Tech & Innovation

The barriers to entry for young companies in Silicon Valley are skyrocketing because of soaring costs, and longtime locals fed up with Valley are departing for greener, fresher pastures. Indeed, Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal with Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, left Silicon Valley after becoming dissatisfied with the culture in the Valley, among other reasons.

Last year, Slingshot launched Horizons, a tourism industry accelerator backed by Brisbane Airport Corporation, Amadeus IT and the Queensland Government’s $650 million Advance Queensland initiative. The program was such a success, it opened again for applications early this year.

Ed App, the leading mobile-first technology company that facilitates more than 35,000 micro lessons daily, has announced it has raised $4 million from workplace solutions tech company, SafetyCulture.

Powered by Australia’s largest tech start-up accelerator BlueChilli, The Stockland Accelerator offers start-ups the opportunity to refine their bold idea and develop it into a prototype, with $38,000 upfront investment and up to $500,000 in follow-on funding.

The Australian startups who will take part include, Auror, Daisee, FreightExchange, Hyper Anna, InDebted, Kapiche, Karbon, Makers Empire, Teamgage, SimpleKYC, StartVR, VendorPanel and Winimy AI.

Described as the Airbnb of education, Zambesi disrupts traditional education with a marketplace model that enables high-profile business leaders to create and lead their own accelerated face-to-face training programs whilst retaining their IP.

ITonCloud client Home Care Holdings, a mobile health provider, was one of the first to take advantage of the new Skype for Business Enterprise Plus as well as Standard to meet users’ needs appropriately. The first rollout has been completed with already 300 users utilising all the features, with another 200 being to be added to complete the first two stages of the roll out.

Australia’s leading retail management platform, Neto, and ‘one of a kind’ repricing engine StreetPricer, are busting the myth that marketplaces are a race to the bottom, and helping SMB retailers realise the opposite is most often true.

The demand for data scientists today is already high with no signs of abating. At any given time, there are around 550 jobs advertised for data scientists in Australia on sites like SEEK and Indeed.

Businesses are embracing advanced technology and artificial intelligence to improve production. AI has more benefits than just streamlined manufacturing, though. With the use of...

Businesses like Uber, Deliveroo and Airtasker are booming thanks to more and more people choosing to gain a second income. Some will pursue the gig economy as a full time option and a study predicted that by 2020, 43 percent of American workers would be independent contractors.

Even businesses that conduct all their transactions online are not exempt from the law. With more companies looking to compete with giants like Amazon, there is a large retail market appearing on the Internet. The government is constantly enacting new laws and rules to adapt to the evolving environment.

Across all industries, retail and marketing included, geospatial data can be just as influential and vital to success. It’s less commonly discussed, and not completely understood by many. Unlike location data, it involves the spatial and logistical information about a particular position, region or area.

The blockchain takes the concept further, allowing companies to raise funds on the blockchain by issuing tokens, or crypto securities, of some value in the company or that provide utility.

Bucking the trend of Australian companies buying into New Zealand, New Zealand web and app company Rabid Technologies has acquired Squareweave, a strategic design and web development agency based in Melbourne.

Online subscription platform GiggedIn is transforming how live music and entertainment is consumed by making it more affordable, easier and accessible for Australians, particularly millennials, who love the nightlife.

AmazingCo, a data-driven experiences platform, recently announced a $2.3 million raise led by Rampersand VC, including Macdoch Ventures, Aconex’s founders Leigh Jasper and Rob Phillpot, Luxury Escapes co-founder Adam Schwab and Richmond AFL captain Trent Cotchin.

Horizons, a tourism industry accelerator run by Slingshot and backed by the Queensland Government’s $650 million Advance Queensland initiative, has officially launched for the second year running.

Girl Geek Academy is extending its impact into the U.S. market with a scholarship initiative aimed at increasing the number of minority groups working within the chaos engineering field.

Cloud accounting platform, Rounded, has announced improvements to its sole trader app, enabling seamless sharing of data between its users and their accountants.