Digital energy platform Wattwatchers has raised $5.3 million in the Series B round. The round was led by private equity impact investor Kilara Capital’s new Growth Fund, with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), doubling down on the startup after backing its series A and initial capital raise in 2017 through its specialist Innovation Fund.… Read more »
Female-focused superannuation fund Verve Super has raised $2.6 million predominantly with female and impact-focused investors. Verve Super CEO Christina Hobbs they decided to do things differently by seeking to raise capital specifically from people with a passion for women’s economic equality and investors who demonstrated a passion for impact investing in female-led companies. “In the… Read more »
Healtech social enterprise startup Umbo, which rural and regional families with speech and occupational therapists, has received $200,000 from social enterprise investor Fortis River to ramp up its services. The wait to access services such as speech and occupational therapy can be up to 18 months, so the funding will enable Umbo to scale its… Read more »
Australian fintech Rush Gold (previously SendGold) has raised a $3 million Series A The round, led by Dragon Tree Capital, with several new backers including Andrew Barlow, Rami de Marchi, Prof. Gustavo Schwenkler, Tom Krulis and Matt Bailey hitting the EFT button alongside several existing shareholders including entrepreneur Darren Harrison. The venture, which is building… Read more »
Melbourne fintech Airwallex has tapped the market for another US$200 million (A$275m) in a series E just six months after topping up its series D round with an extra US$100 million (A$130m). The payments platform has now raised more than A$1 billion from investors. This latest raise ups Airwallex’s valuation from US$2.6bn ($3.4bn) in March to… Read more »
An upcoming challenger superannuation brand, Tomorrow Super, is on the hunt for $5 million in pre-IPO funding. Founder and CEO Wes Hall says he wants to create a digital-first “game-changing” low cost, hassle free SMSF-type model for a ESG-conscious generation. “There are three undeniable trends when it comes to investing in Australia: economic activism through… Read more »
Digital assets platform Monochrome Asset Management as raised US$1.8 million (A$2.4m) in series A funding as it looks up become the Australian market leader in alternative investment. The round, which values the business at A$20 million, included Wei Zhou, former CFO of Binance, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee, Samson Mow, CSO of Blockstream, and Kain Warwick, founder… Read more »
Melbourne startup investment firm Fundsquire, has an extra A$75 million in the kitty to back local tech ventures thanks to a debt and equity raise from fintech investment firm Fasanara Capital. Fundsquire plans to launch new funding products in Australia, Canada, and the UK with the cash injection, as well as enable tech development and market… Read more »
Welcome to Giant Leap’s Small Steps, a newsletter offering global insights and news on the impact startups landscape. We’ll be sharing an edited version with Startup Daily readers every fortnight. Giant Leap is Australia’s first impact venture fund, and they use this newsletter to surface the ideas and businesses that intrigue and inspire them and… Read more »
Digital bank Alex has raised $20 million in a series C that values the neobank at more than $120 million The raise came from existing shareholders and new investors, including Washington H. Soul Pattinson, Regal Funds Management, Wunala Capital, and SG Hiscock & Company, topping up the $34 million already raised. Founded in 2018 by… Read more »
An events platform for the pandemic era, which connects conference delegates at virtual and hybrid events on any device, has raised $10 million in a seed round. Airtree Ventures led the raise for Delegate Connect, writing its largest seed cheque in the fund’s history. Also chipping in were Skip Capital, the private fund of Kim… Read more »
Global design platform Canva is now worth US$40 billion (A$54.5bn) following a fresh US$200 million (A$273m) funding round. The value of the business has now nearly trebled in less than six months, and jumped more than five-fold in 15 months. In April, Canva announced a A$93 million raise that valued the business at A$20 billion. … Read more »
Sydney gaming startup Immutable has raised A$82 million to ramp up its Ethereum-based trading platform in non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The round was co-led by California’s BITKRAFT Ventures and Sydney’s King River Capital. Other backers include AirTree Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Fabric Ventures, FTX, Reinventure, Apex Capital, and VaynerFund. The raise comes two years after… Read more »
Hotel commerce platform SiteMinder has raised $100 million in a pre-IPO round, repeating the raise it made before the pandemic hit. Fidelity International came aboard as a new shareholder with existing backers AustralianSuper, and equity funds managed by BlackRock, Ellerston Capital, Pendal Group, and Washington H. Soul Pattinson upping their stakes in the tech platform.… Read more »
Sports stars and startup founders have rallied behind Melbourne impact venture Who Gives a Crap in a $14.5 million raise. The round was led by European family-owned impact investor Verlinvest, which also backed Swedish milk alternative Oatly. Executive director Raphael Thiolon will joining the Who Gives A Crap board. Also joining the raise were Grok… Read more »
Unicorn dehorned: Nasdaq-listed Brisbane EV charging venture Tritium collapses into receivership 
‘Have I gone too far?’ How founders can beat their startup demons 
Tassie carbon accounting startup banks $5.3 million Seed round 
The lessons from Uber, Ola and rideshare’s disruption is that in the end, the consumer still pays 
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