

    • Nick Bonyhady
    Canva’s revenue means it is valued at 11 times its revenue. Pictured, chief operating officer and co-founder Cliff Obrecht.

    Canva, in the US, lifts the lid on its plan to win over Wall Street

    It has hit $US2.3 billion revenue, but growth among individual users is slowing, so Canva is relying on big customers to keep its financials in IPO-shape.

    • Nick Bonyhady

    Australian Open champ backs Melbourne composting start-up

    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
    Only legitimate Ozempic will be allowed in Australia, which will reduce supply.

    Replica Ozempic and Mounjaro will be banned by October

    The ruling preserves the status quo of the drug market in a boon to big pharmaceutical firms and a blow to start-ups that are trying to disrupt the sector.

    • Nick Bonyhady
    Luke Latham only joined Airwallex in June 2023.

    Airwallex Australia GM Luke Latham calls it quits

    Latham only joined the money remittance start-up last June.

    • Lucas Baird
    Nvidia has acquired Yonatan Geifman’s start-up Deci, which is a big win for Paul Bassat’s Square Peg.

    Big win for Square Peg as Nvidia buys AI start-up Deci

    The Melbourne VC firm will soon be toasting a rich profit on its investment in an Israeli AI start-up, when it is acquired by chip titan Nvidia for $447 million.

    • Nick Bonyhady
    Envato co-founders Cyan and Collis Ta’eed, built a company that was ultimately acquired for $375 million.

    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
    Rick Baker, co-founding partner at Blackbird Ventures, laid out his issues with media coverage of the tech sector.

    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
    Fluency co-founders Oliver Farnhill and Finnlay Morecombe with their mentor Dr Angel Zhong.

    How this intern turned paper-shuffling into a $3m start-up

    Finnlay Morcombe found himself spending hours on a tedious but important task while on an internship. It turned into a fantastic business idea.

    • Julie Hare
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    PsiQuantum’s Aussie founders professor Jeremy O’Brien and Terry Rudolph say their plans are ‘bigger than the government of the day.’

    PsiQuantum deal will cost almost $30m just to check it works

    But most of the details of the government’s marquee bet on the potentially powerful technology have been kept secret in the budget.

    • Nick Bonyhady
    Tony Fitzgibbon, founder and chairman of Data Zoo, a fintech which has banked a $30 million investment.

    $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

    Blue-sky thinkers block the sun to fight climate change

    It might sound like science fiction, but a mix of scientists and venture capitalists are working on plans to block the sun to slow global warming.

    • Peter Ker and Lap Phan
    Venture capitalists Craig Blair, Paul Bassat, Rick Baker, and Michelle Deaker have to judge when to sell just as wisely as what to back.

    Stick or twist? How start-up investors know when it’s time to sell

    VCs selling down Canva stakes could leave huge gains on the table, but don’t want to leave selling too late. Poorly timed sales have a history of destroying value.

    • Adir Shiffman
    Rich Listers Cyan and Collis Ta’eed have sold the company they founded Envato.

    Rich Listers sell tech firm Envato for $375m

    It was once valued at more than $1 billion, but Cyan and Collis Ta’eed have sold their digital assets marketplace to New York-listed Shutterstock.

    • Tess Bennett