3204 rounds · 2029 startups · 3733 investors
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Andrew Forrest again postpones a decision on the Gibson Island green hydrogen project in Queensland, and his Squadron Energy appoints ex-APA head Rob Wheals chief executive, with Jason Willoughby shifting to chairman.
US electronics firm Keysight has bought $15.28 million of new EMVision shares, taking 8.73 per cent of the ASX-listed maker of a portable brain scanner for stroke detection.
Question-and-answer profile of Deputy's chief executive tracing her path from a Croatian childhood to Affirm's stockmarket debut and leadership of the Australian shift-work software firm.
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Tenacious Ventures reflects on attending the evokeAG conference in Perth, discussing climate adaptation in farming, weed resistance to AI detection, women in agtech, and its own plans for a second fund.
Aura Group has appointed Dino Pesce, a financial services sales veteran, as Head of Origination in its Property Credit team, where he will help expand lending for commercial asset purchases.
Origin's 300 MW Mortlake battery moves ahead with Fluence as EPC contractor, backed by up to $24 million from ARENA; five of eight projects under its funding round are now committed.
Roundup of manufacturing briefs: Latrobe Magnesium's share placement, DroneShield and Cyclopharm results, Graphene Manufacturing Group's US OTCQX listing, an Electro Optic Systems dispute settlement, HEO London recruitment, and a green steel partnership.
Salter Brothers Tech Fund has proposed a roughly $74 million buyout that would delist Prospa from the ASX; directors back the offer, and the article recaps the lender's corporate history.
Seeley International is scaling up Adelaide air-conditioner production for California, backed by South Australian Government support; its earlier Climate Wizard project drew a $1 million Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre grant.
Bandicoot Imaging, a Sydney startup turning fabrics into 3D digital twins, has collected a $1m pre-seed round from qonvolv Ventures, Precision Textiles, Mou Fung and NewSouth Innovations to scale its platform.
Prospa, the small-business lender, has agreed to a $74 million buyout by Salter Brothers Tech Fund and will leave the ASX, five years after floating at a far higher valuation.
Brisbane DevOps software firm Octopus Deploy has bought San Francisco competitor Codefresh, reportedly paying US$28 million; the deal adds revenue and Kubernetes capability while Codefresh's venture backers face a loss.
CSIRO and Main Sequence's updated synthetic biology report projects a $30 billion annual sector and 50,000 jobs by 2040, citing startup capital raised, research grants, and the 2022 launch of UNSW Founders' SynBio 10x accelerator.
Australian space startup Quasar Satellite Technologies is among seven companies chosen for the US-backed 13th Catalyst Accelerator, a space domain awareness program linked to the US Air Force Research Laboratory and US defence customers.
Alberts Impact Ventures introduces its new investment associate in a Q&A covering his prior role at an investment platform, his path into impact investing, and portfolio companies in health and climate.
Australian satellite communications firm Quasar has joined a seven-company intake in the US defence-focused Catalyst Accelerator program as its only international participant, with technology built on CSIRO research.
Weekly roundup of readers' top five stories: Gilmour Space's $55m Series D raise, a $50m MRFF grant for an artificial heart consortium, K-TIG entering administration, defence budget news, and Queensland's return to venture investing.
FirstWave has agreed to issue $2.5 million in convertible notes to Danish financier Formue Nord, its first Australian investment, taking working capital to $5 million; it also acquired Saisei Networks last year.
Textile-waste yarn maker Dempstah has taken out eBay Australia’s Circular Fashion Fund top prize, with runners-up RCYCL and The Very Good Bra also rewarded, the money earmarked for Tasmanian milling.
Antler outlines its reasoning for backing Agenta, whose tooling helps teams build and refine LLM-powered applications, praising the founders' expertise and the market opportunity.
Psychotherapist Esther Perel has become Culture Amp's first external advisor, after years of involvement with the Australian employee experience platform, and will draw on its people scientists and data to inform customer insights.
Coviu's cofounder Dr Silvia Pfeiffer has stepped away from the chief executive role at the telehealth business, keeping a board seat; the article also recalls its early venture raises.
Startup Daily covers Startmate's Summer24 accelerator intake: ten startups, six with women founders, four in deep tech, spanning health AI, e-commerce, materials and agtech across Australia and New Zealand.
Breakthrough Victoria reports a $4.5 million investment in Amber Electric's $29 million Series C, led by GenTrack with Rubio Impact Ventures, funding jobs and product expansion.
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Tidal Ventures introduces team member Fee Barry, tracing her path from corporate law and Atlassian's M&A team to the seed-stage firm, where she supports founders on governance, people and investment evaluation.
Jelix Ventures explains why it joined Hatch's December 2023 funding round, citing the founders' track record, an AI job-matching product, strong customer feedback and a large addressable market.
Battery testing has begun in Darwin for the Bathurst Island solar-plus-storage pilot, built using 5B technology after a Northern Territory government funding announcement, with completion expected by May.
A OneVentures blog post linking to Sky News coverage of an Australian engineer's artificial heart invention, plus a related item on US regulatory clearance for BiVACOR's heart device human trial.
Byron Bay composting startup Subpod is shutting down and entering liquidation, its co-founder and CEO announced, citing tough trading; the piece also recalls its 2019 crowdfunding and a 2022 capital raise.
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Textile recycler BlockTexx has banked a $7 million Series B from Fashion for Good and returning backers Artesian and Mike and Sue Gregg, funding a scale-up of its polyester and cellulose extraction process.
Tenacious Ventures podcast discussion in which Matthew Pryor, Azaneo's chief executive and a weed scientist weigh herbicide-free weed control, from resistance and regulatory pressure to electric and robotic tools.
Aura Ventures explains its seed investment in Hatch, an Australian jobs marketplace for young professionals co-founded by Adam Jacobs and Chaz Heitner, alongside Rampersand, Investible, Jelix Ventures and Alberts.
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Debut of Startup Daily's pitch column featuring Fractel, a Queensland sportswear label courting crowdfunding through Equitise to grow internationally; profiles founder Matt Niutta and CFO Mathew Lionnet.
UQ researchers built SolarisAI, an AI tool that pinpoints faulty panels from solar farm data; ARENA and UniQuest funding backed its development, with deployment talks under way with Edify Energy and Genex.
The federal MRFF has granted $50 million to the Artificial Heart Frontiers Program, a Monash-led consortium including BiVACOR, to advance a total artificial heart; the team earlier received $1 million in 2021.
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Manufacturing briefs: milk company results, a biotech shelving US studies, a rare earths R&D incentive, wind zone consultations, land tax anger, a big battery, a food tech centre launch, and a CEO appointment.
Long-serving Judo Bank co-founder Joseph Healy will hand the CEO job to deputy Chris Bayliss in March; the piece also recaps the bank's capital raising and stockmarket listing.
Lendi Group hires Jade Clarke, ex-Westpac DataX founder, as General Manager of Data, a new role backing planned AI broker tools, following Travis Tyler's arrival as Chief Product Officer.
Macquarie-owned battery firm Eku Energy has started building two English storage projects; its pipeline also takes in operating and planned batteries in Victoria and the ACT.
Channel 7 presenter Jane Bunn co-founded Jane's Weather, an AI-enhanced hyperlocal forecasting app, which used a LaunchVic and Agriculture Victoria grant to hire an AI expert and trial a professional service.
Podcast interview with Adarsh Australia director Faz Pollard discussing post-Covid policy, government procurement, and the group's grant-funded plant recycling waste paper into new products in Western Australia.
Queensland's government has set up a venture capital fund managed by QIC and has put in $133 million, partnering with five VC firms so local startups can draw on matched funding.
Hazer Group has wrapped up an A$9 million placement, with a further shareholder offer chasing up to A$4 million, to help speed its clean-energy projects and global licence push.
Also @AuManufacturing
Rocket developer Gilmour Space has banked a $55 million Series D led by QIC for its first orbital launch, with Blackbird, Main Sequence, HostPlus and HESTA also taking part.
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Weekly market commentary podcast reviewing US and UK inflation, wage and GDP figures, plus equity news including a bid for software firm Altium and mentions of Fletcher Building and Charter Hall Retail.
CRDC profiles NanoSoils Bio founder Dr Cong Vu, whose nanoparticle crop technology earned a 2023 ABARES award and a CRDC grant, ahead of the startup's Startup Alley appearance at evokeAG in Perth.
Sydney AI property-investment platform PropHero raised a $25 million Series A led by Bailador, who provided half, with five other investors participating; Bailador co-founder David Kirk joins PropHero's board.
Also Capital Brief·Startup Daily·realestatebusiness.com.au·proptechnews.com.au·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·Forbes Australia·proptechaustralia.com.au
Australian startups Diraq, Marqo, and Hatch secured funding rounds. Ansarada was acquired by Datasite. Bupa launched a new venture fund, and the Queensland government backed several VCs and accelerators.
AI search startup Marqo has landed a $12.5 million Series A and is relocating its headquarters to San Francisco, while LaunchVic statistics show Victoria's ecosystem grew in value despite a funding drop.
Roundup of Australian manufacturing briefs: Nova Eye Medical banks $8m, Ridley buys Oceania Meat Processors, Orica sells Deer Park land for $260m, plus appointments, research projects and CSIRO program deadlines.