TWISTA swims across the ditch to talk with Steve Leftly, founder of Kiwi startup Myovolt. Straddling the line between medtech and consumer wearable, Myovolt offers both pain relief and faster rehabilitation for folks with muscle strains and injuries. But building a startup with a medical focus means regulations, certifications – and investors prepared to bide their time. How’s that work?
Recorded live from the show floor at the 2025 Canterbury Tech Summit – big thanks to those folks for making it all come together!
Cheryl Mack spent the long 2021 lockdown developing all of the infrastructure to allow any sophisticated Australian investor to create or join a syndicate. Aussie Angels provides a new, radically open platform to connect investors to early-stage startups – revolutionising the investment landscape.
EOFY means startups need to do their sums – and file for their research and development tax credits, instant asset writeoffs, and much more. TWISTA speaks with Swanson Reed‘s Damian Smyth and Alex Chisholm about how clever startups can document their way into big tax refunds – no profits required!
TWISTA S09E10 EOFY with Damian Smyth and Alex Chisholm
George Peppou knew nothing about biotech when he co-founded VOW; he’s now well on his way to vat-growing meats that could feed billions around the world. Is biotech fundamentally different – and how has VOW used the best bits of tech startups to accelerate their growth?
Asking for investment is never easy – but it’s surprisingly easy to get wrong. We’ll look at what investors really want to see, then we’ll dive into the TWISTA archives to hear from Switch Automation CEO Deb Noller about her own fundraising process – some of the best advice given to listeners of this show!
Big thanks to TWISTA sponsors MYOB, Startups@UTS and Creative3 — their support makes our podcast possible!
Australia has an incredible tradition of innovation – typified by the CSIRO, which gave us WiFi, plastic banknotes, one of the best modern lifestyle diets, and much more besides. The CSIRO is an engine for the nation’s science – but too often science misses the opportunity to commercialise its innovations for the benefits of the innovators – and the nation.
The new Main Sequence VC fund – backed by CSIRO and the Australian Federal Government – looks to change that by identifying the scientists with the ‘spark’ that would make them great entrepreneurs. TWISTA sits down with Main Sequence general partner Mike Nicholls for a tour through Australia’s “deep tech” investment landscape – and how it could well lead to a new generation of fundamental breakthroughs!
In a new segment profiling all of Australia’s many incubators and accelerators, we speak to SBE Australia’s Sue Hogan about their E3 program for entrepreneurs.
To learn more about SBE Australia or their E3 program, click here.
