This week in everything from the ASX to Silicon Valley

WEEK STARTING SEPTEMBER 24

Happy long weekend! This week's bursting at the seams so you can stay satisfied until Tuesday. Dig in:
 
AUSTRALIAN FINTECH

Australian FinTech CEO Brad Kitschke resigns, citing health. Kitschke had an aggressive approach to policy change (he's ex-Uber) which alienated members of the association

Data analytics startup 'Fulcrum' went into receivership. Or did they just lose their balance?

Buy now pay later (BNPL) schemes continue to grow - you can now Zip your BPAY bills and Afterpay your dentist. It will be interesting to see the evolution of BNPL in healthcare v.s. health insurance. Why pay for an ongoing insurance policy when one-off payments are made easier?

AUSTRALIAN STARTUPS

Mobile-learning startup 'Ed-App' raises $4m to assist with their workplace training solution

'Transcelestial Technologies' raises $2.5m from AirTree Ventures for their space laser internet solution

In the spirit of the Grand Final: The stories of four ex-AFL players running their own startups

BIG TECH

Instagram's co founders are leaving Facebook. Presumably the direction Instagram is taking is at odds with the founders' vision for the product. However, post acquisition, it's obvious that Zuckerberg calls the shots, not them

Adobe acquired Marketo in a B2B marketing play

Android turned 10. Take a look at their journey

Snapchat and Amazon partnered, allowing users to take photos of items (e.g. shoes) and then show the product on the Amazon store. Could this be Snapchat's saving grace, or a potential future acquisition?

POTPOURRI

17% of properties in Byron Bay are on Airbnb

Mike Cannon Brookes purchased the most expensive ($100m) house in Australia

Long (super interesting) read: The Decline of the Bloomberg Terminal

Thought starter: Anxiety consumerism and the rise of the anxiety economy. An interesting take on how we are buying our way out of anxiety - fidget spinners, colouring books, meditation apps etc. Is this a bad thing?

COOL STARTUP OF THE WEEK

Honey, a Chrome browser extension that automatically adds discount and coupon codes to your shopping cart. When you get to the 'checkout' screen, the extension appears and it cycles through a database of codes to discount your purchase. It's been around for a while, but I've used it a fair bit in the last week, so I thought I'd share it! You can get the extension here

DID YOU KNOW?

...Of The Birthday Paradox - where in a group of 23 randomly selected people, there's over a 50% chance that at least two people will share the same birthday?

TRIVIA
(extra for the weekend)

(a) How many perimeter squares does a chessboard have?

(b) Which office supply product caught on in the Great Depression because it made worn and tattered items last longer?

(c) Which practice officially began in Pakistan in 1977, 44 years after an amendment ended it in the United States?

(d) Can you name 3 of 5 medical conditions named after sports? 

(e) Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia were the daughters of which monarch?

(f) Which country has the most coastline?
 

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Thanks for reading! I hope you have a cracking long weekend and I hope you enjoyed the additional content. I'm always open for feedback @ james.david.grafton@gmail.com - also, I have some exciting news to announce in the coming weeks. Stay tuned...