3103 rounds · 1960 startups · 3601 investors
Person Invested in this round Raised it Closed a fund Mentioned
Amount confirmed Amount is an estimate
Australian rapid antigen test makers AnteoTech, Lumos Diagnostics and Ellume are exporting output while awaiting TGA approval, despite earlier Queensland and federal government funding, as politicians criticise the domestic shortage.
Blackbird interviews AskNicely co-founder and CEO Aaron Ward about the customer-feedback company's origins, its expansion from New Zealand to the US and Europe, and its recent investment round.
Ebury's Australian arm has hired Toby Farrow as Queensland sales manager and opened a Brisbane office, expanding its foreign exchange and trade finance services for the state's importing and exporting small businesses.
EQ Resources received a $600,000 Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre grant for a tungsten ore-sorting project with Tomra, Plotlogic, University of Queensland and Cronimet Australia; the project's total budget is $1.97 million.
Also @AuManufacturing
Perth-founded, now Wales-based wave energy developer Bombora Wave Power has received a £3.54 million investment from Japanese shipping group Mitsui O.S.K. Lines to commercialise its mWave technology and progress hybrid wave-wind projects.
SmartCompany reviews 2021's record ANZ startup funding, topping $10 billion per Cut Through Venture, highlighting mega-rounds by SimPRO, Rokt, Canva and Airwallex, plus early-2022 raises by Dovetail, Milkrun and TradeSquare.
Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily
Five South Australian defence research projects led by Flinders, UniSA and the University of Adelaide with industry partners receive the latest Collaborative Research Fund grants from the Defence Innovation Partnership.
Seventeen unnamed startups and small businesses share federal grant funding for feasibility studies aimed at reducing regulatory burdens, under the latest round of a government innovation program.
Australia's corporate regulator is partnering with five regulatory-technology startups awarded government grants of up to $100,000 for feasibility studies, and two may later receive up to $1 million to build proof-of-concept tools.
WA angel group Perth Angels has opened applications for its first 2022 funding cycle, with pitches due 16 February; it recently deployed $250,000 across three startups at its previous investor night.
The Graph Foundation brought in $50 million by selling GRT tokens to five funds including Tiger Global, money earmarked for grants, protocol R&D and recruiting more development teams to decentralise web3.
CERI has named the first recipients of its CERI Start fund, with seven startups sharing $50,000 in equity-free micro-seed funding for product development and early commercialisation.
Profile of Lagrange.AI, co-founded by Hassan Mirzahosseinian and Aghil Rezaei Somarin, whose AI platform integrates fragmented supply chain data; the founders credit Antler's program with helping them validate the problem and find product-market fit.
Car-sharing platform Car Next Door has been bought by Uber for undisclosed terms. The piece retraces the company's decade-long journey, including a 2016 Shark Tank pitch and backing from Hyundai, Caltex and Investible.
Ojas Group's solar panel upcycling plant in Victoria, backed by a 2020 federal grant and university partners, is set to begin operating by late 2023, alongside other Australian recyclers.
Canadian flow battery maker Zinc8 will install a demonstration zinc-air storage system at a New York apartment complex with Digital Energy Corp, supported by a NYSERDA grant of US$460,400.
PropHero has hired Ping Du from McKinsey into a new Head of Operations role, based in Sydney, working alongside co-founders Mickael Roger and Pablo Gil Brusola.
Australian carbon credit prices have tripled on growing private demand. Amid rising interest in soil carbon projects, Armidale-based Precision Pastures has completed a $500,000 capital raising.
Twenty-two Australian companies plus Monash University won Accelerating Commercialisation grants worth $12.2 million combined, with recipients including EVOS, BioCarbon, Ripe Robotics and Endua, each receiving matched government funding for commercialisation projects.
Also @AuManufacturing·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
Customer research platform Dovetail has raised US$63 million led by Accel at a near-unicorn valuation, with Blackbird and Felicis also taking part, as co-founders Benjamin Humphrey and Bradley Ayers plan global growth.
Milkrun, Dany Milham's four-month-old rapid grocery delivery startup, has raised a $75 million Series A led by Tiger Global, with Airtree, Skip and Grok also investing; it had earlier raised A$11 million in mid-2021.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has committed $37 million to X-Elio's 200MW Blue Grass solar farm in Queensland, lending alongside ING and SMBC, with the project using bifacial panels and half-cut cells.
Profile of Ezybandz, a digital health and fintech startup developing smart medical alert wristbands, outlining its market opportunity, technology, partnerships and an open investment offering for product and business development.
Eaton Square advised ASX-listed Credit Clear on its acquisition of debt recovery firm ARMA Group for $46 million plus earnout; the post also recalls WME's sale to Melbourne IT and a Drawbridge Pharmaceuticals raise.
Uber has bought the decade-old Australian car-sharing marketplace Car Next Door for an undisclosed price. The startup's leadership stays on; Hyundai was its most recent backer with $6.2 million in 2019.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Wholesale Investor
Drilling technology firm Minnovare has been bought by Hexagon AB to strengthen its underground mining offerings, the second WA mining tech company Hexagon has purchased following its 2018 purchase of MiPlan.
Adelaide clean-tech firm Phosenergy won an Innovative Manufacturing CRC activate grant to develop GenT, a panel converting waste heat into electricity, with the University of South Australia's Future Industries Institute collaborating.
Also @AuManufacturing
TradeSquare, a B2B wholesale marketplace co-founded by ex-Catch CEO Nati Harpaz and Einat Sukenik, has raised $28 million from Tiger Global to scale its Australian platform.
Adelaide proptech HappyCo raised US$52 million (A$72 million) in a Series B led by Camber Creek to build new products, hire locally and pursue acquisitions; it is a 2012 Startmate accelerator alumnus.
Also Startup Daily
Law firm Biztech Lawyers represented Black.ai on its over-subscribed $5.3 million round, led by Jelix Ventures with follow-on from Right Click Capital and Pan Group, plus new AI-focused investors.
Security vendors McAfee Enterprise and FireEye, both acquired by Symphony Technology Group in 2021, have merged into XDR firm Trellix, which plans an Asia Pacific push focused on managed service providers.
Canadian commerce software firm Maropost has acquired Retail Express, a Brisbane-founded point-of-sale and ecommerce platform, for C$55 million (A$61 million), continuing Maropost's global expansion.
Also Startup Daily
Profile of Andisor, co-founded by Vandana Chaudhry and Katie Fletcher with backing from Antler, offering a SaaS marketplace that streamlines wholesale buying between emerging brands and retailers.
Pre-launch fintech Cashero pitches investors on its savings, currency exchange and cross-border payments app, seeking 1.5 million pounds before launch through an offering of non-voting B shares.
Canadian firm OSF Digital has bought Sydney Salesforce Marketing Cloud specialist Datarati for an undisclosed price, its sixth purchase in nine months, with Datarati's founder moving into an area vice president role.
Also Forbes Australia
Advisory firm Eaton Square says it ran the sale of specialty chemicals company RPL Trading to IMCD, appointed by the founders in August 2021, with IMCD the successful acquirer.
LaunchVic case study on Boab AI, a Melbourne investor backing artificial-intelligence companies through a program funded by LaunchVic and Artesian; it names Remi, PI.Exchange, Daitum and Strongroom among those supported.
Australian men's health startup Mosh has secured $25 million in fresh capital from Hims co-founder Joe Spector, Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Regal Funds Management, with existing backers Parc Capital and Thorney also participating.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany
Beforepay's shares plunged 44% in its ASX debut, erasing the $35 million IPO raise and much of its $158.4 million listing value; the article recalls earlier raises backed by James Spenceley and Alium Capital.
Victoria is funding more than $7 million in grants for renewable hydrogen ventures, supporting hydrogen bus trials, a refuelling station, hydrogen production facilities, and the state's first hydrogen-powered cremation prototype.
Square Peg Capital leads cloud-skills edtech saasguru's AUD1.3 million pre-seed round, with BlackNova VC investing. The Sydney company was co-founded by Amit Choudhary and Atif Saad, who earlier built and sold consultancy SaaSFocus.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·TechCrunch Australia
Solar technology company 5B has launched an automation program backed by a government agency grant, aiming to cut the cost of its deployable solar systems, and recently bought a solar manufacturing business.
Also @AuManufacturing
UK investment company Lift Global Ventures plans to list on London's Aquis Stock Exchange within weeks, raising via a share placing, and may interest Australian companies eyeing the UK market.
The renewable energy agency announces a $14 million grant to Sydney solar company 5B to automate manufacturing of its Maverick utility-scale solar array, within a larger $33.4 million project at its Mascot headquarters.
Company update from MyBricks Finance: a second UK property secured, legal partner Pails has completed an NFT ownership contract, a wallet launches in February, and the team is seeking external capital to speed purchases.
Verdant Earth has filed US registration documents ahead of a planned Nasdaq listing, seeking roughly US$70 million to recommission a New South Wales power station to run on biomass and produce hydrogen.
A company update in which Paysme sets out its fintech strategy for small businesses and says it is still closing its fundraise to build a European super app for SMEs.
Six Victorian companies including Austeng, Volgren and Viva Energy received grants from a $6.6 million state pool; Austeng will work with Geelong Cemeteries Trust on hydrogen-fired crematoria furnaces.
Canberra dental robotics startup Dentroid is leading a collaborative micromirror project with Griffith University and the IMCRC, backed by a $100,000 IMCRC grant, to advance drill-free, laser-based dental surgery.
Death-tech startup Gathered Here raised $1 million led by Common Sense Ventures, with BetterLabs and Murray Bleach participating, doubling its valuation seven months after a $1.1 million seed round.
Also Startup Daily