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 »
Digital lending and payments provider WLTH has opened $5 million seed funding round. The Brisbane-based fintech will use the funds to accelerate the growth of its proprietary technology platforms, ahead of the upcoming launches of its B2C payments app ‘WLTH Pay’ and loyalty program ‘WLTH + Loyalty’, as well as make key hires for its… Read more »
SME challenger bank Judo Bank is an even bigger unicorn after scooping up $284 million in a round 4 capital raise. The raise values the bank, founded in 2016, at $1.6 billion, an increase of 60% on its valuation following a previous raise seven months ago. Judo co-founder and co-CEO, David Hornery, said more than… Read more »
Fintech startup Effi has raised $1.2 million in seed funding as part of its push to become Australia’s leading mortgage broker platform. The round was led by Australian seed investment group Investible, US-based Hustle Fund and several mortgage industry leaders and brokers. Mandeep Sodhi, founder and CEO of the AI-powered company said he’s now looking to… Read more »
These days people trading on the stock market want more than just a strong financial return. They’re increasingly opting for investments that will also have a positive societal impact. The coronavirus pandemic showed us even established tech companies can suffer downturns in the short term. Apple, a tech behemoth, was left reeling when Chinese manufacturing… Read more »
ASX-listed real estate company REA Group – best known for realestate.com.au – is spending $13.3 million on a 27% stake in Campaign Agent, a buy now pay later solution for vendor-paid advertising. The strategic stake in the Melbourne-based fintech was announced during REA Group’s (ASX: REA) half-yearly results today. CampaignAgent offers a BNPL solution to… Read more »
A new fintech app for millennials to manage household bills has raised $250,000 in pre-seed funding in its first few weeks of existence and has now turned to crowdfunding seeking another $800,000. noobill is the brainchild of George Wang, who previously spent three years as CEO of the Australian arm of Chinese ecommerce retailer GOME… Read more »
Micro-X has received funding commitments of $30.5 million to help expand its US footprint and fast-track new lightweight x-ray products. The publicly-listed company announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: MX1) this morning it had received funding commitments totalling $30.5 million for new fully paid shares at 34 cents each. It is also proposing to… Read more »
Consumer Data Right startup Adatree has raised $1.2 million in a seed round co-founder Jill Berry says was nearly three-times oversubscribed. Tyro Payment co-founder Peter Haig and the company’s chair, Kerry Roxburgh, led the round alongside Equity Seed, Kylie Frazer and Rachael Neumann of Eleanor Ventures, and bank executive Angus McBean. Equity Seed’s Mark Hutchins is… 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 »
Female founded (or co-founded) businesses have raised around 25% more in Australian crowd-sourced funding campaigns, as well as attracting more than three times as many investors, according to a new analysis by equity crowdfunding platform Birchal. While women are underrepresented in the startup sector, especially when in comes to venture funding, it appears that public… Read more »
Beforepay (previously Cheq), the fintech version of a payday lender, has raised $9 million in a pre-IPO round led by Alium Capital. The company is looking to list this year, having now raised around $17 million. Its previous round was $4 million just two months ago, led by Vocus founder and Airtasker chair James Spenceley. The… Read more »
Security industry tech platform Guardhouse raised $850,000 in seed funding late last year as it prepared to launch in the UK market. The Sydney startup, co-founded in 2018 by Julian Cartwright, Jack Alpe, Andrew Longworth and Keith Longworth aims to be an to be an all-in-one solution for security industry workforce management to improve workflow between… Read more »
Investor due diligence has one simple objective: to reduce the risk of the venture capital (VC) investor losing their money. In the early stages of a budding relationship between a VC and a founder, due diligence is an informal “get to know you” process. Startups are vetted on the basis of qualities such as the… Read more »
Cell-based meat production startup Vow Foods has raised $7.7m (US$6m) in a seed round led by Square Peg Capital, alongside Blackbird Ventures, Grok Ventures and new investor Tenacious Ventures. James Tynan from Square Peg will join Vow’s board. The cellular agtech startup, based in Western Sydney, began with lab-grown meat from pork and kangaroo cells… Read more »
The Canva brand is now worth more than Woolies, Telstra and Bunnings
VC-backed crowdfunding platform Stride Equity is offering a new funding model for startups
Female-founded fermentation startup Cauldron lands $10.5 million to transform how new foods and fibres are developed
Shares in Afterpay’s parent company are getting slaughtered after a short seller accused Block of ‘facilitating criminal activity’
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
