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.

Ben Pfisterer is the CEO and Co-Founder of Zeller, an alternative to business banking. Prior to founding Zeller, Ben was the country manager for Square in Australia. Zeller was founded in early 2020 and has seen massive growth since then, with several rounds of capital raises and a team of 100. Zeller is just getting started, with sights on becoming a multigenerational business that changes the landscape of the Australian payments industry and expands globally. Ben is an ambitious, fast-moving, and highly capable founder with many insights to share.

Sam Kroonenburg is the CEO and Founder of A Cloud Guru, a disruptive online learning platform for cloud certification and training. A Cloud Guru has recently been acquired by Pluralsight, a US company, in the largest-ever acquisition of an Australian software company. The story of A Cloud Guru is an amazing example of product-market fit and successfully getting the product into the hands of the customers who need it most.

Joined by Paul Naphtali (Rampersand), Sarah Nolet (Tenacious Ventures), and Rachel Yang (Giant Leap), Ian sits down for a deep dive into family offices. The panel discusses a variety of topics related to family offices and provides a wealth of information for potential VC investors as well as those looking to learn more about who is behind VC funds.

Ashik Ahmed is the Co-Founder, CEO, and CTO of Deputy, a workforce management software platform. Deputy seeks to simplify shift work for hundreds of thousands of customers around the globe. Ashik is a genuine, open, and honest CEO with a multitude of insights on the founder journey.

Lauren Hall is the Founder and CEO of iVvy, a venue and event management software company. Prior to founding iVvy, Lauren worked across a variety of industries including clothing, pharmaceuticals, FMCG, and technology. Lauren is a tenacious founder with an indomitable spirit; her story is one of talent, hustle, resilience, and success.

Topics we discuss:The discussion kicks off with the biggest headline of the fortnight: Square’s $39 billion acquisition of AfterPay. The panel dives into the implications of the deal for the BNPL sector, and banking in general. We also discuss the new innovation hub opening up in the new Salesforce Tower in Sydney, Australia’s first crypto credit card from CoinJar, the new $270 million VC fund from Airwallex, and new raises by IntelligenceBank and Culture Amp.