This Week in Australian Startups #174, 16th August 2026
Australian startups raised funds including Alloy Robotics, Farmbot and Atmo Biosciences. Firmus Technologies acquired Benmax while Tabcorp bought BetMakers. SafetyCulture rebranded to Mitti.
Investor · 2 deals
Every published round Meat & Livestock Australia 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.
| Company | Stage | Announced | Amount | Role | Alongside | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GrazeMate | Pre-seed | 2 Feb 2026 | $1.2m | Participant | SmartCompany, Startup Daily, AgFunderNews (15 Jan 2026), AgFunderNews (14 Jan 2026), Forbes Australia | |
| Nbryo | Grant | Nov 2025 | $18m | Participant | Startup Daily (9 Nov 2025), SmartCompany (7 Nov 2025), Beef Central / Grain Central, SmartCompany (5 Nov 2025), Startup Daily (4 Nov 2025) |
Companies Meat & Livestock Australia has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
Fund closes reported for Meat & Livestock Australia, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies Meat & Livestock Australia has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Meat & Livestock Australia did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| John Marten | Food Innovation Program Manager | mla.com.au |
| Jason Strong | Chief Executive (former) | SmartCompany, Beef Central / Grain Central |
Stories naming Meat & Livestock Australia. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Australian startups raised funds including Alloy Robotics, Farmbot and Atmo Biosciences. Firmus Technologies acquired Benmax while Tabcorp bought BetMakers. SafetyCulture rebranded to Mitti.
Eight Australian and New Zealand startups secured a combined $67.4 million in funding across various sectors including agtech, medtech, robotics, and fintech.
MLA profiles Chief Nutrition, a maker of beef-based snack bars and supplements built from leftover meat cuts, now sold across 12 overseas markets; co-founder and CEO Brock Hatton credits consumer trust in Australian beef.
Breakthrough Victoria rounds up April–May 2026 portfolio news, including grants for Number 8 Bio and Xefco, Liquid Instruments' Series C, program selections, partnerships, regulatory clearances and two new Aravax directors.
GrazeMate, a cattle-mustering drone startup founded by 19-year-old Sam Rogers, has raised $1.2m in a pre-seed round led by Y Combinator, with NextGen Ventures, Antler and Meat & Livestock Australia also taking part.
Sydney synthetic-biology venture Number 8 Bio has banked an $11m Series A with Icehouse Ventures leading, to advance cattle trials of its methane-cutting supplement; its 2024 seed and accelerator stint are recalled.
Roundup of eight funding deals: Synchron's Series D, plus raises by Lumonus AI, Hullbot, Nbryo, Cytophenix, Giftbee, Understanding Zoe and Zeligate, spanning medtech, robotics, agtech and AI.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Cattle genetics startup Nbryo has landed $10 million co-led by Tenacious Ventures and AgriZeroNZ, plus an $18 million research grant, to commercialise its embryo technology.
Also Beef Central / Grain Central·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·nbryo.com·nbryo.com
Queensland cattle-breeding biotech Nbryo has secured $10m in seed backing co-led by Tenacious Ventures and AgriZeroNZ, alongside an $18m research grant from the Gates Foundation and Meat and Livestock Australia.
Also SmartCompany·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·nbryo.com
Nbryo closed a A$10 million round co-led by Tenacious Ventures with AgriZeroNZ, QIC, the Murdoch family and Mandalay, and has drawn over $18 million in grants from Gates Foundation and Meat and Livestock Australia.
Profile of Provenir, which slaughters cattle on-farm with a mobile unit and sells meat direct to consumers; recaps its evolution, pricing, rules and expansion plans, recalling backing from SproutX and Meat and Livestock Australia.
Queensland seaweed producer Provectus Algae raised a $10.1m Series A led by At One Ventures plus a $2.5m government grant to scale indoor Asparagopsis production for livestock methane reduction.
Weekly roundup tallying three Australian raises: legal tech firm Plexus ($6m), cattle-probiotics startup Bovotica ($3.4m seed), and beauty group York St Brands ($2m Series C plus a $4m NAB credit line).
CRDC announces the launch of Agricultural Innovation Australia's Environmental Accounting Platform, giving farm sectors a standardised way to measure carbon; nine rural research and development corporations invested in building it.
Q&A with FutureFeed's chief executive on Asparagopsis seaweed as a livestock methane-cutting feed additive: its licensing business, backers, licensees' progress, regulation, research and scaling hurdles.
Tenacious Ventures' investment note explains its backing of Nbryo, an Australian startup speeding genetic improvement in beef and dairy via embryo technologies, and notes research funding from MLA and the Gates Foundation.
Queensland algae startup Provectus Algae launches a seaweed-based livestock methane additive, touting cheaper production; founder Nusqe Spanton recently took strategic backing from Korea's CJ Bio.
Sponsored feature surveying three Australian soil-carbon startups — AgriProve, Agrimix and FarmLab — their measurement technology and research partners, plus openings listed on AgriFutures growAG., noting AgriProve's 2022 government grant.
Weekly agrifoodtech roundup: Paine Schwartz closes its $1.7bn food-and-ag fund; several seed and Series A rounds; Tangelo acquires Diet ID; Infarm declared bankrupt; layoffs and partnerships across the sector.
Startupbootcamp Australia unveils the ten startups chosen for its 2023 FoodTech Tasmania program, spanning seven countries, and acknowledges its government, corporate and long-term partners.
Soil carbon company AgriProve received a Meat & Livestock Australia grant for a six-year research project, with three partnering producers hosting demonstration sites in Queensland, NSW and Tasmania.
SparkLabs Cultiv8 has picked ten cleantech startups for the first intake of its new accelerator, run from Orange with backing from Cultiv8 Funds Management and several agricultural research bodies.
Eight projects share 28.9 million dollars in Australian government grants under the National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge, funding cheaper technologies for measuring soil organic carbon, with ministers Bowen and Watt announcing the recipients.
Asparagopsis seaweed feed supplement reaches commercial phase in Australia as CH4 Global records first feedlot sales. FutureFeed licenses CSIRO-discovered technology, with Sea Forest and SeaStock also taking orders from beef producers.
Six research projects share four million dollars in federal MERiL grants to test seaweed, legume and synthetic feed additives that could cut methane from cattle and sheep.