Hayden Stephens walked away from big law and risked financial ruin to reshape Australia’s class-action system – and win back hundreds of millions for underpaid workers. Before he ever stood in a courtroom, Hayden Stephens was pulling beers in a pub he had no business owning and interviewing survivors of childhood sexual abuse he was […]
After 20 years of lab work, a Queensland start-up has launched its hypersonic scramjet, to finish a job NASA started – and to take on SpaceX in the process. The last time NASA flew a scramjet – the fastest flight ever, at 9.6 times the speed of sound, in 2004 – Michael Smart was there […]
Fresh faces are shaking up the Forbes Australia 50 Richest list – self made, fast-moving and sometimes surprising. Meet the newcomers rewriting the rules of wealth and ambition in a rapidly changing economy. This story features in Issue 21 of Forbes Australia. Tap here to secure your copy. Daniel and Will Roberts Daniel and Will Roberts built […]
His daughter probably won’t vote for him. He won’t be premier, but if Jim Penman – the man behind Jim’s Mowing – can make his $10 million home worth less, he’ll be happy. Millionaire lawnmower Jim Penman says his house is worth too much and he wants to see the price come down. The Jim’s […]
What began as a tool to troubleshoot power grids has pushed Neara into unicorn territory, as booming data centre demand reshapes how electricity networks are planned and supplied. Key Takeaways Big number 945 terawatt hours. That’s how much energy the world’s data centres are forecast to be chewing up by 2030, compared to about 415 […]
Following an unpolished, swearing predecessor, the team behind Sovereign Australia AI is securing investment to deploy Australis – a platform built to insulate domestic information from foreign jurisdiction. The first proof of concept at building an Australian large language model came out sounding more like an argument in a North Queensland pub than a trusted […]
World skiing’s governing bodies created a new Winter Olympics sport and put this Aussie in charge, even though he’d never done it before. Lara Hamilton was studying on an athletics scholarship at Boise State University when, in 2020, she saw people “skiing uphill really fast” in Colorado. She’d never heard of ski mountaineering until then […]
Quantum startup Diraq has secured a $20 million strategic equity investment from the National Reconstruction Fund as the University of New South Wales spinout pushes to outpace global rivals in the race to build a practical quantum computer. Key Takeaways Background Physicist Andrew Dzurak founded Diraq after breaking away from the lab of his more […]
Telepathic Instruments could have marketed Orchid as “the Tame Impala synth.” Instead, Parker chose mystery over mass appeal – and built a $12-million business by making it harder, not easier, to get one. Kevin Parker won’t say which parts of his Tame Impala song, End Of Summer, that won a Grammy Award yesterday came out […]
The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation has made its first transport investment, backing Melbourne-based autonomous vehicle maker Applied Electric Vehicles with a $30.7 million equity injection as part of the company’s $58 million Series B raise. The money from the federal government’s $15 billion sovereign investment fund will help send 100 Australian/Japanese made vehicles – with […]