Australia

Grant Thornton released its 2022 Dealtracker, an analysis of the Australian mergers and acquisition and equity markets from 2020-21. The pandemic was a constant factor in this Dealtracker’s reporting period, however it failed to reduce the appetite for deals and positively influenced investments with deal volumes reaching record levels not seen for over a decade. 

Macquarie Telecom, part of Macquarie Telecom Group, announced it has signed a new deal with Konica Minolta Australia to provide SD-WAN, nbn, cloud and data centre services to help the company support its workplace of the future. Konica Minolta, headquartered in Japan and works with over 6000 clients, specialises in industrial imaging products and services.

Companies rethinking their operations and almost every aspect of their business due to the pandemic is not new. What is noteworthy is seeing how businesses are leveraging lessons learned to innovate and improve their operations to meet customer and employee demands. In a new white paper published this week with Boston Consulting Group, Verizon Business CEO, Tami Erwin, and Verizon Business CRO, Sampath Sowmyanarayan, break down how something as simple as altering the way meetings are conducted can impact productivity, while providing insight, tips, and best practices from an extensive in-house experiment.

Joining the ever growing list of sustainable brands that are shaking up the fashion industry, Texcoco Collective is a luxury fashion accessory brand committed to eco-conscious design, environmental conservation. We celebrate the designers of our products and aim to empower women to have functional pieces without compromising on their standards. Texcoco Collective offers a range of eco-luxe vegan leather handbags. It’s one of few sustainable Australian labels that works with Mexican artisans to craft beautiful vegan bags made from Mexican cactus leather, actively helping to turn the tide on wasteful practices.

Renovatio Bioscience, a success story by Dr Vincent, a respected antioxidant researcher, food scientist and clinical nutritionist, has secured a deal with Woolworths to expand its range and introduce three new products: a skincare product, Renovatio APSKIN Ultra Serum and two new Renovatio supplements, Renovatio Mental Resilience and Renovatio Skin Remedy. 

DoubleVerify (“DV”) (NYSE: DV), a software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, announced it is the first to earn accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for its independent, third-party calculation and reporting of YouTube video viewability for desktop and mobile (web and app) using Google’s Ads Data Hub (ADH). YouTube is a critical channel for advertisers to reach their audiences. Roughly 75% of American Internet users consume content on YouTube, according to eMarketer research.

Tenable®, Inc., a Cyber Exposure firm, announced changes to its deal with ServiceNow® that bolster The Now Platform® with asset inventory and vulnerability data from Tenable.ot™. Utilising Tenable’s unified assessment and remediation guidance, this new integration streamlines asset inventory and centralises IT and operational technology (OT) remediation workflows across converged industrial environments.

IAB Australia has announced the appointment of Liz Eades as Director of Learning and Development. The newly created role will see Eades steer the development, design, and delivery of practice-based education to further close the skills gap in the advertising industry. Her immediate priorities will include building relationships with tertiary education institutions, shaping bespoke corporate training offerings, working with IAB Talent and Careers Working Group and supporting members with onboarding and training talent. The announcement comes as IAB Australia continues to ramp up its support for brands and agencies in the areas of talent and training. 

Animoca Brands, a firm advancing digital property rights for gaming and the metaverse, announced it has completed the acquisition of Australian digital marketing agency Be Media to focus on key opportunities in Australia centered around NFTs and blockchain development. Be Media was founded in 2013 and has established itself as a premium player in the Web 2.0 space focusing on digital strategy, search, and social advertising. The firm has offices in Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne, and high-profile clients including Audi, Harley Davidson, and Finbar.

We are being inundated with people wanting to borrow money through their SMSFs to purchase farms and other types of properties with land that include commercial ventures so they can live on the properties and work the businesses. There are strict rules around what you can purchase with your SMSF, but there is more flexibility when it comes to farms.