The ongoing El Nino drought of startup funding in Australia has continued in the first quarter of the new financial year, with total funding down 42% on 12 months ago, and falling by 9% on the previous quarter according to new analysis from Cut Through Ventures. The September quarter saw A$739 million invested across 77… Read more »
Dairy alternative startup Eden Brew has raised $24.4 million in a Series A as it prepares to bring its animal-free products, including milk and ice cream, to market. The two-year-old venture, created as a joint-venture by northern NSW dairy co-op Norco, CSIRO and its VC arm, Main Sequence Ventures, uses a fermentation process to brew… Read more »
A Queensland startup helping power up America with drones to roll out power line upgrades has raised $36 million in a Series A. The round for Infravision was led by US sustainability investor Energy Impact Partners (EIP), supported by Equinor Ventures and Edison International (EIX). Robotics engineer Cameron Van Der Berg and military veteran Chris Cox… Read more »
Energy sector digital twin startup Neara has raised $15.25 million in an extension of last year’s $20 million Series B round. The round was led by South African VC Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures), a frequent Australian investor, which also backed crypto gaming unicorn Immutable. Existing backers Square Peg and Kim Jackson’s Skip Capital also… Read more »
While most of us suspect we waste too much of our working day in meetings and dealing with emails, employee communications startup Traffyk.AI has had a look at the size of the problem – it’s a day a week – and done something about it. The enterprise software startup has raised $1.8 million in a… Read more »
Foodbomb, a six-year-old wholesale food marketplace, has been acquired by hospitality ordering platform Ordermentum for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2017 by Paul Tory and Josh Goulburn, Foodbomb raised $4.5 million in a Series A two years ago. Its backers include EVP, Athletic Ventures, Aura Ventures, Tony Gandel’s family investment vehicle, Tahmedia, and Platform Advisory Partners.… Read more »
Melbourne fintech tikpay has raised $1.6 million in a pre-Seed round ahead of the launch of its pioneering account-based ticketing (ABT) and payments platform. The round was led by AfterWork Ventures and Black Nova VC with participation from Investible, Func Ventures, Metagrove Ventures, and two transport industry insiders. While Sydney commuters have been able to… Read more »
The Victorian government’s $2 billion investment fund, Breakthrough Victoria has backed five Victorian universities to help them bring research to market in a deal worth $87 million. Deakin, La Trobe, Monash and Swinburne universities have contributed $9 million funding matched by Breakthrough Victoria, with RMIT matching the $7.5 million it has received. Each partnership will… Read more »
The founders of TradeGecko and Advocately, Cameron Priest and Patrick Barnes, are back with a bang thanks to their new e-commerce startup, Amp, which has secured US$18.5 million (A$28.5m) in a series A, having only launched last year. AMP is their solution for the challenge retailers face in using dozens of different apps to run… Read more »
Merchandise data startup Flagship has raised $2 million in a Seed round to help retailers to make better data-based decisions of maximising product appeal for in-store shoppers The round led by Sydney VC Tidal Ventures, with support from Afterpay’s billionaire cofounder Nick Molnar, backing his brother Simon’s startup play. Macdoch and Co Ventures, NRL player Luke… Read more »
Australian bush flavours drinks brand Yaala Sparkling has landed a $125,000 investment from Shark Tank ‘shark’ Dr Catriona Wallace. The Queensland Indigenous-owned business, cofounded by Wiradjuri Yinaa woman Tara Croker and her mother Mel Davey, is developing a range of alcohol-free drinks flavoured with native ingredients sourced from Indigenous wild harvesters and local farmers. Yaala… Read more »
Venture capital alternative Lighter Capital has a $30 million war chest to lend to local startups thanks to support from the Victorian government and iPartners. The 13-year-old revenue-based Wall Street financier offers non-dilutive funding to founders in the US, Canada and Australia. Invest Victoria tipped $10 million into the $30 million fund, supported by New York… Read more »
Melbourne-based proptech Listing Loop has closed the first tranche of its Series A, securing $2.1 million. Cofounder and CEO Rhett Dallwitz said the startup has more than 75% of its commitments and will finalise the balance of $500,000 over the coming weeks. “With a 174% YoY revenue growth, our company is at pivotal stage of… Read more »
Victorian medical cannabis biotech Medigrowth has raised one of the largest equity crowdfunding campaigns in the sector’s six-year history, banking nearly $3.45 million from more than 2000 investors. The CSF campaign on Birchal is the third largest in the platform’s history, with Medigrowth hitting its minimum target of $500,000 in just 45 minutes before gaining… Read more »
Sydney satellite monitoring startup HEO Robotics has raised $12 million in a Series A two years after its last round. The raise was led by Sydney VC AirTree Ventures with support from the new $40 million sovereign capabilities early-stage fund Salus Ventures. Salus invest up to $1.5 million into initial rounds for cutting-edge tech for… Read more »
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Rock stars Bernard Fanning and Angus Stone, and Paralympian Dylan Alcott, back dairy replacement startup Eden Brew in $25 million Series A 
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