Company · Hardware
Wesfarmers' hardware retail chain
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Bunnings raised.
Companies Bunnings acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
Stories naming Bunnings. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Dealroom reports that investor Iona Star has put money into Zitcha, a three-year-old retail-media startup from Melbourne whose software helps shops earn advertising income from their customer data, funding overseas growth.
Indigenous-founded snack brand Cooee lands a deal putting its cookies on Qantas domestic flights, with Ochre Ventures having invested $1.5 million to support its growth.
Also Dealroom
RenewEconomy questions why Wesfarmers, whose Bunnings chain already runs on fully renewable power, is receiving $100 million in concessional government finance for more solar, batteries and EV charging.
Wesfarmers is closing Catch, the online retailer it bought for $230 million in 2019, citing local ecommerce competition; the story also recalls Catch's venture backers and Little Birdie's $30m stake, pause and rescue.
Also Startup Daily
Roundup of three trans-Tasman raises: crime-intelligence software maker Auror's $72.6m Series C, underground mining-robot firm ADR's $2m round, and mentorship platform Matched's angel backing below $500,000.
Global Sisters' Sister Pitch event with Dentsu steered $1m-plus to a dozen Australian ventures led by women; GTAB Parfum, Soni Health and Chocolate On Purpose were standouts, and Google.org funded a 2023 pilot.
ARENA grants ANC $12.8 million to deploy 112 electric trucks for last-mile delivery through Project Spark, lowering ownership costs for owner-drivers and speeding fleet electrification.
Weekly roundup of the five most-read stories: Tritium shifting charger production to Tennessee, Carbon Revolution's NASDAQ listing, defence grants for manufacturers, a bushfire-resistant paint hitting shelves, and Cobram Estate Olives' 25-year growth.
Fire-retardant paint from Flame Security International and UNSW, developed with a $3m federal grant, has met the BAL-40 bushfire-resistance benchmark and is now stocked at Bunnings.
Bardee still supplies Bunnings and farmers despite big layoffs, slower production, and two regulator investigations; the agtech startup has raised $8 million, including a $5 million Blackbird-backed seed round.
Profile of Shahna Smith, who founded Indigenous cosmetics brand Amplified Beauty, mixing hardware-store paints to create lipstick shades, with backing from Indigenous Business Australia helping her launch in 2022.
Ignition Lane's weekly wrap reports falling Australian venture funding, lists several startup raises and fund raises, covers Chargefox's acquisition, Volt's closure, the Zip-Sezzle merger termination, and global tech news.
Also Startup Daily·Techboard
Profile of Flagship, a Sydney retail-tech startup founded by Simon Molnar, brother of Afterpay's Nick Molnar, which tracks in-store shopper behaviour using battery-less tags and counts Afterpay's early investors among its backers.
Quad Lock co-founder Rob Ward hands the CEO role to former Nike executive Andrew Poole, becoming chief growth officer, as the Melbourne phone-mount maker marks ten years and passes $100 million in sales.
Also SmartCompany