Nuheara tops Techboard ranking

Justin Miller's Nuheara has ranked first in this fortnight's Techboard ranking, with Storekat and Curtin University startup ePAT ranked second and third respectively. 

Nuheara and ePAT are also both finalists in WAITTA’s 2016 Incite Awards, which celebrate WA innovation.

Listed wearables startup Nuheara is one week away from completing a successful crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo, having made US$600,000 of pre-sales of its IQbuds in two weeks.

The intelligent listening device technology was developed in partnership with Curtin University, though with the IP owned by Nuheara.

Storage marketplace Storekat remains in second position for the second fortnight running, picking up yet more nominations from Techboard's panel of experts, good local and national press coverage and strong social media engagement.

It's been a busy fortnight for co-founder Kevin Forcier and the Storekat team, who are currently in the US:

"Over the last few days we have been at the the Inside Self Storage World Expo 2016 in Las Vegas," Mr Forcier said.

"At the expo we have been actively approached by both some of the biggest facility operators in the world.

"We feel strongly about our place in the industry, and feel validated that we are tracking along the right path since this huge event. 

Here is a taster of the top 100 in Techboard's latest startup ranking for the period ending 27 April 2016.

Freewheeler app to ease congestion

Commuter app Freewheeler has engaged Readify, a local software development agency, to assist with the development of its prototype in preparation for a Fremantle pilot.

The Freewheeler app encourages healthy and sustainable commuting by tracking users' journeys and modes of transport and rewarding active and sustainable commuters with discounts at local businesses.

Incite Awards Finalists announced

The finalists of the 25th annual WAITTA Incite Awards were announced at the Innovation Excellence Forum in Perth last week, presented by Bill Marmion.

The finalists included safety training app Tap Into Safety, Internet-of-Fridges device Frigbot, intelligent hearing device Nuheara and pain evaluation app ePAT.

Bombora wave farms cost study

Bombora Wave Power has announced the results of a feasibility study, which have shown that the cost of electricity from its commercial scale wave farm will be comparable to that of off-shore wind farms and solar arrays in Europe by 2023. The study was conducted with the support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

iSignthis in blockchain partnership

iSignthis, the ASX-listed provider of digital identification solutions has partnered with leading blockchain payments provider Coinify.

The two fintechs will deliver a new global product connecting blockchain payments, KYC identity and credit cards. Hamed Sattari, CTO at Coinify, explained the value of the partnership.

“Buying bitcoin is often associated with a cumbersome verification process and slow delivery times," he said.

"Allowing customers to securely buy bitcoins and have them delivered instantly is a very sought after service in the eyes of our customers and also one of our main goals. Using iSignthis’ services, we get a strong customer authentication and a smooth KYC process that ties cards to a specific user.”

Infra Tech ships unwanted PCs to Sri Lanka

As part of an ongoing campaign to re-direct used computers from landfill, geotechnical engineering firm Infra Tech Group has shipped another 22 computers to  Sri Lanka.

These computers will be distributed among rural schools by Infra Tech's local charity partner, The Foundation of Goodness. The charity provides computer training and business skill development to ensure the computers are put to good use and rural communities are empowered and IT skills are developed island wide.

iWebGate to supply US government

Network security vendor iWebGate has signed a reseller agreement with US government solutions provider Blue Tech.

Based in San Diego, Blue Tech supplies software and services to a number of US government agencies including NASA and the US Air Force.

iWebGate chief executive Tim Gooch said the deal opens the company up to further expansion in the USA, where the cybersecurity market is estimated to reach US$18 billion in 2017.

“Through this exclusive partnership, our products will reach the top tier of the US federal government and defence industry, along with universities and enterprise customer, including many Fortune 1,000 companies,” he said.