Startups

After four days of fierce competition, with 100 startups representing 53 countries, one has emerged the victor of the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC). White Helmet, a company that provides a platform to manage and monitor construction operations remotely, from anywhere and at any time, returns home with a US$300,000 share of the $1m prize pot.

Cyble, the Y Combinator-backed AI-powered global cyber threat intelligence company, has announced that it has been recognized as one of America's Best Startup Employers 2023 by Forbes in partnership with Statista, the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The prestigious list acknowledges the top startup employers in the US (founded between 2013 to 2020) based on employer reputation, employee satisfaction, and growth.

Floatspace, one of Australia’s fastest growing boating platform, launched its new proprietary software “Boatbooked” as it raises capital to keep up with growing hype in the business. The online boating platform enables people to easily book a boat for any event on the water. Powered by its proprietary technology “Boatbooked '' streamlines the customer journey from initial inquiry to boarding the boat, with real-time availability, live pricing, and automations creating a seamless experience for both customers and boat owners.

Multi-award winning startup incubator Macquarie University Incubator is expanding its network by welcoming 11 new startups and scaleups, which are all focused on finding solutions to prominent economic, health and business issues. The new cohort will call the purpose-built Macquarie Incubator building home during their commercialisation journey, growing and developing their businesses through the Startup Educate Program.

The next generation of women entrepreneurs will get the startup support they need with a new grant round from LaunchVic. Grants of up to $300,000 are available for organisations to run pre-accelerator programs that equip women founders with the advice, support and networks required to build a minimum viable product and find their first customer.

For the first time in Australia’s history, a small craft distillery has won two of the world’s most coveted gin awards - both on the same night. Swan Valley distillery, Old Young’s, has just been awarded Craft Producer of the Year and Brand Innovator of the Year at The Icons of Gin competition - one of the most prestigious competitions for gin across the globe.

Australia's premium flexible workspace and building hospitality provider, Hub Australia, has made another accomplishment by securing its fifteenth site at the state heritage listed building at 44 Martin Place in Sydney — inherently raising the bar for workplace experience on a worldwide scale when the flagship for the local pioneer of flexible work opens in mid-2023

E-GO APP, a provider of fantasy esports, has performed a capital injection of $300,000 despite difficult financial and geopolitical times. The capital is a combination of a pre-seed round and a growth loan from a large bank in Sweden. There is also an option of additional $200,000 in growth loans from another Swedish bank during the second half of 2023.

Elladex, Australia’s digital mentor marketplace for ambitious women, is excited to open up to new investors who want to add the fast-growing women’s daily learning, leadership, and mentoring platform to their portfolio. As the only super-app of its kind in Australia, Elladex boasts a community of 25,000 users and a 90% retention rate that offers ambitious women with enhanced education, networking, and mentoring opportunities all in one place. 

inDrive, a mobility and urban services platform, announced that it has raised $150m in an innovative hybrid instrument from General Catalyst to fund marketing spend, including user acquisition and retention costs. This round of funding will give inDrive additional financial flexibility and will support the company’s ongoing growth. General Catalyst previously participated in inDrive’s $150m Series C investment round led by Insight Partners in 2021.