The Australian economy would be $100 billion bigger and boosted by 42,000 new jobs if investment in research and development (R&D) was increased to 3% of GDP, according to Science & Technology Australia, the peak body for science and tech. STA president Professor Sharath Srira spoke at the National Press Club in Canberra this week, prosecuting… Read more »
Casual workforce management platform Deputy is claiming unicorn status – a $1 billion-plus valuation – more than 15 years after it was founded, following a A$37 million buy in from a US strategic partner. But the Sydney-based scaleup is reluctant to talk about it, along with its investors. Deputy’s PR firm sent out a media release… Read more »
Perth telehealth and medicine delivery startup Hola Health has raised $4.5 million in a pre-Series A. The round was led by M8 Ventures, marking a return to investing for partners Alan Jones and Emily Rich, four years after they put the fund on ice as Covid hit. The raise also included follow-on capital from FundWA… Read more »
Regional NSW startup Cauldron has raised in $9.5 million (US$6.25m) in Series A for its fermentation technology, which hopes to transform how new foods and fibres are developed. The round was led by existing US investor Horizons Ventures, supported by CSIRO-backed Main Sequence, which also backed last year’s Seed round, as well as new supporters… Read more »
An advertising analytics startup offering a solution to the end of internet cookies to track marketing has raised $5 million in Seed funding The round for Prophet was backed by Australian Community Media owner Antony Catalano, Seek cofounder Matt Rockman and Cheuk Chiang APAC CEO of Dentsu Creative, among others. The business intelligence platform has been… Read more »
A new online marketplace for vintage, and antique furniture and homewares, Bazaa, has raised $650,000 in pre-Seed funding from angel investors and syndicates. The idea is the brainchild of Voly cofounder Thibault Henry, and Aria Wigneswaran, a former director of e-commerce fashion marketplace Depop. Henry calls Bazaa a new way for people to discover, buy… Read more »
Proptech startup FLK it over has raised $2.5 million as it looks to expand beyond real estate with its electronic document signing solutions. Former real estate agent Andrew Colagiuri founded the startup in 2016, setting out to make administrative tasks, such as tenant signing, less cumbersome. He previously raised $2.13 million in 2022 from the… Read more »
The Queensland government’s support for women in startups has continued with two grant programs under the $8 million Backing Female Founders initiative currently accepting new applications. The Accelerating Female Founders Program provides grants worth between $50,000 and $200,000 for business support initiatives, such as mentoring and advocacy support and customised business development activities, for female-led… Read more »
The Victorian government’s startup arm, LaunchVic, has a new bucket of grants of up to $300,000 for specialised angel networks to invest in pre-seed and seed rounds in the state. LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick said the new grant round would work to inject more capital into the market when early-stage funding in Victoria remained… Read more »
Melbourne startup Bae Juice has raised $1 million for its ‘hangover prevention’ drink as it looks to expand in the US. The round was backed by Perth gaming billionaire Laurence Escalante via his family fund, Lance East Office, with existing investor Honan Capital also chipping in. Escalante became a fan of Bae Juice after tucking… Read more »
Cybersecurity startup Nullify, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help software developers and security teams detect and fix potential vulnerabilities in code as it’s being written, has raised US$3.41 million (A$5.2m) in Seed capital. The round was co-led by US VCs Two Sigma Ventures and Root Ventures ahead of the startup’s plans to launch in… Read more »
Wellbeing expert advice marketplace Anni has banked $1 million in a Seed raise just five months after launching. The round has backed by several unnamed high net worth individuals and family funds and will be used to build out the wellbeing platform in areas such as online video consults, digital goods and distributed cross-platform on-demand… Read more »
A Melbourne-founded healthcare platform focused on the NDIS has banked US$8.2 million (A$12.6m) in Seed funding. The round led for Kismet by Dutch-listed internet investment firm Prosus Ventures and existing backer Airtree Ventures. The startup previously raised A$4m in pre-Seed capital in May last year, with from Airtree, Black Nova and Flying Fox. The startup,… Read more »
A Victorian startup based at Monash University has raised $9 million to develop carbon-neutral “green” ammonia for the agriculture sector. Jupiter Ionics is the result of research by scientists at the university’s School of Chemistry, Prof Doug Macfarlane, and Assoc Prof Alexandr Simonov. The electrochemical technologies they’ve developed has resulted in modular ammonia production systems… Read more »
Fashiontech startup Bandicoot Imaging Sciences has raised $1 million in pre-Seed funding for its fabric digitisation technology. The round was led by Hong Kong VC qonvolv Ventures and included Precision Textiles and Mou Fung Ltd., as well as previous investor, NewSouth Innovations from UNSW. Bandicoot Imaging previously raised $330,000 in July 2020 in an angel… Read more »
‘Have I gone too far?’ How founders can beat their startup demons 
Smart hotels get even smarter: 72 Byte to launch in Australia with AI expert backing 
Why the $2.43 billion Canva share sale is an epic moment for Australian tech 
Eucalyptus head of growth Matt Rossi departs to launch his own marketing startup, Oodle 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
