NewsBite

Paul Smith

Yesterday

WiseTech founder Richard White appears o be back calling the shots as the company plots its biggest ever buyout.

WiseTech faces investor scepticism on $3.5b plan to buy American rival

The logistics software giant is considering its largest acquisition yet at the same time as it confronts significant shareholder unrest over its governance.

This Month

Meta Founder Mark Zuckerberg greets Microsoft’s chief executive Satya Nadella at his company’s LlamaCon 2025 AI developer conference this week.

Why investors (but not workers) are raving about Microsoft, Meta

The big-tech AI party seemed to be winding down, but Meta and Microsoft say the night is still young.

Mira Murati, former chief technology officer of OpenAI has got investors scrambling to take part in a huge funding round for her nascent company Thinking Machines Lab.

VC giants jostle for $15b AI start-up

A stake in Thinking Machines Lab – valued at more than $15 billion – is in high demand. At least two local firms have secured one.

April

Demyst CEO Mark Hookey will stay with the company after the acquisition.

Australian fintech Demyst snapped up in $157m acquisition

Demyst, which counts ANZ, NAB and Standard Chartered among its clients, has been bought out by a private equity-backed Portuguese firm

Zero Co founder Mike Smith has announced the ambitious start-up will close next Wednesday.

Green start-up backed by billionaire Scott Farquhar, Square Peg shuts down

Sustainable packaging company Zero Co, backed by prominent investors, will close next week after failing to overcome production problems.

Advertisement
Elon Musk’s close alliance with US President Donald Trump is hurting Tesla, he says he will spend less time at DOGE from May.

Musk to pull back from DOGE as Tesla profits plunge

The EV company has been facing increased scrutiny of its near-term growth prospects after deliveries tumbled 13 per cent in the first quarter.

Expat Sydneysider Max Marchione is attracting big name backers since relocating to San Francisco to build Superpower.

Meet the 24-year-old Australian behind a $300m US start-up

Max Marchione moved to San Francisco to start Superpower and capitalise on the US’ under-resourced healthcare sector.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s decision to exempt YouTube from the social media ban for children under the age of 16 is under scrutiny from Google’s biggest rivals.

TikTok, Meta, Snapchat demand answers on YouTube ‘sweetheart deal’

The tech giants say Michelle Rowland’s unexplained favouritism towards Google’s video platform undermines new social media age restriction laws.

The government has given no logical explanation why YouTube is being exempted from its teen social media ban.

YouTube exemption exposes teen social media ban as a sham

The government’s preferential treatment of YouTube undermines the purpose of its under-16s social media ban, and is unfair to the other tech industry players.

CBA customer wanted to buy $30k in bitcoin. The bank wouldn’t let him

Listen to recordings of Andrew Broadbent’s calls with CBA, which refused to let him make a transfer to buy $30,000 in bitcoin.

Harrison.ai co-founders and brothers Dimitry (left) and Aengus Tran raised $179 million in December, the biggest  deal of the quarter.

Start-up valuations increase but tech investors brace for Trump disruption

New data shows VC firms have invested about $1 billion in 100 start-up deals so far this year, but recession fears and market uncertainty is spooking investors.

Director-general of The Australian Signals Directorate Abigail Bradshaw has acknowledged he big challenges facing SMBs trying to be cyber secure.

Small and medium businesses must act big in cybersecurity fight

SMBs face the same frightening cybersecurity landscape as larger enterprises, but lack anything like the same financial muscle and expert staff to fight back.

CISO Lens director David Cullen says AI cyber protection software is still only of limited value in the fight against hackers.

How hackers are using AI to trick their way through cyber defences

The jury is still out on whether these new tools are more helpful to hackers or cybersecurity professionals. The tech has led to an era of deepfakes and suspicion.

Donald Trump with Tim Cook, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

Tech bros left reeling in ‘dizzying’ Trump tariff back and forth

“Those donations they made to get Trump elected are being rewarded,” wrote one analyst after key electronics were exempted. Then the White House changed its mind.

Nvidia founder Jensen Huang has seen his share price take a hit in recent months.

Investors bet ‘AI fatigue’ is a temporary ailment

The biggest market darlings are suffering a humbling period as investors question whether the hype is all it is cracked up to be.

Advertisement
Canva Sheets is an update on how people have become accustomed to using spreadsheets like Excel and Google Sheets.

Canva makes its pitch to take on Microsoft with an AI Excel rival

Canva has launched its biggest product update, including a move to take on the industry giant with a re-imagining of the Excel spreadsheet.

Westpac has stumbled into a public relations nightmare after a customer was told he couldn’t transfer money from his account.

Westpac’s $50,000 call centre clash lands bank in PR nightmare

The lending giant thought it had detected a scam. But a customer is adamant he was denied access to his money with no explanation. And he’s gone public.

Super fund customers’ details are up for sale on dark web forums.

Cyber minister Tony Burke ‘radio silent’ on super breach: Coalition

The accusation comes after cybersecurity firms identified the details of thousands of Australian retirees for sale online.

Hola Health co-founders Vishnu Gopalan, Lenin Rajendran and Thiru Rajendran have received investment that values the company at $70 million.

Woolworths buys into telehealth consultations with $70m start-up

The supermarket giant’s pharmacy division has led a funding round in Hola Health, giving customers access to virtual doctor’s appointments and prescriptions.

Ramsay Health CEO Natalie Davis says digitisation and AI are a big part of the hospital operator’s plans.

Ramsay Healthcare chief says the age of AI care is coming

The CEO of Australia’s biggest private hospital operator has flagged greater AI adoption as a way to help improve services.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/paul-smith-j7ged