Two-year-old adtech startup TRENDii has raised $2.9 million in a Seed round to help brands and media deliver marketing in a post-cookies online world. The round was led by Investible and a strategic media partner. The capital is for international expansion; product enhancement and category development; new tech; and building out the partnerships team. TRENDii… Read more »
South Australian agtech startup Optomni, has raised $200,000 in a Seed round led by Skalata Ventures to optimise the fresh food supply chain. Founder and CEO Murad Mekhtiev said around 45% of total fruit and vegetable production in Australia is wasted and nearly half of that happens in the supply chain. Optomni aims to reduce… Read more »
US-based Australian startup Checkmate has raised US$5 million (A$7.75m) in a Seed round. The raise was led by US VC Fuel Capital. The other investors include Kevin Johnson, the former CEO of Ebates at Rakuten, NFL star Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 Ventures, Ancestry CEO Deborah Liu, Firstbase CEO Chris Herd, XMTP cofounder Shane Mac, f7… Read more »
Cricketing Hall of Fame batsman Kumar Sangakkara has cofounded an esports platform that’s raised US$2.5 million (A$3.2m) in Seed funding to play sport in the metaverse. The round was led by new Singapore-based investment firm Hangar X, plus several sports and web3 investors, including US-based Nucleus Advisors founder Jordan Waxman,  Perth-based 5point8 Capital director Mark D’Alessandro… Read more »
Sydney healthtech startup Human has raised $10.15 million in Seed funding. The raise was led by Airtree Ventures, supported by Skip Capital, the family VC of Kim Jackson and her husband, Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar. Human was cofounded by former Canva head of product Georgia Vidler and her colleague Kate Lambridis, who believe people need… Read more »
Digital news channel The Daily Aus, which has pioneered a social media-first approach to current affairs for younger Australians, has raised $1.2 million in Seed funding. The round was led by media former Nine CEO David Gyngell, supported by Canva executives Zach Kitschke and Rob Kawalsky, as well as festival the Untitled Group. The backing from… Read more »
Sydney startup Vouch has raised $8 million in a Seed round for its business video testimonial platform. The round was led by US-based VC Stage 2 Capital and Sydnery’s OIF Ventures, with several angel investors also chipping in, including Twitter global product lead Oji Udezue and Archangel Ventures Partner Rayn Ong. The funds will be used… Read more »
Sydney content marketing engine Convo Ink has raised $1.5 million in Seed funding. The round led by3C Capital, a UK-based private investment house led by Australian investor Richard Gazal, and Sydney-based private investment firm M2 Capital, led by tech entrepreneur Matthew Hunt. The startup will use the funds to expand its content platform capabilities and… Read more »
Melbourne startup Directo has raised $2.3 million in Seed funding for its B2B marketplace for the pharmacy sector. The round was led by Sydney seed VC Investible to scale its networked two-sided online marketplace, which offers B2C-like price transparency, immediacy and convenience while streamlining logistics and invoicing. Founder Gavin Upiter said Directo’s proprietary enterprise technology platform… Read more »
US billionaire Tim Draper, famed for investments in the likes of PayPal, Tesla, Twitter, Coinbase and Robinhood, has backed Australian-based drone planting eco-tech firm Lord of the Trees (LOTT) in a $US1.25 million (A$1.67m) pre-Seed round. The investment values LOTT, founded in 2019, at A$7 million. Lord of the Trees is a global reforestation company… Read more »
Sydney future of work startup Calven has raised $6.8 million in seed funding as it looks to tackle hybrid work culture. The round was led by Sydney VC Airtree, and several strategic backers, including Herbert Smith Freehills partner Michael Gonski and the Gonski family office. Calven co-founder Jeremy Pollak, a veteran of workplace technology consulting… Read more »
Climate tech venture firm Aera VC has raised US$30 million (A$42m) in the first close of its new fund to back startups addressing sustainability and global warming. The new climate-focused fund has already backed Michael Fox’s alt-protein business Fable Foods, along with US-based chemical decarbonisation unicorn startup Solugen (valued at US$1.8bn) as well as Shiok Meats… Read more »
ClimateTech startup FloodMapp has set a new record for an Australian seed round after raising US$6 million (A$8.4m). The round led by New York VC Union Square Ventures’ Climate Fund, with participation by Mundi Ventures, Climate X, and Jelix Venutures. FloodMapp will use the capital injection to scale the company and expand into new markets.… Read more »
We’ve now made 14 investments, and in almost all cases Galileo was the first VC investor in each startup’s pre-seed or seed round. We’ve backed some compelling early-stage companies and are on the hunt for more. If you’re raising your first round, you should apply now. A common pattern I’m hearing in some early-stage founders… Read more »
Venture Capital firm AirTree Ventures has a new $700 million war chest as it looks to ramp up its backing for early stage startups. Pulling the cash together took just three months, with leading local and international institutions, endowments and foundations signing on. The announcement comes ahead of rival VC Blackbird confirming its new $1… Read more »
The Queensland government has startup grants worth up to $200,000 up for grabs 
Square Peg-backed cleaning products startup Zero Co is shutting down 
Eye Thy with my AI: Australian Radio Network digitises diversity with an artificially generated Asian female presenter 
12 startup festivals and events you need to know about this year 
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