Australian e-bike venture Zoomo has raised $16 million in a fresh round just eight months after a $16 million series A. The new raise, led by AirTree Ventures as a new investor, also saw existing backers the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Maniv Mobility and Contrarian Ventures. Cleantech-focused US investors Winthrop Square and Wisdom VC… Read more »
US-based venture capital firm Insight Partners has led a US$73 million (A$95m) investment into workplace safety venture that nearly doubles the value of the startup to US$1.6bn (A$2.1bn). The deal comes just a fortnight after Insight was the sole backer of Brisbane software startup Octopus Deploy in a US$172.5 million (A$220m) round. Existing invest Tiger… Read more »
A New Zealand agritech startup fitting cows with GPS-enabled solar collars to “guide” cows around pastures using sound and vibrations, creating virtual fences via an app, has raised A$29 million in a series B round. Halter says it is bridging the gap between human and animal understanding to transform farming. The series B round was… Read more »
Brisbane software startup Octopus Deploy is close becoming a $1 billion company after its first funding round, taking a US$172.5 million (A$222m) from New York venture capital firm Insight Partners. The enterprise software business, which counts Microsoft, NASA, Xero and Disney among its 25,000 customers, has bootstrapped for a decade before taking on Insight with… Read more »
SecondQuarter Ventures , a venture capital secondary fund, has closed a $51 million round and announced stakes in two more startups. A secondary fund offers a potential exit and liquidity to investors and other shareholders, such as founders, prior to the venture going public or its sale. Secondary venture funds are well established in the… Read more »
When an investor asks a founder to reveal their financial model, they are looking for the best possible attempt to provide a consistent, financial representation of the expected performance of the startup. It consists of well thought out projections about the future of the business, and a properly structured, understandable, and dynamic spreadsheet with easy-to-read… Read more »
Antler Australia will open an office in Melbourne in mid-2021 as the Sydney-based startup accelerator and investor moves from a year of virtual, online programs to a more physical presence. The venture, which launched in Australia in 2019, has backed 40 companies in that time and began something of a de facto national expansion in… Read more »
If you’re certain you understand the business, and you are confident your investment in it will succeed, what you’re doing is not venture capital, it’s banking. Venture capital must have a high degree of risk in order to have a chance of earning the high returns venture capital investors expect from this asset class. Venture… Read more »
Welcome to Tuesday. Fingers crossed for good news for Victorians to emerge from lockdown some time today. Here’s today’s news, and don’t forget to tune in for the Startup Daily show on Ausbiz.com.au every weekday, 2-3pm. Watch online, download the ausbiz app or via 7Plus. Zucktime Facebook is reportedly building a smartwatch – not to be confused with Facebook Watch,… Read more »
Dr Elaine Stead, the former head of venture capital at the now defunct Blue Sky Alternative Investments fund, has been awarded $280,000 in damages a defamation case against the Australian Financial Review and its Rear Window columnist Joe Aston. Stead, who was described as a “feminist cretin” and “venture capital pyromaniac” in a series of… Read more »
The push for diversity in venture capital is long overdue but like a lot of diversity campaigns, First Nations people are being overlooked by investors in Australia. As founder of the world’s first Indigenous Accelerator, I reached out to venture capital firms operating in Australia to conduct research into how much or more accurately, “how… Read more »
Impact Investment Group (IIG) is on the hunt for $70 million from wholesale investors for a new fund targeting sustainable and socially conscious startup investments. IIG CEO and co-fund manager Daniel Madhavan said the Impact Alternatives Fund will be a mix of investments, including renewable energy infrastructure such as solar farms, impact private equity, venture… Read more »
For many, COVID-19 has been a time for self-reflection. It’s been a time for understanding who we are and what drives us. A time to consider what’s important. We’ve noticed this changing tide through the growing interest we’re seeing in impact investing and the question of how we can be more conscious with how we… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is using venture capital firms Square Peg Capital and Zetta Venture Partners to invest in startups, putting US$10 million (A$14m) each into the latest funds from the two VCs. Zetta is a US-based fund investing in artificial intelligence. In an update on the bank’s innovation program this week, CBA CEO Matt… Read more »
Should we look to China for hints as to what will happen with global VC? For our startup community to survive, we need to observe ground zero and monitor the shockwaves hitting regions ahead of us. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Chinese VC deals have taken a plunge and we’re left asking whether we’ll see… Read more »
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