Zero Co, the cleaning products startup will close at the end of the month with founder and CEO Mike Smith pulling down the shutters because they can’t find a pathway to profitability. The six-year-old startup set records in 2021 when it raised a record $5 million in just six hours on the Birchal crowd-sourced funding… Read more »
Investors keen to climb about the success of ecommerce unicorn Rokt have shelled out US$335 million (A$510m) to acquire existing shares as the business gears up for an IPO in 2026. The sales values the privately owned New York-based Australian-founded scaleup at US$3.5 billion (A$5.6bn), up from $US2.4 billion (A$3.5bn) in late 2022 when $750… Read more »
An Australian-US startup that’s developed an AI-based customer support agent used by the likes of Chemist2U and Eucalyptus to solve complex problems has raised US$5 million ($7.3m) in Seed funding. Lorikeet, named after the colourful and garrulous Australian parrot, was founded in mid-2023 (originally as Optech) by US-based former Stripe executive Steve Hind and former Google… Read more »
Square Peg is raising for a sixth fund, as well as a new “Opportunities Fund 3”, seeking a combined $840 million, but cofounder Paul Bassat has promised more money will go back into investor pockets than they will invest in the years ahead. Twelve years on, Bassat said in Square Peg’s half-yearly update to June… Read more »
Investments in tech companies such as Fiverr, Vend, Property Guru and Canva have already returned $1.12 billion to Square Peg’s early backers, the VC has revealed as it gears to raise a sixth fund worth US$500m (A$840m). The exits across 14 portfolio companies have spanned mergers and acquisitions, secondary market share sales and public floats… Read more »
With Facebook now the social media version of a nursing home, a rival London-based startup cofounded by expat Australian Jack Symonds, has bagged $4 million in Seed round. The raise for Lounge, which is connecting the current generation of university students on in four countries, including Australia, was led by Square Peg with support from existing… Read more »
Former Startmate boss James Tynan has been named a partner at Square Peg, three years after signing on at the VC. Tynan joined Square Peg in 2020 from the Startmate accelerator program, which also makes pre-seed investments in the startups involved. Since then he’s led investments for Square Peg in companies including culture meat venture… 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 »
Amid a plethora of analysis of Australian venture capital funding in recent weeks, one report truly stands out because it captures the numbers by talking to the venture capital investors involved. The recently released 2nd edition of The State Of Australian Startup Funding report, from Cut Through Venture and Folklore Ventures, reveal a record number… Read more »
Three weeks ago, we received an influx of incredibly helpful feedback from founders after Paul Bassat reached out to the community via this LinkedIn post. One recurring theme in the feedback that resonated with me was: telling founders you invest early is actually not that helpful. Founders asked: what does ‘early’ mean? What does ‘seed… Read more »
Australian VC Square Peg Capital has raised US$550 million (A$860m) for its fifth fund, which it plans to use to continue backing its existing portfolio companies in later stage raises. The new fund takes total capital Square Peg has raised in a decade to more than US$1.6 billion (A$2.5bn) using the funds to back companies… Read more »
Airtree has followed in the footsteps of major VCs Square Peg Capital and Blackbird Ventures, cutting the valuation of its holding in tech giant Canva by 36%. The decision drags down the value of its early funds by Sydney investor by 18%. Blackbird and Square Peg had already reduced the value of their stakes in… Read more »
Many people will be asking themselves this question over the next year or two: “Am I completely crazy to be thinking about founding a startup right now?” The answer is a resounding NO! The world is going to need re-imagining on an unprecedented scale over the next few years. We have so many important problems… Read more »
Sydney email marketing platform Vero has raised $4 million in a Series A round from Square Peg Capital, its first funding boost since its launch in 2012.
The Queensland government has startup grants worth up to $200,000 up for grabs 
Eye Thy with my AI: Australian Radio Network digitises diversity with an artificially generated Asian female presenter 
Square Peg-backed cleaning products startup Zero Co is shutting down 
12 startup festivals and events you need to know about this year 
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