B2B marketplace Directo, which streamlines logistics, invoicing and fulfilment for pharmacies and suppliers, has raised $2 million in fresh capital. The round was backed by industry leaders and existing shareholders, including former President of Pharmacy Guild of Australia (NSW) Paul Sinclair, current President of the International Pharmaceutical Federation, David Vaux and Leon Steinkoler. The Melbourne… Read more »
Sydney B2B hospitality supplies platform Marketboomer has raised $4.9 million in a round led by Salter Brothers Tech Fund. It’s the second investment made by the Melbourne fund manager, which in February, stitched together the $74m takeover bid for small business lender Prospa to take it private after five years on the ASX. Marketboomer is… Read more »
Food distribution startup Prep has raised $200,000 from Melbourne VC Skalata to connect major food retailers, corporates and restaurants with emerging food brands. Prep enables food producers and brands to efficiently scale B2B distribution – anywhere – for a low margin. The platform integrates with a producer’s existing ordering systems, and is five times more… 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 »
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 »
Event rental e-commerce platform Gecko has raised $350,000 in a pre-Seed round led by the NSW government-backed Techstars program in Sydney. Gecko is one of 12 startups selected for the inaugural Techstars Tech Central accelerator program, which got underway earlier this month. US investors Goodwater Capital and Launch House also backed the startups pre-Seed raise. … Read more »
A Kiwi B2B marketplace for the hospitality and food service industry developed by a cofounder Xero has crossed the ditch to Australia after raising NZ$6 million (A$5.5m). Upstock is the brainchild of Duncan Ritchie and Philip Fierlinger, who was part of the 2006 founding team of ASX-listed accounting platform Xero. The raise was backed by Icehouse… Read more »
Queensland at-home catering platform Gathar has raised nearly $800,000 in a crowdfunding on the female-founder focused Microwd. The private chef platform, dubbed the Airbnb of dinner parties, partnered with expat celebrity chef Curtis Stone to take the concept to the US, kicking off in his home state of California at the start of 2023. More… Read more »
Early stage investment company Antler Australia recently backed a new cohort of startups as part of its ongoing program to build great local tech companies. Startup Daily is sharing the details of each venture in the “Antler Investor Memos” series, which is designed to give you a quick, sharp understanding of the startups and people… Read more »
Western Australian startup CO-architecture has raised $330,000 in a pre-Seed round for its community platform for professional designers and creatives. The cash came from Victorian early-stage VC Skalata Ventures, with support from several local angel investors, including architect and former Perth deputy lord mayor Sandy Anghie, and Hassell director Peter Lee. CO-architecture connects independent and… Read more »
Melbourne scale-up Envato is flying the flag for Australian tech once again in the annual list of the world’s best marketplaces released by a16z, the fund of legendary Californian venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. It’s the 4th edition of a16z Marketplace 100, and Envato, which remains privately owned, after it was founded in a Bondi… Read more »
Mys Tyler, the platform designed to empower women to discover algorithmically-tailored fashion for their body type, has launched a new Contributor Hub and site, to connect women, creators and clothing brands globally. Originally launched in 2020, Mys Tyler’s algorithm has been used by more than 300,000 women used to discover like-bodied creators and body-relevant fashion… Read more »
Wholesale hospitality marketplace FoodByUs has raised $12 million in a Series B. The round was led by South African VC Base Capital, supported by New York’s FJ Labs, and Trawalla Group, plus with follow-on funding from founding investor Macquarie Capital. FoodByUs previously raised $10 million in a Series A in November 2021 and then spent… Read more »
Sydney food marketplaces ChefPrep has acquired it Melbourne likeness, Co-Lab Pantry and rebranded as CoLab. The ChefPrep side was founded in May last year by Elle Curran and Josh Abulafia, following a $1.25 million angel round. In April they landed a $3 million in a seed round led by Artesian Ventures and Global Founders Capital,… Read more »
Melbourne e-commerce platform Local Threads has raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding The round was led by Dr Qin Ding, co-founder of EMQ, a data cloud warehousing platform, with support from angel investors Alex Yin, founder of fashion brand, UOOYAA, and Eric Liam. Cofounders Adam Baodunnov, and Chris Young are hoping to empower Local Threads users… Read more »
The one that got away: After paying $230 million for Catch, Wesfarmers is shutting it down 
Antler Investor Memo Series: Lyngo AI answers the healthcare communication crisis with AI receptionists 
Tennis Australia is using facial recognition at the Australian Open to monitor fans 
Applications for Catalysr’s ‘migrapreneur’ startup accelerator program are about to close 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
