Whispir beats IPO prospectus forecast

Cloud communications software as a service (SaaS) company Whispir (ASX: WSP) exceeded its prospectus forecasts today for both revenue and EBITDA, yet its shares are trading below the IPO offer price. Such is the capriciousness of a volatile share market, especially for tech companies at the moment. Revenue for the Melbourne-founded co...

Megaport loss worsens despite record revenue

Brisbane-based tech group Megaport (ASX: MP1) reported record revenue for FY19, but that hasn't stemmed yet another full year loss. The group reported a net loss for FY19 of $33.6 million during a year in which the company delivered revenue of $35.1 million. However, the loss is likely the result of aggressive expansion from the d...

Uniti Wireless to acquire FTTP network for $100 million

Adelaide-based teclo Uniti Wireless (ASX: UWL) is continuing on its spending spree with the announcement of a $100 million acquisition. The group hopes to raise $100 million in order to acquire builder and wholesale operator of private fibre networks LBNCo. LBNCo is described by Uniti as "highly profitable" and is predominan...

Rhipe harvests a bumper full year profit

Cloud solutions company Rhipe (ASX: RHP) has posted an operating profit of $12.8 million for FY19, up 65 per cent on the previous year. This healthy harvest comes as the group has continued to grow across the business during the financial year, particularly its Asian focused business. Sales were up by 28 per cent to $252.5 million dur...

This Apple backed founder thinks we need to rethink Australia's rigid economy

As the founder of Blackmagic Design, Grant Petty (pictured) certainly knows a thing or two about running a business. The company is one of Australia's most successful tech-plays in recent times. Founded in 2001 Blackmagic Design has been at the forefront of film and television ever since then with its varied suite of cameras, capture ...

MOQ to acquire Wardy IT Solutions

Sydney-based cloud tech investor MOQ (ASX: MOQ) has entered a binding agreement to acquire data analytics and training specialist Wardy IT Solutions. The deal includes an upfront purchase price of $7.5 million for cash and shares along with a potential earn-out of up to $6 million. Founded in Brisbane by Peter Ward (pictured) in ...

Tritium electrified on $30 million raise

Brisbane-based electric vehicle (EV) charger developer Tritium is positioned to raise $30 million to support its fast-growing customer base. The raise will allow for increased production to meet its ever-growing collection of customers. The company has already exported over 3,000 DC fast, high-powered chargers to more than 30 countries an...

Rhipe acquires encryption and cyber security company

Australian cloud computing solutions business Rhipe (ASX: RHP) has acquired Network2Share for $2 million. Of interest to rhipe was Network2Share's user-friendly encryption product called SmartEncrypt which rhipe plans to bundle with Microsoft Office365, Microsoft Azure, and other vendor software licences. "The acquisition wil...

Google drone delivery to touch down in Queensland

The city of Logan in South East Queensland is on a roll at the moment. First there was the world's largest online training marketplace GO1 announcing the opening of its global headquarters in the city, but now a behemoth is coming to town.  After trialling a drone delivery service in Canberra for the last few months, Google-a...

Gig economy reaps rewards for Freelancer with record result

Around 900,000 jobs were added to the world's largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace Freelancer (ASX: FLN) in the first half, with revenue up 16 per cent at $28.7 million. Led by its founder Matt Barrie (pictured), the company's gross payment volume (GPV) rose 11 per cent in the period to reach a record of $400 mil...

ACCC: Facebook and Google's power distorts companies' ability to compete

The long-awaited Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) report into the out-of-control growth and dominance of digital platforms has been released today, with the watchdog critical of giants Facebook and Google. The overarching theme of the report can be distilled into the ACCC not trusting the platforms to self-regulate, w...

FNZ lifts bid by 10%, GBST still not keen

Update: This afternoon GBST entered a trading halt pending an announcement, with shares set to recommence trading by July 30. When Wellington-based FNZ Custodians tried to acquire Brisbane fintech GBST (ASX: GBT) earlier this month, it outbid its US opponent in the final hour by five cents. The success of M&A activity is about mor...

Atlassian passes US$1 billion mark for the first time

Now with more than 150,000 customers on its books, one of Australia's most successful technology companies has notched 36 per cent year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter to hit US$334 million. In an announcement this morning, Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM) co-founder and co-CEO Scott Farquhar (pictured right) said the company h...

Zip exceeds expectations in final quarter

The last quarter of FY19 was a success for buy-now pay-later group Zip Co (ASX: Z1P). The group claims it has smashed its targets set at the beginning of FY19, with transaction volumes up 108 per cent year-on-year to $1.1 billion and revenue up 17 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $27 million. Zip now has 1.3 million customers using the ...

US Justice Department launches antitrust review of tech giants

Tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple are staring down the barrel of a US Department of Justice (DOJ) review into whether they are breaching antitrust laws. The DOJ announced its review into the tech giants overnight, with the focus of the review to look into whether and how market leading online platforms have achieved mark...

DroneShield partners up to keep airport airspace safe

Managing the air traffic surrounding an airport was already stressful enough before drones were introduced to the general public at an accessible price point. The tiny flying objects might seem innocuous, but as was demonstrated in December 2018 when a number of drones shut down Gatwick airport for hours displacing more than 1000 flights,...

Record revenue for Megaport

Improving the interconnection of data centres helped cloud technology company Megaport (ASX: MP1) record a 78 per cent surge in revenue in FY19. The $35.06 million revenue result is a record for the Brisbane-based company, in a year that also ended with a record monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $3.6 million in June with 1,490 customers....

M&As a hotbed for hackers and cybercriminals

With breaches of cybersecurity now one of the most looming threats for the sustainability of most Australian businesses, many are wondering how best to protect their operations. Simple things like regularly changing passwords and ensuring absolutely everybody changes them can go a mile towards strong cybersecurity Just see the case o...

Gilmour Space Tech counts down to momentous rocket launch

The final frontier is just the beginning for the stargazers at Gilmour Space Technologies. During the week which coincidentally marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, Gilmour Space Technologies (GST) celebrates its own history-making moment. The Gold Coast-based rocket engineering company yesterday completed the final ...

"Insufficient certainty" surrounds Superloop profit forecast

Telecommunications connectivity company Superloop (ASX: SLC) has fallen on hard times since a takeover bid from the Queensland Investment Company (QIC) failed to produce a firm deal. Prior to this impasse with its suitor the company's shares were trading at $1.93 each, but at the time of publication this morning they were sitting at $...