Venture capital fund · 14 deals
Sydney, NSW
Every published round Aura Ventures took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.
Companies Aura Ventures has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape | 22 Mar 2022, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Haast | AI-native compliance platform automating marketing content review for enterprises | 6 Nov 2023, Pre-seed | 4 | 2 |
| Harvest B | Developing plant-based meat ingredient systems for food manufacturers | 2021, Seed | 3 | 2 |
| Hatch | AI-powered employment marketplace connecting young professionals with employers | 19 Feb 2024, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Isaacus | Legal AI company building sovereign legal models trained on the Blackstone Corpus | Sep 2025, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 |
| JigSpace | Platform enabling creation, sharing and viewing of interactive 3D presentations across de… | 12 Jul 2024, Series A | 1 | 0 |
| Layer | Managed marketplace democratising access to licensed content for games and metaverse owne… | 10 May 2022, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Tutero | Australian online tutoring platform personalising K-12 education through diagnostic asses… | 21 Feb 2023, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Zenphi | No-code workflow automation platform built for Google Workspace | 31 Oct 2022, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 |
Fund closes reported for Aura Ventures, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies Aura Ventures has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Aura Ventures did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Annie Liao | Investor (former) | Blackbird Ventures, Forbes Australia, Aura Group, Aura Group portfolio |
| Sabrina Zeng | Corporate Development Manager | Aura Ventures, Aura Group |
Stories naming Aura Ventures. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Aura Ventures portfolio company Haast has closed a US$12 million Series A, with Peak XV Partners leading and DST Global Partners, Airtree and Black Sheep Capital joining, funding product development and international expansion.
A roundup of five Australian startups that together raised $30.1 million this week, spanning compliance AI, chemical-industry software, insurance automation, women's health diagnostics and an AI receptionist for trades.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·theaustraliatoday.com.au
Funding roundup covering five raises totalling $340.2 million: Firmus's Nvidia-backed round, plus H3D, Puralink, Escape This and Isaacus, across AI infrastructure, health tech, robotics, entertainment and legal AI.
Also SmartCompany
Isaacus, which builds sovereign AI models for the legal sector, has banked $700,000 in a pre-seed round co-led by Aura Ventures and Galileo Ventures to take its product to market.
Galileo Ventures has invested $250,000 in legal-AI startup Isaacus as part of a $700,000 pre-seed round it co-led with Aura Ventures; the post explains why it backed founder Umar Butler.
Harvest B, a Sydney-based protein maker, raised a $3.5 million pre-Series A with Mandalay Venture Partners leading and Breakthrough Victoria contributing $2 million, alongside a $2.2 million federal grant and a 2021 seed round.
Breakthrough Victoria is putting $2 million into protein technology company Harvest B, joining a $5.6 million pre-Series A round with Mandalay VC leading and several other backers.
Aura Ventures argues agentic AI will reshape rather than replace SaaS, highlighting Haast's freshly completed six-million-dollar seed raise and early corporate customers as evidence AI-native enterprise software is gaining traction.
Aura Ventures announces Mark Esterhuizen as a new team member, profiling his finance career and his role scaling a seafood e-commerce group from seed through Series B.
Aura Group's promotional piece showcases portfolio company Shippit's capital-efficient logistics growth and announces that Aura Venture Fund III is opening to investors; no amounts, closings or new company raises are stated.
Compliance software company Haast has banked an oversubscribed $1.2 million pre-seed round led by Aura Ventures, with Black Sheep Capital and angel investors taking part, to keep building its marketing compliance platform.
Profile of Annie Liao, 23, founder of Build Club, who has closed a $1.8 million round to build an AI learning platform, tracing her path from Westpac, BCG and Aura Ventures into startups.
Also Capital Brief·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Aura Ventures has signed a deal to sell its Integrated Portfolio Solutions stake to DASH Technology Group, its third divestment within a year, after DASH raised $20m from Bailador in July.
Also Aura Group portfolio·Australian FinTech·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Weekly roundup of four Australian raises: HammerTech $105m led by Riverwood Capital, JigSpace $13m led by Breakthrough Victoria, ExoFlare's $5.3m seed, and Go Locum's $350,000 seed led by Paspalis.
Breakthrough Victoria heads a $13 million investment into augmented reality company JigSpace, with Aura Ventures, Anorak Ventures and returning backers taking part; the Melbourne firm plans US offices and team growth.
Breakthrough Victoria led a $13m raise for AR platform JigSpace, investing via convertible note alongside Aura Ventures, Anorak Ventures and returning backers, with Victorian job growth expected.
Also Aura Ventures·Breakthrough Victoria·Aura Group portfolio·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·Startup Daily
Aura Ventures announces Sabrina Zeng has joined as corporate development manager, citing her background across banking, Fishburners and UNSW, and the firm's funds and regional presence.
Aura Group announces Sabrina Zeng has joined Aura Ventures in a corporate development role, bringing banking, startup ecosystem and academic experience.
Build Club and AWS are launching a six-week Sydney accelerator for 15 technical founders in AI, offering credits, mentoring and a US tour, with two founders already chosen.
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.
Also Alberts Impact Ventures portfolio·Aura Group portfolio·Startup Daily·Early VC·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia
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.
Aura Ventures explains why it led Sahha's seed round, citing the health-data gap, Sahha's behavioural-health API, its neuroscience-led team and its University of Otago research partnership.
Aura Ventures' post sets out its case for leading Haast's pre-seed round alongside Black Sheep Capital and angel investors, backing the AI startup's platform for brand and regulatory compliance across digital marketing.
Also Aura Group portfolio·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily
Weekly roundup covering fresh raises by four Australian startups: Ignition's banking facility, HEO Robotics' Series A, Laronix's seed round and Haast's pre-seed, plus a past ACT grant.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·Wholesale Investor
Aura Ventures announces Annie Liao has joined as Investment Associate, covering deal origination and platform strategy, with an interview tracing her prior roles at Westpac, BCG and Archangel Ventures.
Aura Ventures explains its seed investment in Tutero, an online tutoring startup, joined by Jagen and Commonsense Ventures, pointing to personalised mastery learning and early traction since the platform's December 2021 launch.
Also Aura Group portfolio
Aura Group's venture arm Aura Ventures is advertising a Sydney-based Investment Associate role to support its investing in Australian technology startups. The post is a recruitment notice with standard legal disclaimers, naming no funding.
Aura Ventures' post explains its decision to lead Zenphi's pre-seed round, joined by Afterwork Ventures, citing the founders' Nintex roots and the opening for automation built around Google Workspace.
Also Aura Group portfolio
Aura Group marks the second anniversary of its Tactical Opportunities Fund, citing performance against falling benchmarks, monthly investor distributions, donated fees, and an ongoing charitable partnership with Opportunity International Australia.
Aura Ventures sets out why it backed Layer's seed round with several co-investors, covering the gaming IP licensing opportunity and the founders' relevant experience.
ABS data shows Australians consuming more plant-based meat and dairy substitutes, alongside recent capital raises by alternative protein startups and large government grants for a South Australian legume protein project.
Also SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
Shippit, a Sydney logistics software provider, has bought last-mile technology firm Premonition for A$20.5 million; the piece also recalls Shippit's 2020 Series B and notes another raise in progress.
Aura's venture arm has closed a $10 million special-purpose vehicle set up to co-invest in Shippit's planned Series B2 round, with support from existing and new institutional limited partners.
Australian beauty booking marketplace Bookwell is being acquired by London-based rival Fresha, with Bookwell's high-profile investors receiving Fresha shares. The piece also recalls the founders' earlier EatNow merger and Fresha's Series C extension.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Aura Ventures maps the Web3 ecosystem, separating private blockchains from four public layers, and argues genuine value will migrate to scaling and application layers, citing its portfolio firm Lygon and Australian protocol Synthetix.
Aura Ventures sets out its blockchain thesis and announces it led seed funding in Lygon, a platform digitising bank guarantees built by a consortium of major banks and IBM.
Aura Ventures' thesis post explains its plant-based protein outlook and announces co-leading Harvest B's pre-seed round alongside Woolworths' venture arm W23.