Innovation Victoria's windfall

Startup DailyNov 3, 2026

03.11.2026

News, Insights and Stories from the Australian and New Zealand tech ecosystem.

Innovation Victoria’s startup fund has a bumper $166 million return as it faces the axe after the state election

Innovation Victoria posts a $166m surplus as Liberals vow a fire sale.

Canva doubles down with OpenAI just days after launching its 2nd in-house AI model

Canva leans harder on OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra while racing to slash AI costs with Brush.

Ear infection biotech and mining AI take top honours at WA innovation awards

Meet WA’s sharpest innovators: an ear-infection nasal spray and ore-tracking AI seize top awards—see who’s turning science into money.

Christchurch startup hub launches as pilot for New Zealand’s NEST network

Christchurch’s NEST hub wants to crank NZ startups to 5,000, packing founders, capital and mentors under one roof.

Failing forwards: Minnie Isaac on beauty, dignity and building dewwie.com

Beauty can be frivolous, intimate, commercial and deeply tied to dignity.

WATCH NOW

Role Call: OneVentures, Affinda, DX1, BeforePay, Roblox, AI ambassador

Power seats just got reshuffled across AI, fintech, VC, Roblox and cyber.

Cheque-in: 4 startups end October banking $31 million this week

MP Space, Metacognition, Copy Geek, and Forward Deployed shared the cash.

From bonk ban to bot ban: Labor backs digital duty of care changes for AI chatbots that hook kids

Labor agrees to bar AI chatbots barred from grooming kids into synthetic besties as Senate horse-trading looms.

How a family funeral sparked the startup behind $2 billion in charity pledges

A funeral price hunt became EveryWill, turning 230,000 free wills into $2B in charity pledges.

GAMES REVIEW: Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave was a slam dunk. But my verdict wavered when credits rolled

Harrison returns with his latest review of a “gargantuan game”.

In case you missed it

The NRF’s investment returns are almost as good as your super fund’s*

NRF flips Liontown lithium stake for a 7.7% return, crowds in private capital and backs AI/quantum bets.

Independent MP Allegra Spender fights the government’s startup CGT changes in Parliament with a simpler Plan B

Spender torches Labor’s Kafkaesque startup CGT maze, pushing a simpler 40% active-asset discount for risk-takers.

What doesn’t kill you only makes you richer: Anthropic’s $2.8 trillion IPO could deliver returns that last a lifetime – for however long is left

The AI IPO boom is shaking more than just the markets.

In other news

The government says $91.54 an hour is enough for trust tax advice. Accountants say otherwise

Tax agents fear the federal government has underestimated the true cost of its trust reforms.

Past their prime? Why writing off workers over 50 is getting old

Australian businesses complain that skills are hard to find, that experienced people cost too much, and that good employees never stay. Then decide people are old at 51.

Canva killed design standards, and your brand is proof

Canva didn’t make bad designs cheap. It made average design free.

Retiring soon? Your super fund might owe you a bonus

A lot of the big super funds now pay members a bonus when they move their super into a retirement income account.

From our partners

“We’re building an era-defining business for Australia”: The startups building global tech powerhouses from Wollongong

Swipejobs founder Katrina Leslie named Australia’s EY Entrepreneur Of The Year after building billion-dollar recruitment business