In this week's episode of The Startup Retro, hosts, Will & Gemma delve into Canva's acquisition of Leonardo AI and feature an interview with Elli Hanson from Side Stage, one of Leonardo's investors. The hosts also discuss the South Australian Venture Capital Fund and the state government's independent report on its effectiveness and uncover the secret termination of the federal government's Boosting Female Founders (BFF) grant program. And to wrap up Gemma & Will highlight the latest startup raises, including Monty Compost, an industrial composting tool, and Slice, a bootstrapped fintech in the travel industry.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:28 Canva Acquires Leonardo AI

05:02 South Australian Venture Capital Fund Report

09:00 Boosting Female Founders Program Termination

15:37 Weekly Startup Raises

28:31 KaaS Recommendations

To get all the links to the stories we mentioned in this episode, you can read this week’s Overnight Success newsletter. https://newsletter.overnightsuccess.vc/p/aussie-startup-vc-summary-3rd-august-2024

Headlines

• Canva Acquires Leonardo AI
• SAVCF Government Report
• Boosting Female Founders Program Termination

Startup Raises

Monty Compost

Founder: Ashley Baxter

Monty Compost, an organic waste recycling/composting IoT device with analytics software, has secured $1M from Skalata and Antler (QIC).

Slice

Founders: Yannick Darmalingam and Farouk Ismail

Slice, a Sydney-based fintech, has raised $7.5M in Seed funding from Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA) and a $10M debt facility from Roadnight Capital.

Gemma’s Pick 💁🏻‍♀️

Podcast: The Journal - "Alexa is in millions of homes and Amazon is losing billions"

Will’s Pick 💁🏻‍♂️

Blog: The Big Guide to Fusion by Ben James

• Gemma on LinkedIn
• Will on LinkedIn

Thanks to our sponsors for helping to make this episode of The Startup Retro possible.

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