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Leigh Jasper-backed procurement tech company VendorPanel has added a range of big-name backers to its share register in a $4.5 million round, including Ord Minnett and renowned start-up investor Andrew Sypkes.

The founder of successful local software start-up Aconex, Leigh Jasper, warns that the next wave of tech jobs could flee offshore as COVID-19 accelerates the technology sector but the growing venture capital scene increasingly makes bigger bets overseas.

Construction technology startup Matrak has banked $5.85 million in fresh funding from cloud software firm Aconex co-founder Leigh Jasper and venture capital fund Rampersand.

If there was any doubt about start-ups and their capacity to be massive job multipliers then look no further than Australian start-up success stories such as Afterpay, Airwallex or Culture Amp.

Construction technology start-up Buildxact has banked a $6 million funding round, with Aconex co-founder Rob Phillpot leading the investment after the business recorded more than 140 per cent year-growth revenue since March.

The $160bn IFM Investors and Aconex founder Leigh Jasper have teamed up to co-invest in Melbourne construction software platform Zuuse, marking the second deal struck by the investment giant’s private equity arm.

The federal government’s 2020 budget provides welcome certainty to the start-up community.

Australia's most innovative companies are gearing up to increase their research and development activity, with more jobs expected to flow into the sector thanks to the federal government winding back proposed cuts to the R&D tax incentive (RDTI) scheme.

Capital raisings totalling more than $500 million during the pandemic, the share prices of companies like Afterpay and Whispir soaring 170 per cent and the growth of a second cycle of investment, with tech entrepreneurs investing their wealth into new start-ups, tell the story of how Australia's technology sector transformed what had been written off by many industry sectors as an annus horribilis into a stellar one.

A group of high profile Australian technology investors and innovators have joined forces to start the country's first secondary fund, giving start-ups a way to offer early investors and employees liquidity events without exiting or going public.
