Tidal Ventures

The 8 Australian startups on Forbes Asia's 100 To Watch list

Eight Australian companies make Forbes Asia's annual 100 To Watch list; the piece profiles each and recaps recent raises across climate tech, health and software.

Building the Systems of Work Era

Tidal Ventures argues AI is shifting software from assisting to doing work, and explains how its fourth fund will back early-stage companies that own critical workflows.

Four Australian startups that raised $31.9 million this week

Weekly roundup of four Australian funding rounds: thermal energy storage, litigation data software, preventative health, and construction site documentation, together worth $31.9 million.

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Cheque-in: 10 ANZ startups raised nearly $193 million this week

Weekly roundup of ten Australian and New Zealand startup raises totalling nearly $194 million, topped by Neara's $90 million round at a $1.1 billion valuation, with Splose, Operata, HAMR Energy and Adora also covered.

Call centre monitoring startup Operata dials in $11 million Series A

Operata, which watches over call centre performance, has banked a Series A of $11 million at a valuation topping $100 million, with Tidal Ventures at the helm and funds earmarked for AI-era integrations.

Operata raises $11 million Series A as AI reshapes contact centres

A Melbourne software firm monitoring AI-driven customer service operations has closed a Series A round led by Tidal Ventures, valuing it at $100 million, with proceeds earmarked for platform integrations and international growth.

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Six Aussie startups that raised $197.4 million this week

Roundup of six Australian funding deals: AutoGrab, Applied EV, Checkbox, Hometime, Factory and On the House, with amounts, investors, and Hometime's past acquisitions and raise history detailed.

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Checkbox raises $35 million Series A to scale AI legal platform

Australian legaltech firm Checkbox has raised a $35 million Series A led by Touring Capital to grow its AI platform for corporate legal teams, with four institutional backers joining.

Also Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Cheque-in: 8 startups raised $113 million this week to end October

Weekly funding roundup covering eight raises totalling over $113 million across aerospace, biotech, materials, health and software, plus a pharmacy firm's acquisition out of administration.

Eight ANZ startups that raised $113 million this week

Weekly roundup of eight trans-Tasman startup raises worth a combined $113 million-plus, alongside Joe Zhou's buyout of StrongRoom AI from administrators.

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Investment Notes: SecurePII

Tidal Ventures explains why it has invested in SecurePII, a voice-compliance startup whose platform redacts payment card data from calls, covering market timing, product, channel model, founders and seed-stage plans.

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E-commerce startup Carted to close four years after $13 million raise

Carted, the wishlist and commerce API startup, is shutting down on 22 October 2025. Its 2021 seed round raised $13m with Blackbird leading, alongside Grok Ventures and Tidal Ventures.

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Investment Notes: Vinyl

Tidal Ventures sets out why it led the seed investment in Vinyl, whose software turns accounting firms' client conversations into structured insights, profiling the market, product plans, and founding team.

Two Aussie startups that raised $26 million this week

Roundup of two Australian raises: a quantum security company's government-led $20m round and a retail analytics startup's US seed round backing its American push.

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Investment Notes: Tendl

Tidal Ventures' investment note explains why it led Tendl's pre-seed round, covering the AI tender-response platform's market opportunity, product features, pricing model, and founder Laurie Nicol's background.

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Investment Notes: Minikai

Tidal Ventures' investment note explains why it led disability and aged-care AI startup Minikai's seed round, covering the market opportunity, product features, founding team, early traction and planned use of funds.

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ARENA powers up clean tech startup Orkestra with $2.77 million for EV charger plans

Orkestra, a Melbourne clean-energy software firm, won $2.77 million in ARENA co-funding to accelerate commercial EV charger rollout; a year earlier it banked $2 million in seed funding from Tidal Ventures.

Queensland brings sportstech accelerator ASTN north to back 40 startups

Queensland's investment arm is backing Melbourne's sports technology network to run accelerator programs for as many as 40 local sportstech startups, after its venture development fund recently committed to several venture funds.

Riding the waves of entrepreneurship with Guy Kawasaki and Grant McCarthy

Tidal Ventures managing partner Grant McCarthy and Guy Kawasaki compare notes on luck, timing, founder qualities, early-stage mistakes, AI adoption and pitching, drawing on careers spanning Apple, Canva, Yahoo and Tidal.

Meet the Tidal Team: Kieran O’Neill

Tidal Ventures profiles team member Kieran O’Neill, who moved from KPMG and London banking through co-founding Hometime into the firm’s seed investing team in 2022.

Meet the Tidal Team: Fee Barry

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.

Ten Aussie startups that raised $39 million this week

Roundup of ten Australian startup raises totalling $38.8 million, topped by Heidi Health's Series A, also recording an Outstaffer executive appointment and the earlier sale of CarAdvice to Nine.

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Investment Notes: Orkestra

Tidal Ventures explains why it backed Orkestra for a second time, covering the clean-energy market opportunity, the feasibility software product, the founding team, business model and growth plans.

Re-Seeded: Tidal backs renewables startup Orkestra again in new $2 million raise

Melbourne renewables software firm Orkestra has secured $2 million in a follow-up seed round led again by Tidal Ventures, alongside Rampersand, Impact Ventures, Luxem and four climate tech investors, with a Series A next.

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Afterpay cofounder backs his brother’s retail data startup in $2 million Seed round

Flagship, whose software helps retailers optimise in-store merchandising, has raised a $2 million seed round led by Tidal Ventures, with Afterpay cofounder Nick Molnar, brother of founder Simon, among the backers.

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Investment Notes: Flagship

Tidal Ventures reflects on leading Flagship's seed round, describing retail market tailwinds, the visual merchandising product, founder Simon Molnar's background, and its earlier investments in Shippit, Search.io, Carted and Drive Yello.

Fair Supplying unmatched ESG visibility

Tidal Ventures reflects on why it backed Fair Supply, a SaaS platform for ESG supply-chain risk, six months after the deal, praising the founders and naming co-investors Airtree, Minderoo Foundation and QIC.

Investing in the next wave of technology

Tidal Ventures explains how it backs seed-stage founders: its third seed fund is active, it leads $1-3 million seed rounds, and its thesis spans AI, fintech, cybersecurity and related sectors.

FairSupply completes Series A cap raise - Lawyers Weekly

FairSupply has closed its Series A funding round led by AirTree Ventures, with Tidal Ventures, Minderoo Foundation and Queensland Investment Corporation participating; the amount was undisclosed and K&L Gates advised on the deal.

Firm advises AirTree's FairSupply capital raise

Law firm Lander & Rogers advised AirTree Ventures on FairSupply's AUD6.3 million Series A, with Tidal Ventures, Minderoo Foundation and QIC participating; the firm also recalls recent raises by QuintessenceLabs and Logmaster.

ESG startup FairSupply raises $6.3 million Series A to tackle corporate greenwashing

Sydney ESG supply-chain analytics firm FairSupply has raised a $6.3 million Series A led by AirTree, with Tidal Ventures, Minderoo Foundation and QIC investing, following Minderoo's earlier 2021 backing.

Also SmartCompany·Forbes Australia·AgFunderNews

Cafe ordering app merges with Sydney courier service

Sydney courier firm Drive Yello and cafe ordering app Hey You have combined as 4You Innovation, aiming to raise funds next year; the piece also recalls past raises and recent collapses among delivery startups.

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Crypto exchanges Binance and Kraken back anti-fraud regtech FrankieOne in $23 million Series A top up

Fraud and identity verification company FrankieOne has added $23 million to its Series A, led by AirTree and Greycroft, with crypto exchange venture arms Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures joining as new strategic backers.

AirTree and Greycroft return to lead Australian regtech FrankieOne's Series A+

Melbourne identity verification startup FrankieOne raised a $23 million AUD Series A+ extension led by AirTree Ventures and Greycroft, with new strategic backing from Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures, to fund international expansion.

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Nine startups that raised almost $40 million this week

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.

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Australian energy software start-up lands $1.1 million in funding

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.

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Phil Gilbert Motor Group teams up with Loopit to bring car subscription to more Aussie drivers

Sydney dealership group Phil Gilbert partners with subscription platform Loopit, which also recently completed a 3.6 million dollar seed round led by Tidal Ventures with Upswell Ventures and Luxem participating.

Workplace wellness startup Sonder banks $35 million Series B

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Algolia acquires Sydney startup Search.io

Search technology firm Algolia has bought Sydney startup Search.io, formerly Sajari, and plans one API combining keyword and vector semantic search. Its founders and 2020 backer Tidal Ventures stand to gain.

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Georgina Turner signs on as Tidal Ventures partner

Tidal Ventures promotes principal Georgina Turner to Partner, while the early-stage fund continues raising for its third seed fund and plans further team growth.