Ben Thompson is the Founder and CEO of Employment Hero. The company is Australia’s newest unicorn, recently announcing a funding round of $181 million, valuing the firm at $1.25 billion. Ben grew up in Frenchs Forrest in Sydney and finished his schooling in Armidale, rural NSW.

Rebecca Schot-Guppy is the Director of Investment Leverage and Portfolio Management at IAG Firemark Ventures. Previously, Rebecca was the CEO of FinTech Australia, where she made a significant impact on the ecosystem. Prior to Fintech Australia, she worked as a Community Manager at Stone & Chalk. Rebecca found her way into the world of venture through her background in law and biomed. She is a passionate and knowledgeable member of the startup ecosystem with many insights to share.

Ian sits down with Hugo Bieber, Partner at Think & Grow, and Jacqui Tucker, Head of Employment, Taxes & Reward, Enterprise, KPMG, to discuss the 2021-2022 Australian Startup Salary Guide by Think & Grow and KPMG High Growth Ventures. Supported by Tech Council of Australia, the guide was produced with 20 leading VCs, surveying over 3,000 positions across 140 companies and is designed for startups looking to recruit and retain the best talent in the ecosystem.

Max Cunningham is currently the Group Executive of Listings at ASX. Previously, he was the Head of Equity Capital Markets at Goldman Sachs in New York and the Director of the Macquarie Group in London. Max has a wide array of global experience and provides unique insight into the state of the Australian market.

Manuri Gunawardena is the Founder and CEO of HealthMatch. HealthMatch was founded in 2017, after Manuri won TechnCrunch’s Startup Battlefield. It is a Medtech platform built to help patients connect with clinical trials. It operates as a marketplace, allowing patients to have access to the latest treatments and trials.

Welcome to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups. This week, we’re focusing on news stories centred around climate tech and renewable energy.
Meet this week’s panel…

Steve Fanale is the CEO and Founder of DriveYello, a company that helps businesses provide last mile delivery service to their customers. DriveYello’s mission is becoming the smartest gig economy management platform. Steve has been an active member of the startup ecosystem since the early 2000s, before it was fully established in Australia.

Nicky Jackson is the founder and CEO of RangeMe, a product discovery and sourcing platform that allows retailers and suppliers to connect. RangeMe owns and dominates within the United States market, where they currently have 200,000 active suppliers and 10,000 retail buyers in their network. RangeMe works with over 75% of leading US-based retailers.

come to another edition of the OTPBD News Special, our fortnightly series which analyses the news that matters for Australian and Kiwi startups.

Topics we discuss: Christian Porter resigning as Industry Minister, Immutable securing $82 million in funding, Canva raising $200 million at a $40 billion valuation, Microsoft acquiring Brisbane-based Clipchamp, BNPL platform Scalapay becoming a unicorn, Delegate Connect’s $10 million seed round, Insurtech Open raising $31 million in a series B, and Startmate proposing a change to startup investment rules.

Alex McCauley is the Founder and Executive Director of Tech Council of Australia. Previously, he was the Founding CEO of StartupAUS, which recently morphed into Tech Council of Australia. Prior to joining StartupAUS, Alex worked as a Diplomat for the Australian government in Israel.

Topics we discuss: Alex Scandurra stepping down as CEO at Stone & Chalk, Startmate’s plan to build an “Innovation City,” we get the inside line from our host Ian about Jelix Ventures doing their first $17m close, AfterWork Ventures closing a $10m fund, Canva ranking #3 in the Forbes Cloud 100, the transition of StartupAUS to the Tech Council, Bendigo acquiring Melbourne-based fintech Ferocia for $116m, Latitude acquiring lending fintech Symple for $200m, the 2021 Mid-Year Global CVC Report, & Kevin Rudd joining the advisory board of Crimson Education.