Lots of travel this week and more planned ahead next week so it’ll be light on the writing front in today’s edition, as it will be for next week too. Instead I’ll be doing a monthly write up in the first edition of December.
- CBA CEO says tech giants like Apple require more regulation, labelling them as 'free riders' as he believes banks have been cross-subsidising the payments infrastructure (The Australian)
- Airtree 'in dialogue' with Employment Hero over internal culture concerns (Capital Brief)
- Crypto.com acquires Australian brokerage service and trading company Fintek Securities (Australian FinTech)
- Sprintlaw launches voice-enabled AI lawyer for SMEs “ChatGPT with a law degree” (BNA)
- Sydney space hub opens its doors to Defence and aerospace (InnovationAus)
- ‘If the founders we back are arseholes who behave badly, we’ve failed miserably’: Airtree’s Craig Blair clarifies ‘deeply flawed’ founders comments at Tech Council summit (Startup Daily | Craig Blair)
- Administrator seeks Swoop Aero wind-up amidst "limited revenue" and mounting liabilities (BNA)
- Government to impose ‘duty of care’ on digital platforms: Communiations Minister Rowland (The Conversation)
- Encore Holdings buys employee platform Circle In as first acquisition (Capital Brief)
- Former Employment Hero staff raise alarms over 'vile workplace' and 'fear culture' (Capital Brief)
- Melbourne startup Booked AI launches virtual travel agent (BNA)
- Private capital software platform Carta lands in Australia (Capital Brief)
- SEEK proceeds with $41 million takeover of HR and recruitment tech firm Xref (BNA)
- Startup accelerator and investor Scalare Partners went public today – and its shares flatlined (Startup Daily)
- Xero shares hit record despite subscription growth slowing (AFR)
- Advent Partners seeks buyer for Medtech, a provider of practice management software (AFR)
- Cairns tour booking software group ResPax acquires NZ accommodation reservations system ResBook (BNA)
- Coles to trial AI-powered trolleys in Australia-first move (The Age)
- Embattled WiseTech faces class action lawsuit from shareholders (The Age)
- M&A deals to spike ahead of merger reforms, says Corrs (AFR)
- Scott Farquhar’s next chapter (Capital Brief)
- The $15b National Reconstruction Fund gets ready to write first cheques (The Age)
- Airwallex partners with Pledge 1% to donate equity to the next-gen of entrepreneurs and startups (The Australian)
- ANZ taps AI to build a better bank - investing $2.5bn into its new online-only products (The Australian)
- Australian digital bank Up hits 1 million customers for its 6th birthday (Australian FinTech)
- Breakthrough puts Trellis Data in the AI fast lane (InnovationAus)
- Bridgit secures $250 million facility supporting $1 billion in annual transaction volume (Australian FinTech)
- Nourish and CABIO partner to bring animal-free fat Tastilux to Chinese market (SmartCompany)
- Quad Lock, Australian phone case innovator, sold to Thule in $500 million deal (SmartCompany)
- Quadrant Private Equity sets lofty target for third growth fund - focusing on tech-related, healthcare and direct-to-consumer businesses. (AFR)
- StartupWA Welcomes Five New Directors To Its Board, Appoints Gunningham As Chair (Startup News)
- Tiger Global and Blackbird-backed AI-powered retail startup Hivery placed in administration (Startup Daily)
- Woolworths, Westpac funds back controversial $500m anti-crime start-up (AFR)
- Australian Retirement Trust eyes stake in $16b CDC Data Centres (AFR)
- HMC Capital buys data centre platform iseek for $400m (Capital Brief)
- Project F’s Emma Jones launches diversity standards for Tech Council under pressure in the wake of Richard White saga (Startup Daily)
- ADR, which automates data collection in mining, eliminating production downtime and improving safety, accuracy, and efficiency, has raised $2M from Resource Capital Funds (The Australian)
- Matched, a community of advisors that match learners with trainers based on shared interests, has raised under $500K from the Alice Anderson Fund, FB10xAdVentures, Kirsty Chong and Bree Johnson (SmartCompany)
- Edexia, which makes AI tools to help teachers with assessments, has raised $763K (US $500K) from Y Combinator alongside being accepted into its next cohort (BNA)
- CitoPlus, a digital platform for brokers servicing small to medium enterprise clients, has raised an undisclosed amount from 1835i (Capital Brief)
