Who is Investing in Australian Startups?

A graph containing circles of different sizes with arrows pointing all around the place, invoking the idea of entrepreneurs investing in startupsRight now, there’s a fantastic “Startup Spring” festival going on across Australia, organised by StartupAUS, with hundreds of great events across 3 weeks. I noticed that veteran US investor Bill Tai did a tour of several major cities last week. Wondering whether he had any Australian connection, I looked up Bill’s credentials and found that he is in fact an investor in high-profile Aussie startups Shoes of Prey and Canva.

That got me wondering: Who else is investing in Australian startups? This would be useful information for some people to know, especially if they’re planning on raising venture capital funding but would prefer to keep the company local. If only there was a database of startup investments that could be queried programmatically…

Why, hello there, Crunchbase API! 🙂

So, without further ado, here is the…

List of Startup Investors (as recorded on Crunchbase) in Companies That Only Have Offices in Australia: Continue reading

“Why the Bloody Hell Did You Come Here?” (says Australia, to Asylum Seekers)

These people have escaped persecution to find themselves in a country that officially does not want them.

Asylum seekers arrive at Christmas Island on a small flat boat, wearing life jackets, kneeling in a line and being escorted by what appear to be immigration staff.A retired friend of mine has recently become involved in efforts to help newly-released asylum seekers in Sydney. He wrote the email below to myself and a few others. It is a damning assessment, from people on the ground, of how the Australian government is treating people in need. I’m publishing it here because I think it is important for people to know what this government (as well as the main party trying to replace them) is doing in our name. Continue reading