Brian Collins, Tasmania's new startup champion, Australian VC funding, Musk & the Epstein files

Startup 360 looks south this week, for a conversation with fintech investor Brian Collins about his new role as CEO of Enterprize Tasmania.Brian, deputy chair of Fintech Australia, and cofounder of fintech VC Triple Bubble with Dom Pym and Judy Anderson-Firth, spent more than a decade in Silicon Valley before calling Melbourne home in recent years.Brian shares the stories of some remarkable Tassie startups, as well as the joys of life on the Apple Isle - from a caring community’s support and collaboration to the food, wine and fun of a MONA visit.He also shares his tips to founders as a long-time mentor to hundreds of startups.While Simon and Majella plot how soon they can head to Hobart to record Startup 360 on location there, they also talk about the big news of the week. First up it’s the release of the annual State of Australian Startup Funding report, which reveals a 24% increase in investment to $5.1 billion in 2025, although the total number of deals fell as later-stage rounds became the focus alongside AI, which received the most funding at $1 billion.Elon Musk was also in the new for the right and wrong reasons, from the merger of SpaceX and xAI, to making plans to visit convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious island, with the release of emails and 3 million files about Epstein contradicting Musk’s previous spinning of the narrative around his involvement with the billionaire, who died in jail in 2019.Startup 360 is all about staying human and finding out what makes people tick.This show is a SmartCo Media production, produced and edited by Matt Jackson. This episode is supported by Deel. Hire, manage and pay - anyone, anywhere.Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and read StartupDaily.net for all the ANZ tech news for free!