Startups stories - Page 6

Commonwealth Bank teams with OpenAI on AI and cyber training to close skills gaps for 1 million Australian small business customers.

Zepz has bought fintech Pomelo to bolt credit cards and lending onto its remittance brands, deepening its push into cross-border finance.

Australia's Propel-AIR 2.0 robotics sprint launches in Brisbane, uniting ARM Hub, MassRobotics and innovators for a week of AI showcases.

Airwallex acquires Korean fintech Paynuri, securing local payment and FX licences as it accelerates its expansion across Asia-Pacific hubs.

Aspire embeds Deel's Employer of Record tools to let startups hire, pay and manage overseas staff from a single cross-border finance platform.

OpenAI rolls out USD $8-a-month ChatGPT Go across the US and prepares to trial clearly labelled ads for free and Go users.

FinTech Australia opens entries for the 2026 Finnie Awards, marking the programme's tenth year with revamped categories and a new Sydney venue.

Pax8 taps former Microsoft Asia channel leader Sarah Bowden to spearhead APAC sales, marketing and partner growth from 2026.

Cloudflare acquires UK AI marketplace Human Native to give creators more control and pay for data used to train and run AI systems.

London's Cyb3r Operations raises $5.4m to expand real-time monitoring of third-party cyber risk as supply-chain threats intensify.

Tel Aviv start-up isVerified unveils AI platform to spot voice deepfakes in executive calls as vishing attacks surge on global firms.

MongoDB expands its AI-focused startup programme and bakes Voyage AI models into Atlas to unify retrieval and operational data in one stack.

FinTech Australia joins a new AUD $50 million Austrade-backed Trade Diversification Network to ramp up fintech export growth and reach.

Cloudbeds wins top Hotel Management Software at the 2026 HotelTechAwards, plus finalist spots, culture ranking and hotelier-choice honours.

Firewalla Orange debuts as a pocket-sized Wi-Fi 7 router and firewall, bringing Zero Trust-style protection to homes, offices and travellers.

Elon Musk's xAI raises USD $20 billion, turbocharging Grok model training and GPU build-out as rivalry in frontier AI heats up.

January Capital raises over USD $130m for an Asia-Pacific growth credit fund targeting sponsor-backed technology companies.

Freshworks names AI-focused marketer Kady Srinivasan as CMO to sharpen its global brand and go-to-market engine in crowded SaaS markets.

Adelaide start-up Sync has debuted an AI Bar that quizzes drinkers, then mixes bespoke hard seltzers from a core range at AUD $55 a pack.

J.P. Morgan's Fusion platform has integrated Crunchbase AI, giving institutional investors live startup forecasts and early risk signals.