This week SmartCompany editor-in-chief Simon Crerar (SC) and senior tech reporter Tegan Jones (TJ) are bringing you all the news, views and “Overheard at the ICC” SXSW Sydney gossip we can right here: thanks for joining us, email us here if you have any juicy news or hot-takes.
Last night TJ had a little scooplet, with former Startmate accelerator participant Sophie Silver — co-founder of Polymath – revealing the edtech startup had closed a $1.5 million pre-seed raise earlier this year.
ICYMI: Day One Live Coverage: Pre-seed exclusive, $12 tampons and Startmate Demo Day | Opinion: Australia needs a local SXSW as much as we need an Aussie reboot of The Office| 1,547 attendees pack State Theatre for record Startmate Demo Day | Key takeaways from Canva’s Melanie Perkins keynote
Tegan:
Sticking with Google HQ (I really was there all arvo), one of the best parts was getting to witness startup pitches and explainers exclusively from women. You love to see it.
This included:
We also heard from Jessie Hughes — senior creative technologist and artist-in-residence at Leonardo.ai. She was even kind enough to shout out our previous reporting during her talk!
I was also fascinated by inTruth AI, a startup that claims to track emotions through consumer wearables with clinical-grade accuracy.
Founder Nicole Gibson, who is also the former national mental health commissioner for the federal government, discussed how InTruth AI’s technology aims to better understand and map human emotions in real time.
By capturing emotional data, the AI is supposed to provide personalised feedback, helping people and businesses foster deeper empathy and emotional intelligence in their interactions.
It was a really interesting talk that even delved into the masculine and feminine in a way you don’t usually see in the business and startup spaces.
I’m keen to dig into this one more because at the time of writing, there didn’t seem to be a website available or even much info on LinkedIn. Do reach out if you know more! TJ
Tegan:
I’ve spent the afternoon over at Google HQ at its Empower event, which brought together women founders and investors to discuss the future of technology and the startup ecosystem.
While the event showcased some of the incredible women-founded businesses in the space, it also involved frank discussions around the funding inequity for women founders in Australia.
A familiar story. We see this every quarter in Cut Through Venture’s funding reports.
The disparity is frankly embarrassing, and even when women founders are invested in, it tends to be at the pre-seed and seed level.
And while LinkedIn may like to argue the existence of women founders for certain lists, the problem still firmly lies in the investment ecosystem.
Why is it that I constantly hear from women founders who have to go above and beyond to prove their track record of expertise and success, not to mention their financials only to be rejected for funding. Yet, we often see young male founders not held to the same standard.
And that’s exactly why we need initiatives like Equity Clear, which officially launched at Empower this afternoon.
Co-founded by Samar Mcheileh, co-CEO of Scale Investors, Equity Clear is focused on increasing transparency around investment in women-led ventures.
One of the things it does is provide templates for measuring gender diversity in both portfolios and investment teams in order to hold investors accountable. This includes intersectional representation. The broader goal is to encourage more investment into women-led startups and increase the diversity of decision-makers in venture firms.
You can read more about it here.
More broadly speaking, one of the key points from the panel discussions that stood out to me was a call for founders to lay down an uno-reverse and set KPIs for their investors.
The idea was to encourage transparency and a clear alignment between the capital being injected and the impact it is supposed to make. It’s a really interesting extension of the age-old ‘choose the right partners’ line and something I’d like to see more of.
One of the joys of a big event such as SXSW Sydney is serendipitous encounters with folks you’ve been meaning to catch up with forever. So it was wonderful to hear someone shout “Simon” and turn around and realise I was sitting next to the brilliant Bronwen Clune, VC and startup correspondent at AFR-challenger media startup Capital Brief, backed by Shearwater VC.
I was lucky enough to receive some mentoring from Bron via Blackbird’s GIANTS program during my startup journey, and I was absolutely delighted to see her bring her encyclopaedic knowledge of the ecosystem to Capital Brief from launch. Obviously you’re already reading her must-read weekly newsletter Sweat Equity, but if for some reason you’re not: sign up here. SC
(PS: Janzy, please post the affiliate link revenue to Private Media, PO Box 5239, 380 Bourke St Melbourne VIC 3001)
It seems like there’s some issues with the SXSW Sydney website — specifically if you’re trying to look at the schedule.
I can personally confirm that earlier today you could check out the sessions with ease, but now it is claiming the site isn’t secure.
Other sources have also reached out to report the same problem:
What’s going on… TJ
Sydney’s iconic State Theatre was packed to the gills last night for the latest iteration of startup accelerator Startmate’s Demo Day, with more than 1,500 people seated – and sometimes on their feet dancing – in the stalls and dress circle as eleven founding teams from the latest cohort pitched live.
It was fantastic to chat with a slightly tired but still very excited Michael Batko today, the morning after the night before. Meeting a Startmate’s Sydney HQ at Fishburners I got some nostalgia vibes too – I started renting a desk at Fishies in March 2020 while participating on their Entrepreneurship Accelerator with UTS, terrible timing!
Anyway, Michael revealed that 1,547 attendees had packed Sydney’s State Theatre for the event last night, and discussed his ultimate BHAG, a Startmate City! Read my interview here. SC
I’ve raced down the Harbour over to Google HQ for an afternoon of robots, AI and investing in women.
Things are just kicking off now, but I had to drop in to say I finally got to meet Abi – Andromeda Robotics’ stunning robot who is pegged to revolutionise aged care.
Powered by AI and machine learning, offers companionship and assistance with daily tasks, helping improve the quality of life for the elderly and patients.
Founder and CEO Grace Brown — a robotics engineer — shared the story behind Abi’s creation, highlighting the importance of combining technology with human empathy.
Abi’s personality can be tailored to individual needs, with popular presets like “The Sarcastic Maven,” which brings humour and sass into the interactions.
But perhaps best of all was the demonstration, where Abi not only danced to the Macarena but showed off her polyglot skills (she can speak 90 languages) and shot bubbles from her arm.
I love her.TJ
She’s absolutely gorgeous and I’m not ashamed to be fan girling over her and a women-founded Australian robotics company.
Tegan:
I’m fresh out of the Guilty as Sin: Lifting the hood on how tech has transformed our vices for the 21st century panel — and it was a doozy!
The discussion highlighted how these traditional vices have evolved in surprising ways that fit in our tech-driven world.
For example — lust was reframed as a desire for meaningful social connections, while sloth has been rebranded as self-care, with the rise of wellness apps like Headspace.
Wrath was, unsurprisingly, connected to the likes of X/Twitter where explosive opinion lives. However, the panel also dove deeper, looking at how wrath isn’t just purely destructive, but can also fuel online activism and social justice movements.
Perhaps my favourite — and the most relevant to the startup and businesses sphere — was the rebranding of ‘greed’ as ‘ambition’, particularly in the context of hustle culture.
Platforms like LinkedIn were highlighted for glorifying constant productivity and career success, encouraging users to celebrate these achievements as a measure of self-worth.
The argument was that the evolution of ambition combined with social media has allowed hustle culture to normalise side gigs and the pressure to always be “on.”
Super fascinating stuff. TJ
Tegan:
Good morning from Day 2 of SXSW Sydney. I am officially on-site today, which worked in my favour because the registration line was non-existent when I rocked up.
On my way through the ICC I was able to personally confirm that the vending machines in the ICC are devoid of visible prices.
Today’s schedule is jam-packed, and sadly that means choosing between a cornucopia of fantastic-sounding sessions.
I’ll be kicking things off with a little sin and tech with the Guilty as Sin: Lifting the hood on how tech has transformed our vices for the 21st century panel.
I’ll be then heading off to Google’s headquarters for the Robots are a Girl’s Best Friend chat with Grace Brown from Andromeda Robotics.
I’ve written about Andromeda and their gorgeous robot Abi a few times this year (including a recent $3 million raise), so I’m really excited to see her in person.
I’ll also be checking out the How AI is Accelerating Startups panel and the official launch of Equity Clear — the Aussie VC supergroup pushing for gender diversity and transparency in funding. We’ve been writing about it since last year so it’s great to see it come together publicly.
As always I am on the lookout for any tasty tidbits of gossip, interesting things said in panels, and any other juicy bits and pieces happening at SXSW Sydney.
Yesterday it resulted in some spice around $12 tampons being flogged on site, a cheeky $1.5 million seed raise, and UTS possibly not checking badges.
If you hear anything, get in touch. Anonymity guaranteed! TJ
A significant percentage of Australia’s startup ecosystem is likely nursing hangovers after accelerator Startmate’s huge Demo Day at the State Theatre last night. There were no Heaps Normals at the Cargo bar afterparty, but there were balloons.
Click here to find out why.
Not everyone has drunk the SXSW Sydney Kool-Aid. Yesterday writer, investor, founder and provocator Joan Westenberg responded to our call for spicy takes with a searing take, arguing that Australia should be creating our own culture versus importing the USA’s.
“Are we really so creatively bankrupt that we need to import and repackage ideas over and over again?” queried Westenberg on LinkedIn.
“From small screens to festivals, we’re becoming experts at xeroxing other countries’ greatest hits. Even Australian VC funds have developed a similar habit: they’re not just importing American ideas, they’re practically smuggling them in their carry-on luggage. It’s as if we believe innovation can only come wrapped in a stars-and-stripes flag, like we’re determined to turn Australia into the world’s largest karaoke bar, belting out covers instead of writing our own tunes. Which brings me to SXSW.”
Do you agree with her argument that Australia needs a local SXSW as much as we need an Aussie reboot of The Office?
Today I – SmartCompany editor-in-chief Simon Crerar – have an interview with the founders of sleep fitness company Eight Sleep, and am then at the ICC from 11am for a series of sessions in SWSW’s Tech & Innovation stream. My day ends with a screening and launch party for Network Ten’s Shark Tank, which is back for another series – with a new group of sharks – tomorrow night. SC
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Editor-In-Chief, SmartCo Media
Simon Crerar is editor-in-chief of SmartCo Media. Previously, he was the founding editor and then GM of BuzzFeed Australia. He began his career on Fleet Street as a tech reporter for The Times, and has also worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and News Corp Australia. He is co-founder of *PS Media, a collaborative local news startup, lives on LinkedIn @simoncrerar, and very occasionally tweets/Xs at @simoncrerar.
Senior Technology Journalist
A multi-award-winning journalist, Tegan has been reporting on technology, telecommunications and gaming for the past 10 years. She regularly appears on mainstream media channels as an expert tech commentator. Her previous roles include editor of Gizmodo Australia and global reviews editor at Finder. She has also served as a reporter and editor across Business Insider, Lifehacker and Kotaku Australia. Tegan was the co-host of one of the top technology podcasts in Australia, Queens of the Drone Age. You can find her on Twitter @Tegan_Writes.
