Filipino-made AI-powered study app wins at Adelaide's 2025 Tech eChallenge
Their winning project: Quixly, an AI-powered study app that aims to make learning easier, more interactive, and accessible for students.
The Tech eChallenge is an annual startup competition run by ThincLab, the university's hub for student, staff, alumni and startup innovation.
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The Australian
3 hours ago
- The Australian
Deep tech merger forms MagnaTerra Technologies
A new deep tech company, MagnaTerra, has been formed after the merger of globally leading startups NextOre and MRead MagnaTerra's launch follows an $11 million capital raise and support from some of Australia's leading investors in technology, science and mining. The company combines more than two decades of world-class innovation in magnetic resonance (MR) sensing developed by Australia's national science agency the CSIRO to detect minerals, explosives and drugs at a molecular level Special Report: Australia has a new globally focused deep tech company in MagnaTerra Technologies following the merger of mining innovator NextOre and explosives detection startup MRead. The combined company MagnaTerra Technologies has been backed in an $11 million capital raise supported by a number of leading investors in technology, science and mining. MagnaTerra brings together more than two decades of innovation in magnetic resonance (MR) sensing developed by Australia's national science agency the CSIRO. The rapid, accurate and safe detection technology – similar to that used by MRIs in healthcare – can identify minerals, explosives and narcotics at a molecular level. NextOre has applied highly penetrative technology to ore sorting to become a global leader in mining technology after it was spun out of a CSIRO R&D project. It's since ruggedised and commercialised the sensors for use over conveyor belts and haul trucks in mines across the globe. MRead has adapted the tech to develop world-class expertise in landmine and narcotics detection. Growth to meet global demand The capital raise will fund further developments in game-changing sensors for the defence, critical minerals, border security and humanitarian demining markets, where global demand is intensifying. This will include the development of detection capabilities for explosives, critical minerals for bulk sorting and iron ore applications. Resources sector investment and advisory house RFC Ambrian invested in the raise via its QCM fund. The round also attracted high-net-worth investors introduced by Shaw and Partners. The company's capital table additionally includes the CSIRO, engineering group Worley, electronic solutions developer Codan and global industrial manufacturer Gebr Pfeiffer SE. RFC Ambrian has been an investor in MRead and NextOre since their founding. RFC chair Rob Adamson will also chair the newly formed entity and said MagnaTerra was a natural fit with the fund's mandate. 'MagnaTerra is a sovereign tech platform with real revenue, high-impact IP and clear global applications,' Mr Adamson said. 'The company takes outstanding, world-leading detection technology developed by our national science agency, the CSIRO, that has significant potential to improve the economics and reduce the environmental impact of producing copper and other critical minerals. 'It additionally has important applications in the detection of explosives for humanitarian demining, border security and defence,' he said. Shared core IP, specialist applications MagnaTerra will continue to operate under established brands: NextOre for minerals; and MRead for security, defence and humanitarian demining applications. NextOre's systems are already operating in Chile, Zambia and the Philippines, with customers including Lundin Mining, First Quantum and Newcrest. Its platform helps copper miners offset the effects of declining ore grades by enabling cost-effective sorting of the valuable mineral from waste. NextOre's tech also dramatically reduces energy, water and chemical use by rejecting waste rock close to the source. It's now being adapted for lithium and iron ore, with future applications across critical minerals such as cobalt, antimony and bismuth. 'By enabling 100 per cent ore scanning in real time, our technology makes mines more productive and sustainable,' NextOre CEO Chris Beal said. 'That makes MagnaTerra a compelling opportunity for investors looking for scalable solutions at the intersection of deep tech, sustainability and security.' Like NextOre's sensors, MRead's handheld mine detector was developed in partnership with the CSIRO. It has since been trialled successfully in Angola with The HALO Trust, a forerunner global demining. Angola, Afghanistan and Iraq still have an estimated 10 million mines each, Cambodia an estimated seven million and more than two million landmines have been laid in Ukraine since 2022, with demining organisations scrambling to remove them. MRead's sensors are estimated to cut clearance times by up to 30 per cent by dramatically reducing false positives compared to metal detectors. Using MR sensing it directly detects RDX – one of two main explosive compounds commonly used in landmines globally. R&D has commenced on the other major explosive compound, TNT. 'Landmines are one of the great unresolved global challenges. Our technology promises to save lives and restore land to communities faster and more safely,' MRead and MagnaTerra CEO John Shanahan said. The same MR technology can be adapted to detect narcotics and explosives in cargo, without opening packages or using harmful radiation. 'This merger is a consolidation of world-leading science, engineering and commercial momentum into a single vehicle with global reach,' Mr Shanahan said. From left: MagnaTerra chairman Rob Adamson, MRead & MagnaTerra CEO John Shanahan and NextOre CEO Chris Beal. This article was developed in collaboration with NextOre, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
The Australian
16 hours ago
- The Australian
Brisbane-based Swyftx will buy Melbourne-based Caleb & Brown
Australian cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx has sealed a mega deal to acquire a US-focused crypto brokerage targeting millionaires in Donald Trump's self-declared 'crypto capital of the planet'. The acquisition is believed to be worth between $100m and $200m. Brisbane-based Swyftx will buy Melbourne-based Caleb & Brown, which has built a business focused on rich US private investors who are increasingly piling into crypto assets after President Trump declared he wanted to make the country the world's crypto capital. Such investors have at least $1m in liquid assets. The acquisition, the largest crypto deal ever in Australasia, comes three months after Swyftx signed a deal to buy Easy Crypto, New Zealand's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Swyftx has successfully emerged from challenges in recent years, chiefly a failed merger in 2022 with rival Superhero to create a wealth management platform administering $1.5bn in cryptocurrency, direct equities and superannuation assets. The same year it sacked 90 staff, equivalent to more than one-third of its employees, amid the brutal downturn in trading volumes following the collapse of US-based crypto exchange FTX. Swyftx chief executive Jason Titman said the deal was 'laser-focused on supporting high rolling crypto investors in the US'. The US accounts for about a quarter of all global trade volumes in cryptocurrency. 'We're entering a golden age for digital assets,' said Mr Titman, who declined to value the deal except to say it was in the 'tens of millions'. 'There are a lot of the new breed of wealthy investors who want a service that is ultra client-centric, with around-the-clock access to broker expertise.' Mr Titman said the election of Mr Trump has sparked surging interest in crypto. 'There has been a 180-degree shift in the US since the Trump administration came in last November in terms of crypto,' he said. Trump's pick of Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to end a crypto crackdown introduced under President Biden. 'High net worth individuals are always sensitive to the regulatory environment and they don't want to be investing money in an asset class that has got some level of government risk,' he said. 'A lot of that political risk was taken out when the Trump administration was elected.' Caleb & Brown, which has more than $2bn of digital assets under custody, was founded by Rupert Hackett and Dr Prash Puspanathan in 2016. It is led by partner Jackson Zeng and employs 64 team members across Australia and the US. Mr Titman said a typical US client had generally made their fortune in traditional industries, such as property or medicine, but wanted exposure to crypto. 'They are understanding that Bitcoin that's gone up 1200 per cent over the last five years and is the fastest growing and a highest asset growth of all time and it is something that they want to participate in,' he said. 'Previously they might have invested in an office building, in equities, maybe some bonds, maybe some Forex currency trading. They have millions of dollars of free investable cash and that's the customer base that we now have access to.' Swyftx, founded in a Brisbane bedroom in 2017 by young entrepreneurs Angus Goldman and Alex Harper, will employ just under 300 team members on completion of the deal. It is now one of the region's largest digital asset brokerages with more than 1.2 million customers. Mr Titman's career, which has spanned accountancy, hotel development and e-commerce, said Swyftx was moving beyond its start-up roots into the corporate big league or what he termed from 'hoodies to suits'. Mr Titman said he expected to see a collection of cryptocurrencies, known as stable coins, eventually replacing traditional cash for investment and trading. He said Swyftx was looking at several other acquisitions. 'There is a larger plan coming together here for Swyftx. Part of it's organic, part of it's partnerships and part of it's mergers and acquisitions,' he said. 'This is our second transaction after Easy Crypto and it is about getting a different customer base. It also fast tracks our move into the US, which I've been interested in doing for some time.' Read related topics: Donald Trump Glen Norris Senior Business Reporter Glen Norris has worked in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo with stints on The Asian Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and South China Morning Post. Economics The message from business to Anthony Albanese's challenge is not to overcomplicate the process, but there has to be a real appetite for change. Business Business leaders have demanded Anthony Albanese delivers a broad reform package at August's roundtable. 'Of course the PM should be worried … Why would we want to be the 15th or the 16th or the 17th of anything?' asked Paul Schroder.
ABC News
21 hours ago
- ABC News
An expert has quit over the government's planned social media ban, what now?
One of the experts advising the teen social media ban's tech trial has resigned over concerns about its planned 'age assurance' technology. Between uploading government ID documents to US tech companies and using AI to scan and identify people's ages, it's still unclear how this ban is going to be enforced. Is there a better solution we're missing here? Also, how can we ban social media if we can't decide what it actually is? YouTube has been classified and de-classified as social media throughout the process of developing the bill, and the definition may be more important than we realise when it comes to drawing a technological line in the sand for this ban. Plus, remember the metaverse? The non-Zuckerberg version of the Metaverse is back in the news this week with a new Standard out that could drastically impact teenagers safety online. GUESTS: Emily van der Nagel , lecturer in social media at Monash University , lecturer in social media at Monash University Jocelyn Brewer, founder of Digital Nutrition and psychologist This episode of Download This Show was made on Gadigal land and in Naarm. Technical production by Ann-Marie de Bettencour and Ross Richardson.
