THE NEWS WRAP: Amazon considers paying ordinary people to deliver packages

Amazon is considering paying ordinary people to deliver packages in a bid to tackle rising shipping costs and speed up delivery times, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While an Amazon spokesperson refused to comment, those familiar with the plan say the retail giant is developing a mobile app that would allow people to be paid to deliver packages.

Amazon ships more than three million packages a day.

Delivery startup backed by Ashton Kutcher raises $US5.5 million

An on-demand gift delivery startup backed by Ashton Kutcher has raised $US5.5 million in a bid to grow its team and invest in marketing, according to TechCrunch.

BloomThat’s latest funding round was led by Forerunner Ventures, Vaizra Investments, Rothenberg Ventures and SherpaVentures.

The latest capital injection follows a $US2.1 million round last year.

Start-up Chile launches pre-accelerator program to nurture female entrepreneurs

Accelerator program Start-up Chile is launching a pre-accelerator for women.

The organisation, which is backed by the Chilean government and based in Santiago, welcomes startups from all over the world.

Sebastian Vidal, executive director of Start-up Chile, told TechCrunch the new 12-week program was designed to give women pitch training and access to quality mentors.

“This is not a gender equality program, this is a diversity program,” he says.

“Eighty-five per cent of our startups [from the accelerator program] are founded by men and 15% by women, and if you look at the stats of each group separately, the results are not different at all. So why not increase that number and encourage more females in the country to get into tech?”

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 113.31 points, rising 0.64% to 17,904.48. The Aussie dollar is trading at around 77.49 US cents.

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