The Victorian government is offering $1.3 million in new funding to the agtech startup sector through LaunchVic. The funding including $1 million under the AgTech Grants Program, which will offer individual grant funding of $50,000 to 20 emerging agtech startups. The program is a partnership between Agriculture Victoria and the state’s startup agency LaunchVic. On top… Read more »
Square Peg has ditched anonymous feedback during its reviews, with cofounder Paul Bassat to saying it creates an “all care and no responsibility”mindset. Bassat took to LinkedIn to post about the company’s revised review process, a few days before a new ranking list of Australian and New Zealand VCs based on anonymous feedback from founders… Read more »
Australia’s biggest venture capital fund, Blackbird Ventures, is the favourite among startup founders according to a new ranking charting how “founder friendly” VCs are. Like the Hottest 100, Eurovision and GOAT rankings in every sport, the list is bound to spark controversy for the notable absences of some leading names in the top 25, while… Read more »
Investor appetite for agriculture startup Our Cow has seen the butcher subscription startup raise nearly $1.5 million from more than 750 investors in the first 24 hours of its Birchal crowdfunding campaign. Farmers Bianca Tarrant and Dave McGiveron launched Our Cow in Northern NSW in 2019 after nearly losing their farm in droughts and then the… Read more »
Chronicle is transforming how presentations are made It replaces slidedecks, saving hours of preparation The startup raised $7.5m led by Accel & Square Peg The plaform is currently in beta mode Presentation platform Chronicle has raised $7.5 million from angel investors working for some of the biggest names in tech. The raise was led by Accel… Read more »
Payments software scale-up DataMesh Group has raised $30 million in a Series A. The round was led by NAB Ventures, with new investors including Deutsche Bank, ANZ’s VC arm, 1835i Ventures, Wunala Capital, Fifth Estate and Peregrine Corporation. NAB Ventures previously backed DataMesh in late 2021 in a $12 million pre-Series A raise. The Sydney… Read more »
The University of Sydney will spend $7.4 million to expand its quantum technology facilities for the Future Qubit Foundry at the Sydney Nanoscience Hub. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Emma Johnston said the foundry will be a leading national facility for the invention of technology behind quantum computers “The Future Qubit Foundry will leverage the University… Read more »
A new $40 million venture capital fund has recruited former Salesforce Ventures boss Mike Ferrari as managing director as it looks to back early-stage startups developing sovereign capabilities. Salus Ventures is the first dedicated early-stage Australian fund to invest in founders developing cutting-edge tech for commercial and government markets. It will back from Seed to… Read more »
Venture capital fund Blackbird has appointed three new general partners from within its own ranks Moving from principal to partner are Michael Tolo and Tom Humphrey in Australia, as well as Phoebe Harrop in New Zealand. It’s just the second time in the 11 years since Rick Baker and Niki Scevak founded Blackbird that the VC has… Read more »
Venture capital firm Antler Australia has thrown down the gauntlet on the worth of early-stage startups, upping its investment levels and the post-money valuations for companies it backs. Under new terms announced today, Antler will increase its initial investment by $35,000 to A$225,000 for the same 12% equity stake. The new deal increases the post-money… Read more »
GetSwift CEO Bane Hunter fined $2m, banned from managing companies for 15 years MD and cofounder Joel Macdonald fined $1m, banned for 12 years Company fined $15m Judge says pair show no contrition or remorse GetSwift raised $104m, investors receive 1c in $1 in class action The founders of former ASX-listed logistics tech startup GetSwift,… Read more »
The Voly brand returned to public life this week under its new owners, the NSW meat subscription service Our Cow. The company bought Voly’s database app and brand from the administrators for an undisclosed sum on Christmas eve hoping to expand its customer base into Sydney, where the delivery service operated. Voly collapsed in November… Read more »
ASX-listed WiseTech Global’s ongoing M&A spree continues with the US$414 million (A$602m) acquisition of US rail logistics company Blume Global. The deal comes just three weeks after Sydney-headquartered cargo software behemoth announced it was acquiring US logistics management software startup Envase for US$230 million (A$327m). WiseTech’s billionaire founder and CEO, Richard White, also snapped up… Read more »
Farming automation management startup SwarmFarm Robotics has raised $12 million in a Series A to address agriculture’s worker shortage. The round was led by Canadian agtech fund Emmertech, from Conexus Venture Capital, supported by Brisbane VC Tribe Global Ventures and South Australia’s Access Capital. Existing investors Tenacious Ventures and GrainInnovate, the Grains Research and Development Corporation… Read more »
Canberra quantum computing startup Quantum Brilliance, has raised US$18 million (A$26m) as it looks to expand internationally. The raise was backed by Breakthrough Victoria, which chipped in $8 million, as well as CSIRO VC fund Main Sequence, Investible, Ultratech Capital, MA Financial, Jelix Ventures, Rampersand and CM Equity. The capital is to expand international operations, deliver… Read more »
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