September
Step One founder sells down, Morgans on trade
The broker had $30 million of shares in the bamboo underwear maker up for grabs at $1.70, although Greg Taylor will retain majority ownership.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Digital debt collector worth $350m after big money raise
Business booms for InDebted when cost-of-living hits consumers. It has attracted new investors, including a super fund to back a rare valuation increase.
- Paul Smith
Billionaire goes from basement to world’s first private spacewalk
Jared Isaacman planted the seeds of payments company Shift4 in his parents’ basement and used to scrounge for pizza dollars. But at 41, he’s just made history.
- Emily Mason
Robin Khuda is the ringleader of this year’s biggest M&A deal
The founder of AirTrunk has cashed in on the inexorable rise in demand for processing power and built a vast fortune on the rise of cloud computing.
- Paul Smith and Tess Bennett
August
This trader spotted a ‘really big gap’ – and made a fortune
Stake’s Matt Leibowitz loved his job as a derivatives trader, but when his friends started asking how to invest in US stocks, he saw an opportunity.
- Yolanda Redrup
- Exclusive
- Commercial real estate
The faces behind Sydney’s new $10m members’ club
For $20,000 a year, members of Australia’s new tech and funding community club can take an ice bath, or breastfeed, in a space of their own.
- Michael Bleby
Why an Aussie firm spent $1.5m on a ‘Drive to Survive’-like rally doco
In a branding strategy inspired by the success of influencers such as MrBeast, SafetyCulture founder Luke Anear is using YouTube to increase audience reach.
- Paul Smith
- Exclusive
- How I Made It
This immigrant quietly made $550m. He has tips for making $1b
Gabriel Jakob is one of the most successful Australian entrepreneurs you’ve probably never heard of. Now he’s telling his story, but not posing for a full photo.
- Yolanda Redrup
July
2000 customers: Zac’s big plans for gold outside the pool
In June, swimmer Zac Stubblety-Cook qualified for the Paris Olympics and began his first business. “I’ve definitely burnt the candle at both ends,” he says.
- Updated
- Zoe Samios
From selling vacuum cleaners to running Booking.com in Australia at 33
Tod Lacey is one of the 2024 BOSS Young Executives. His first proper job was selling vacuum cleaners at a department store in Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island.
- Sally Patten
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
Aussie who sold cloud start-up for $2b jumps on AI for ads
Three years after selling A Cloud Guru in a bumper payday, Sam Kroonenburg is teaming up with advertising entrepreneurs with big plans and investors in tow.
- Paul Smith
What it’s like to sell your tech start-up for $180m
For Frank Greeff, selling his real estate marketing company to Domain was the hardest thing he’s ever done, and after it happened he just went to bed.
- Yolanda Redrup
‘Not good enough’: Blackbird admits its gender pledge has stalled
Australia’s largest VC fund pledged to track data to support its rhetoric around investing in more women founders. Its first report shows it has gone backwards.
- Tess Bennett
- Exclusive
- Funding
Construction start-up lands mega $105m deal
Melbourne software company HammerTech has landed a $105 million investment from Californian private equity shop Riverwood Capital.
- Tess Bennett
This Olympian started her business seven months before Paris
Being a professional athlete is hard enough. Somehow, beach volleyball star Mariafe Artacho del Solar has found time to start a small business.
- Zoe Samios
The worrying signal small business is sending on the economy
If the sector is the canary in the coal mine, Australia’s economic growth is not looking good, according to a new economic indicator from accounting software giant MYOB.
- Ronald Mizen
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
Aussie tech’s climate crisis as start-ups face capital crunch
At least 100 Australian climate tech start-ups need to raise capital in the next nine months to avoid going bust, but say the bar for investment is sky-high.
- Yolanda Redrup
- Exclusive
- Small business
‘Naughty and nice’ list to be created for small business payments
Late payments by large companies are estimated to cost small and medium business $7 billion a year and contribute to their failures, prompting new rules from the federal parliament.
- Ronald Mizen
What this start-up founder learned from the public death of her company
Mina Radhakrishnan, the only founder of a collapsed start-up brave enough to speak at the Financial Review Entrepreneur Summit, hopes the industry values battle scars as she tries again.
- Tess Bennett
Cars, boats and houses won’t make you happy, says this Rich Lister
Property developer Paul Blackburne landed on the Rich List with an estimated $536 million fortune. There’s a success trap entrepreneurs need to be mindful of, he says.
- Julie-anne Sprague