In this edition, we discuss local startup news such as the tech stocks set to list on the ASX in 2021, Afterpay’s $42B valuation and recent raises by AgriWebb and Vow. There is also lots of global news to cover, including a boom in Bitcoin, the impeachment of Trump, the inauguration of Biden, and Elon Musk’s new spot atop the world rich list.

Angus Hervey is a political economist and a journalist specialising in the impact of disruptive technologies on society. Angus is a champion of “intelligent optimism” and co-founder of Future Crunch, a Melbourne-based think tank of sorts dedicated to informed, optimistic thinking about tech and the opportunities that it presents. Before co-founding Future Crunch, Angus was the founding community manager of Random Hacks of Kindness and was the first editorial manager for Global Policy, one of the world’s leading international policy journals. He also holds a PhD in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics.

Tim Power is a talented, passionate, resilient founder who has co-founded and created some of the world’s largest education communities including the World Education Games, World Maths Day, Mathletics and ClickView. He is currently the cofounder and CEO of Inquisitive, the Sydney-based education startup on a mission to simplify access to quality lessons for teachers.

Today’s episode features one of Australia’s best and most prolific angel investors, Matt Allen. Matt’s portfolio includes companies like BuildKite, Practice Ignition, Spaceship, Kasada, Donesafe, Pin and Goterra. At one point or another Matt has been a software developer, founder, technical recruiter, investor and now, a CEO. Most recently, Matt launched Tractor Ventures, a new vehicle for investing that offers founders revenue-based financing. Matt and his team at Tractor Ventures are grounded in the belief that secure founders make better business decisions; venture capital money simply isn’t the right fit for every business, so Tractor Ventures is filling a funding gap for ambitious founders who want to grow their businesses at a pace that suits them.

In this news special, we discuss local fundraising news including the announcement of new funds from Square Peg, OneVentures, EVP and Tractor Ventures, as well as funding rounds from Coviu and Healthmatch. We also cover global news and deals like Doordash and Airbnb IPOs, the acquisition of Slack by Salesforce, and Uber’s sale of their autonomous driving unit.

This episode features Mike Kleine, the U.S. Consul General to Melbourne. Mike has spent over 20 years of his career working in the Foreign Service; he’s been posted across the globe including in Laos, Vietnam, South Korea, and Kosovo. Mike has a deep-seated interest in entrepreneurship, a fascination with innovation, and a passion for the U.S.-Australia relationship. These passions converged and led to the creation of his podcast series, 37 Degrees Latitude.

In this episode, Phaedon is joined by Clare O’Neil MP, the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Technology and the Future of Work and Federal Member for Hotham, Victoria. We don’t often feature politicians on the podcast but we believe that it is important to understand the view of government and how government policies impact the startup ecosystem. Clare speaks with candor and openness on the changes she wants to see in the future of politics.

In this news special, we discuss recent raises by Marketplacer, Morse Micro, Flare, Hypr and Diffuse Energy. There was lots of big news coming out of the Victorian startup ecosystem to cover, including the new budget which allocates $186m to startups and the establishment of a $25m Victorian venture fund. We also talk about the tech founders that made this year’s AFR Young Rich List, Andreessen Horowitz closing two mega funds, the spike in Bitcoin, Macquarie Telecom becoming a unicorn and lots more.

In this news special, we discuss the recent and upcoming IPOs of several Aussie companies including Hipages, Booktopia and Airtasker, as well as global and local funding news like Hopin’s recent $125m raise and Aussie accounting platform Bookipi’s $1.6m seed round. We also talk about how the recent positive vaccine news and the results of the US election might impact the Australian startup ecosystem.