Australian insurtech Open has raised a $31 million series B as it looks to launch in New Zealand and the UK in the 12 months. The round was led by Kiwi VC Movac and Latitude in the UK. Existing investor AirTree Ventures backed the scale-up once again, taking the total capital raised to $53 million.… Read more »
Impact VC fund, Giant Leap has raised more than $15 million in less than four weeks for a second fund, Giant Leap II. Many of the backers in the original fund, launched in 2016, have invested in the new fund. New supporters include QBE Australia and Pexa chair Mark Joiner and Bookish co-founder Peter Haasz.… Read more »
Venture capital investor OneVentures is sharpening its focus on ESG (environmental, social, governance) principles in the startups it invests in to drive change in the sector. Managing director Dr Michelle Deaker, said it’s time for Australian VC firms to align their investment strategies to responsible investment practices and recognise that where they put their moment… Read more »
A molecular medicine startup hoping to save lives through a wearable sensor its creators say is like a “lab-on-the-skin” has raised $5.7 million. Melbourne healthtech venture Nutromics was co-founded Hitesh Mehta and Peter Vranes in 2018 after developing their idea in the MedTech Actuator program. They’ve built what they call a Continuous Molecular Monitoring (CMM)… Read more »
A Western Australian startup dubbed “the Tesla of e-bikes” has raised more than $550,000 in the first 24 hours of its crowd-sourced funding (CSF) campaign Perth-based Tiller Rides has smashed the average investment size on the CSF platform Birchal, at $7,639 per investor, around $6000 more than most raises. It also marks the 100th successful… Read more »
Medical technology startup Seer has raised $34 million in a series A as it looks to expand internationally. Medtech giant Cochlear, multi-family office EWM Group, SG Hiscock and impact investor Giant Leap backed the round. Seer’s technology is focused on clinical monitoring at home, developing devices checking key physiological signals, such as brain, heart and… Read more »
An artificial intelligence startup making AI accessible to smaller companies has raised A$2.75 million (US$2m) in a pre-series A round. Pi.Exchange describes itself as an AI-as-a-Service provider and is targeting the banking and retail to professional services sectors with its product. Investors included AI-dedicated VC Boab AI, Artesian, Nextrans and Vision Creator, alongside additional support… Read more »
A medtech startup that helps aspiring doctors practice their clinical reasoning skills with AI-powered virtual patients has raised a $5 million seed round. The investment in Oscer was led by Blackbird, joined by January Capital, Inventures, Archangel Ventures and angel investors Brendan Hill, and Jeff Bargman and values the business at $20 million. The University… Read more »
Jelix Ventures has raised a new $15 million for a new fund to back early stage startups and the Sydney VC ramps up its investment plans. The fund has already made its first investments, including software development startup FL0, quantum computing venture Quantum Brilliance and agtech Bitwise Ag, with several more deals already in the… Read more »
Carbonix, the Sydney startup that pivoted from high-speed sailing to drones, has raised $6.3 million in a late seed round ahead of US ambitions. The round was led by ASX-listed defence aerospace manufacturer Quickstep (ASX: QHL), and comes as the venture lands a major deal with electricity supplier Ausgrid to use Carbonix drones to monitor… Read more »
Work skills retraining startup EntryLevel is gearing up for a seed raise after pre-seed funding from Blackbird Ventures saw the virtual trainer reskill more than 30,000 people in just six months. Blackbird tipped $350,000 into the cohort-based edutech startup, which has an ambition to help one billion jobseekers around the world launch their careers through… Read more »
Melbourne hearing startup Hearables3D has raised $1 million ahead of plans to expand into the European and US markets. The investment was led by Significant Early Venture Capital and Starfish Ventures. The hearing loss startup, spun out of Swinburne University, also recently landed a $200,000 grant from the Australian Government’s Accelerating Commercialisation program. Hearables3D set… Read more »
What’s a SAFE, what’s a convertible note, and are they really better for founders than raising investment in a priced equity round? The short answer is that you can raise investment with a SAFE note or convertible note in Australia, but you might not necessarily find it easier to raise the money if you do.… Read more »
Skills training startup Forage has raised US$25 million (A$35m) in a series B. The round was led by Blackbird Ventures, with participation from Telstra Ventures, Citi Ventures, Gaingels, Cap Table Coalition, ETF@JFFLabs and existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and FundersClub. The raise comes less than 12 months after the four-year-old Y Combinator graduate, previously known as InsideSherpa, landed a US$9.3 million series A. Forage… Read more »
Agtech startup Regrow has raised US$17 million (A$23.5m) in a series A for its carbon measurement software for the agri-food supply chain sector. The raise was led by new US climate change focused VC Ajax Strategies, Tenacious Ventures and Cargill. Existing investors include Microsoft’s venture fund M12, the Jeremey and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust’s Neglected… Read more »
Atlassian cofounder Scott Farquhar steps down as co-CEO 
The lessons from Uber, Ola and rideshare’s disruption is that in the end, the consumer still pays 
Kiwi tech skills startup NextWork pockets $2.3 million pre-Seed raise 
Logistics software startup Veyor Digital shifts $2.75 million pre-Series A for US plans 
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
