A Kiwi startup that wants to make kids love maths as much as playing Roblox has raised NZ$1.5 million (A$1.35m) in pre-Seed funding. The round for Polymath was co-led by Blackbird’s NZ office and fellow Aotearoa VC GD1. The app gamifies maths for kids, underpinned by an algorithm that adapts learning moments to each child’s progress.… Read more »
The former head of product at Kayla Itsines’ fitness app Sweat has launched his own startup, raising $600,000 in pre-Seed funding for a booking site for caravan parks and campgrounds. ParkBooker.com is the brainchild of Josh Volk and will go live later this week. The round was backed by Singapore fund Rising Tide Investment, Turo… Read more »
A startup hoping to chip away at China’s dominance in copper production with a new low-cost way of extracting it from low-grade resources has raised $1.05 million in a Seed round. Banksia Minerals Processing (BMP) was spun out of University of Queensland and has been backed by UniQuest, and IP Group, and grant funding from the… Read more »
Global contractor credentials platform MyPass has raised $7.5 million Series A. The round for the 12-year-old worker onboarding, compliance and credentials management business, which counts BHP, Shell, Woodside and UGL among its customer base, was led by Sydney VC OneVentures. The capital will be used for expansion in North and South America and accelerate product… Read more »
A Melbourne startup building AI agents for the disability and aged care sectors has raised $2.5 million in Seed funding. The round for Minikai was led by Tidal Ventures with participation from Antler. Tigerspike founder Luke Janssen previously backed the startup with a six-figure pre-Seed investment nearly 12 months ago. Minikai’s AI agents are hoping to… Read more »
Battery storage tech startup Allegro Energy has scored a $1.85 million federal government grant to bring its battery technology to mass production. The Newcastle-based startup is one of five early stage tech companies funded under the $400 million Industry Growth Program. Allegro Energy has developed water-based Redox Flow Batteries (RFB) to store renewable energy. The… Read more »
Sydney clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical startup AdvanCell, which is developing innovative cancer therapeutics, has raised US$112 million (A$178m) in a Series C. The round was co-led by US-UK fund SV Health Investors, Sanofi Ventures, Abingworth, and SymBiosis. Additional support came from existing investor Morningside, alongside new investors Tenmile, Brandon Capital, and others. Founded in June 2019, AdvanCell was… Read more »
A Melbourne enterprise technology startup that’s bootstrapped since its founding in 2019 has raised a $5 million Seed round in taking on its first external capital. Slinging cash at Factor House were Blackbird, OIF, Flying Fox and the Alice Anderson Fund, LaunchVic’s female-focused co-investment side-car fund. The funding will accelerate the commercial release of the startup’s flagship product,… Read more »
Sydney healthtech startup Harrison.ai has raised AU$179 million (US$112m) in a Series C as it looks to expand in the US The round was co-led by Aware Super, ECP and existing supporter Horizons Ventures, the VC firm of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. The federal government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund announced its $32 millions… Read more »
A B2B product management startup cofounded by Canva and Atlassian alumni, and developed in the Y Combinator accelerator program, has raised $3.5 million in Seed funding. The round for Sydney startup Index was led by Blackbird and Bain Capital Ventures. Mary Meeker’s California VC Bond also chipped in along with Y Combinator, Linktree cofounder Alex… Read more »
An Antler startup launched less than 12 months ago for people of post online listings selling second-hand products on multiple marketplaces with a single click has raised $800,000 in a pre-Seed round. Shopfront, founded by Nathan Spiteri and Drew Flaherty in April last year, was initially supported with $225,000 from Antler during its accelerator program.… Read more »
Commercial insurance broking startup UpCover has raised $19 million in a Series A round. On top of the $11 million equity investment, the insurtech also secured $8 million in debt. The round was led by RealVC, with support from existing investors Antler Elevate’s Global Fund – Upcover was part of its inaugural accelerator program in… Read more »
Volunteer and workforce management platform Rosterfy has raised $5.5 million from Sydney VC OIF Ventures. The funding tops up aa $3m follow on investment from ASX-listed Bailador Technology Investments (ASX:BTI) after its $9.8m initial investment in April 2023, which Startup Daily reported in October last year, The $3m from Bailador resulted in a 14% ($1.7m)… Read more »
A former New Zealander worked in Australia as a lawyer, before giving it up to found an AI-powered legal tech startup, has raised a $25.5 million (US$16m) Series A\ Min-Kyu Jung was a corporate lawyer sick of the time-consuming and manual process required for contract reviews. So he left the law, taught himself to code,… Read more »
SydneyAI startup Lorikeet has raised another US$9 million (A$14m), just four months after pocketing a $7.3 million Seed round. This time Blackbird led the round, joined by existing investors Square Peg and Kim Jackson’s Skip Capital. The raise values the business at $100 million. Lorikeet was founded in mid-2023 (originally as Optech) by US-based former… Read more »
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