Business planning platform Empiraa has eschewed venture capital for a second time to raise $518,000 on a $7.5 million valuation. The Melbourne startup was founded in 2021, and went on to raise $637,000 in December that year, after an initial $110,000 pre-seed round. Founder Ash Brown said business had “a half-time pivot due to changing… Read more »
Mr Yum rival Me&u raised $30 million in a round led by Acorn Capital in December 2022 to give the 3.5-year-old startup enough runway for its push to be profitable next financial year. The raise was led by Acorn Capital, with the only acknowledgement of the investment appearing in the ASX-listed (ASX:ACQ) investment company’s December… Read more »
Music licensing platform Melodie has raised $1 million at a $15 million valuation, a more than four-fold increase on the $4m valuation when the software startup previously raised $600,000 in September 2021. The raise included follow-on investments from Code Barrel founder Nick Menere, and The Drop Festival co-owner Peter Strain. The funds will be used… Read more »
Last week, Elon Musk finally had his long-awaited Thanos moment for legacy verification in a rapid scheduled disassembly. It was a busy day for the boss of Twitter and SpaceX when it comes to valuable lessons from watching billions of dollars of hard work explode. But if we’re to believe Musk (this time) after the… Read more »
Mercedes has a new transport solution for the environmentally conscious unicorn founder who also likes a bit of classical style – the Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV. The German luxury car manufacturer dropped its first Maybach with an electric drivetrain ahead of the Shanghai motor show motor show this week. You can expect the EQS SUV… Read more »
Alphabet’s experimental drone delivery service, Wing, is branching out from delivering supermarket groceries in Queensland to meal delivery in a partnership with DoorDash. The two tech companies have team up with property giant Mirvac to launch drone delivered meals from food retailers signed up on DoorDash from Orion Springfield Central shopping centre in Ipswich. The… Read more »
Adelaide satellite tech startup Fleet Space Technologies has bagged its first contract in the lucrative defence sector, signing a $6.4 million contract with Australia’s Defence Space Command. The agreement will see Fleet’s next-generation of Centauri satellites used to develop and demonstrate a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications system focused on tactical communications and data… Read more »
If Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t so obsessed with his avatar wandering around on Web3, perhaps he would have called the parent company Lyrebird, rather than Meta, when it rebranded in 2021. The Australian native bird is famed for its mimicry – not just of other birds but everything from cameras clicking to chainsaws, babies… Read more »
Melbourne software company Culture Amp has followed in the footsteps of Atlassian, Mr Yum and several US tech giants in shedding staff, with around 90 people finishing up next week. With around 1000 working for the HR platform, the cut amounts to around 9% of the team. Founder and CEO Didier Elzinga wrote to his… Read more »
Waave, a fintech using open banking to build a direct debit alternative to card payments, has raised $4.7 million in a Seed round. The round was backed by a range of prominent individuals, including Menulog boss Morten Belling, eCommerce pioneer Paul Greenberg and Chemist Warehouse founder Jack Gance, who joins the fintech as an advisor.… Read more »
Synthetic biology startup Cortical Labs, which is developing a new kind of artificial intelligence using human brain cells, has raised USD$10 million (A$15m). The Melbourne biotech rose to prominence in October last year when it combined 800,000 brain cells with a computer chip to learn to play the video gam Pong. The project was dubbed… Read more »
Jessy Wu, investment principal at AfterWork Ventures, is an unlikely venture capitalist. She happily admits it was “the furtherest thing from my mind” when she emerged with a ANU with a philosophy degree, also majoring in English literature. Next thing she knew, she was working at NAB Ventures. Within 18 months, Wu became part of… Read more »
Sydney startup propeller, which uses drones for mapping and analysis of construction, quarries, mines, and other ground sites has raised US$15.35 million (A$ 22.8m) in a round led by its long-time backers Blackbird and Silicon Valley VC Costanoa Partners. Also joining the cap table are Aware Super, Canva founder Cliff Obrecht, and LaunchVic chair Leigh Jasper’s… Read more »
CommandPost, a crisis management startup designed to improve emergency response times and coordination has raised $200,000 in Seed funding from Melbourne VC Skalata $200,000. Founder Alex Rixon-Booth worked in emergency service response and decided to take things to the next level in the wake of miscommunications during the recent NSW floods and Black Summer bushfires… Read more »
ASX-listed regional airline REX has taken a 20% stake in electric passenger planes startup Dovetail Electric Aviation. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. A REX board member will join the Dovetail board. The investment follows a collaboration partnership struck last year with REX, which provided Dovetail with a Beechcraft King Air as flying… Read more »
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