3146 rounds · 1989 startups · 3637 investors
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Manufacturing roundup: Vow, Ofload and Vaxev each raise new capital; Ofload buys CIA Logistics; Quickstep upgrades its outlook; Pawsey's Setonix earns green computing honours; Australia backs shipping and plastics pledges.
Profile of cloud data infrastructure firm Aiven, recalling its May 2022 Series D raise and multibillion-dollar valuation, its September acquisition of Kafkawize, and its sponsorship of SmartCompany's 2022 Smart50 Awards.
Smart50 Awards 2022 profile ranking Zoom2u Technologies 28th; the delivery marketplace founded by Steve Orenstein grew revenue 47% to $4.13 million and listed in 2021, after placing 41st in the 2021 awards.
Smart50 profile of Code Like A Girl, a Victorian social enterprise placing women into software engineering roles, noting its revenue growth, earlier backing from Colarus Ventures, Toyota grants, and expansion ambitions.
SmartCompany's Smart50 Awards 2022 profile ranks Quad Lock 45th, citing $106.15 million revenue, 20% growth, South Yarra headquarters, and a new CEO appointment as the smartphone-mount maker pushes into lifestyle branding.
Devops startup Buildkite has raised a US$21 million Series B led by OneVentures and AirTree, with General Catalyst and angel Dom Pym participating, to build new developer products and grow teams.
Also Startup News (WA)·SmartCompany·Techboard·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Capital Brief
Melbourne engineering software firm ClearCalcs raised $2.5 million, led again by EVP and Shearwater Capital, doubling its pre-series capital to $5 million a year after raising $1.65 million.
Smart50 profile of Fresho, a Melbourne platform digitising B2B food ordering, recounting its founding, four capital raises, expansion into New Zealand and the UK, and planned US push.
Alberts Impact Ventures announces it is backing Uluu, a maker of seaweed-based plastic alternatives that has raised $8 million, and directs readers to the Australian Financial Review for more on founders Julia Reisser and Michael Kingsbury.
Also Alberts Impact Ventures portfolio·TechCrunch Australia·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·Startup News (WA)·Startup Daily·Techboard·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup News (WA)·Forbes Australia
SmartCompany names its 2022 Smart50 winners: July tops the list, Ofload ranks second after a $60 million raise, and Mad Paws, Zero Co, Code Like a Girl and Hero Packaging take out category awards.
Smart50 profile of Vivi, a Victorian classroom screen-sharing technology company founded by Lior Rauchberger, recalling its $25 million Series B as it pushes into the US market.
EMVision has delivered its first portable brain scanner to a Sydney hospital for stroke trials and won a $2.5 million NSW grant, while ASA-funded Micro-X advances its rival ambulance imaging technology.
Seaweed-based plastics maker ULUU has raised AUD 8 million led by Main Sequence, with angels including Karlie Kloss and Kevin Parker taking part, to scale its biodegradable PHA polymer and launch first products.
Podcast interview with Green Thermal Energy Technologies managing director Paul Keen on high-speed turbomachinery, heat pumps and a RMIT project, backed by an Innovative Manufacturing CRC grant, to reshore production.
Xero has named Sukhinder Singh Cassidy as its next chief executive from February 2023, succeeding the retiring Steve Vamos; her background spans Google, StubHub, Boardlist and Joyus.
Australian cultured meat company Vow has raised a Series A led by Blackbird and Prosperity7 Ventures, funding a second factory and the Singapore launch of Morsel, its fine-dining brand.
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Tenacious Ventures reflects on the emotional grind of raising its second fund, noting progress ahead of the previous raise, and invites prospective investors and agrifood founders to make contact.
News roundup: EMVision receives a $2.5 million NSW medical devices grant, ADDE appoints a liquidator, DroneShield wins an order, SciDev and Q-CTRL name executives, and ReNu Energy signs a non-binding term sheet with HESTA.
Also @AuManufacturing
Australian road-freight platform Ofload has raised $60 million in Series B debt and equity, led by Jungle Ventures, following its September purchase of Melbourne-based freight business CIA Logistics.
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TechCrunch roundup: FTX fallout hits Nestcoin and SoftBank's stake, while Quix, Joepegs, Vow, Faraday Future and Butter raise, plus items on Twitter, VLC, DoorDash, Hulu, Google and Apple.
Also AgFunderNews
SoftIron has launched a Sydney plant making IT hardware components domestically, supported by a Defence grant, aiming to secure supply chains and serve local customers and partners.
Green Gravity will trial its gravity energy storage in a closed NSW coal mine under an MoU with Yancoal, with a pre-feasibility study due in 2023, after a May capital raise.
Breakthrough Victoria interviews Kite Magnetics founder Dr Richard Parsons about spinning the magnetic materials startup out of Monash University and pitching investors, recalling BV's investment announced in October 2022.
Cultivated meat maker Vow raised a Series A to fund product development, manufacturing expansion and hiring as it prepares to launch its quail product in Singapore restaurants.
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OIF Ventures announces it led Zitcha's $4.8 million seed round, backing the retail media buying platform started by Troy and Jack, whose customers include Adore Beauty and The Warehouse Group.
Profile of Aeromech, a Brisbane company developing the SARGO rescue drone for maritime search and rescue, founded by Joe Bryant, which received Queensland government Ignite 8 funding in April 2022.
A weekly roundup detailing nine startup funding rounds totalling $39.6 million, spanning cybersecurity, medtech, healthtech, hospitality, retail media, accessibility, clean energy and agtech ventures.
QUE Oncology reports its non-hormonal drug Q-122 eased hot flushes in breast cancer patients on endocrine therapy, with Phase II results in The Lancet; the Emory–UniQuest venture is backed by Brandon BioCatalyst and Uniseed.
Brandon Capital's blog covers QUE Oncology's Phase II Q-122 results in The Lancet, showing reduced hot flushes and night sweats in breast cancer patients on endocrine therapy.
ConnectOne Club received a Victorian Government grant to build a digital platform cutting on-farm waste for the Gippsland Food cluster, working with partners Food and Fibre Gippsland and Rocket Seeder.
SciDev Ltd has named Seán Halpin as its chief executive officer. He co-founded Haldon Industries, which SciDev bought in 2021, and had been serving as interim CEO since April 2022.
A profile of Clipboard co-founder Brendan Leeds, whose hospitality careers platform has drawn backers such as Gerry Ryan and Neil Wilson, with attention to worker mental health.
Weekly roundup of agrifoodtech raises including Roslin Technologies, Sistema.bio, Buddha Brands, Proper Good, Perfekto, Agriconomie, FishLog, PasarMikro, DataFarming, Carble, Sabanto and BioRaptor, plus partnerships, a product launch and layoffs.
Sydney managed services firm Tecala has received $18 million from investment firm Armitage Associates to fund acquisitions and national expansion, with former Dimension Data chief Steve Nola appointed board chairman.
Also ARN (ARNnet)
Male contraceptive startup Contraline has secured $7.2 million in a GV-led round to progress first-in-human trials of its ADAM hydrogel implant, with initial patients treated in Australia.
Hospitality ordering platform Ordermentum, cofounded by Adam Theobald, raised $6.2 million in July, with earlier raises in 2017 and 2021 and a secondary stake sale by RoZetta also recounted.
Vaxxas has begun an Australian Phase I trial of its needle-free COVID-19 vaccine patch, built on a University of Texas at Austin candidate; the article also recalls the company's early financings led by OneVentures.
Vaxxas has begun an Australian Phase I trial of its needle-free COVID-19 vaccine patch; the article also recalls the company's founding financing led by OneVentures with Brandon Capital and other co-investors.
AgFunder's first Asia-Pacific agrifoodtech report shows Singapore alt-protein startups dominating Innovative Food investment, with Next Gen Foods' record Series A and Australia's V2Food taking 2021's biggest Innovative Food raise.
Vaxxas has begun a phase one trial in Australia of its needle-free COVID-19 vaccine patch. The Brisbane company, backed by OneVentures, Brandon Capital and others, has hired Scott Fry from Ellume as COO.
Brisbane biotech Vaxxas has begun human testing of its microneedle patch for COVID-19 vaccination and plans a phase two study; the venture-backed company has raised over $66 million.
SPEE3D hot fire tested a prototype rocket engine in Darwin, first of an 18-month test series. Its SPACE3D project earlier won federal and Northern Territory government grant funding.
Twelve projects share $18 million in the first round of the federal Emerging Aviation Technology Partnerships grants, with eVTOL maker AMSL Aero among the recipients; it also recently completed a $23 million Series B.
Also TechCrunch Australia
ARENA awards Calix nearly a million dollars toward a study of hydrogen-based ironmaking, scoping a demonstration plant using its ZESTY technology to cut emissions in steel production.
Also @AuManufacturing·RenewEconomy·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
Doshii reports rapid uptake of QR code table ordering among Australian hospitality venues, with order volumes up sharply as operators adopt apps to cope with staff shortages; the Commonwealth Bank-backed platform integrates venue apps.
Clean energy software startup Orkestra Energy has emerged from stealth with a $1.1 million round led by Tidal Ventures, with angels participating, to grow its team and roll out its platform across Australia.
Tenacious Ventures outlines the opportunity areas it is exploring in agriculture, such as novel plant uses, on-farm energy and plastic alternatives, and invites enquiries about backing its second fund.
Profile of MyGigsters, a platform helping gig workers manage finances, which took pre-seed backing from Antler alongside LaunchVic, Startmate and angels, holds government contracts, and is currently raising more.
AMSL Aero, Praxis Labs and Swinburne's Air Hub won federal grants under the Emerging Aviation Technology Partnerships program, while AMSL Aero also recently secured $5 million from Trevor St Baker's energy innovation fund.
Also @AuManufacturing