Food redistribution platform Yume Food has been placed in liquidation, with the 10-year-old social impact startup and its assets being put on the market. Founder Katy Barfield and the Yume board handed the keys to Teneo Financial Advisory Australia as Liquidators on November 18. Yume’s digital trading platform generates additional revenue for food manufacturers by… Read more »
Sydney drinks brand Hopr has gulped down $3 million in a Seed round after being turned away by local VCs. While consumer brands often turn to crowdfunding for capital, founder Jose Ramirez turned to boutique advisory firm TWIYO to build its cap table, which includes New Zealand exec John Bromley, former Matildas player Sue Read, and… Read more »
Sydney startup Medow Health AI, which is using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate medical reports for specialist doctors has raised $3 million in new funding from the clinicians who backed its first raise earlier this year. Medow Health was cofounded by Joel Freiberg, who has Crohn’s disease, and his brother Josh, inspired by the time… Read more »
Disability worker Storm Menzies, founder of accessible makeup tools startup ByStorm Beauty has won the Kickstarter Challenge, taking home $30,000 in equity-free funding. Four runners-up also took home $7,500 for their startups following the grand final at Parliament House in Canberra today. The five-year-old Kickstarter Challenge, developed by Enterprising ME and run in conjunction with The… Read more »
Melbourne software unicorn Culture Amp has shed another 6% of its workforce, with the loss of around 60 jobs. The employee engagement platform cut 9% of its workforce – 90 roles – in 2023, so the latest losses suggest the business grew back to around 1000 employees over the last 2.5 years. Previously 36 roles… Read more »
New Zealand startup Kiki Club’s move from Sydney to New York generated just $76,000 in revenue over two years, but has cost them three times that figure in fines for operating illegally there. Kiki Club paid US$152,000 (A$224k) to settle charges by the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) that it violated New York City’s… Read more »
Melbourne AI-based education startup Teacher’s Buddy has raised $1.85 million in Seed funding to tackle teacher burnout. The round was led by Giant Leap, supported by Flying Fox Ventures, Co Ventures, Exhort Ventures, Saniel Ventures and Soul Capital. Teacher’s Buddy was founded in 2024 by Matt Abraham and Ben Sze, cofounder of school content and… Read more »
For 60 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to shareholders of the company he’s run since 1965, Berkshire Hathaway. He acquired the small textile company for US$18 a share to fire the CEO. Buffett subsequently described it as “the dumbest stock I ever bought” despite the fact that today, Berkshire Hathaway Class A… Read more »
After give years of self-funding, sexual wellness brand Normal has turned to crowd-sourced funding (CSF) platform Birchal for its first external raise. Normal, cofounded by sex coach, author and educator Georgia Grace and ex-McKinsey consultant and social scientist Lucy Wark, is Australia’s top female-founded sexual wellness brand, offering products to help people, especially women, have… Read more »
Solar power startup MetroElectro has raised $1 million from its existing investor, Singapore climate tech VC Wavemaker Impact. The alongside the equity raise, the Melbourne startup, founded in 2024 by Lloyd Heinrich, also secured a $4 million debt facility from Ecotone Partners. Wavemaker previously backed MetroElectro’s $1.03 million pre-Seed round in May 2024. Heinrich will… Read more »
Artificial intelligence data centre startup Firmus Technologies has trebled its valuation to $6 billion after raising another $500 million, just two months after banking $330 million in a deal with Nvidia. After setting out to build an AI data centre in Tasmania, the Singapore-based company announced a $73.3 billion plan, Project Southgate, with AI infrastructure also… Read more »
Just 18 months after serial entrepreneurs Gabby and Hezi Leibovich, teamed up with two young founders keen to take on Linktree with their own digital landing page startup, they’ve gone from trying to beat them to joining them. Linktree has acquired Fingertip, a Melbourne platform helping freelancers, creators, and small businesses manage and grow their… Read more »
Victorian agtech startup Drone-Hand has raised $720,000 in a pre-Seed round for its autonomous livestock management platform. The raise was led by US VC Radius Capital, supported by three local agribusiness investors Gippsland-based Edward Barraclough founded Drone-Hand in 2023, having grown up in NSW on a mixed livestock property. The idea was inspired by an… Read more »
Rage Biotech, a therapeutics startup tackling chronic inflammatory disease, has raised $29 million in a Series A. The round was led by IP Group Australia and super fund Hostplus, with support from existing investors including Monash Ventures. The funds will go towards first-in-human clinical trials for Rage’s nasal therapy to treat inflammatory lung diseases The… Read more »
A Sydney AI-powered ecommerce startup focused on customer satisfaction during delivery – known in the trade as WISMO (Where is my order?) – has raised $2.3 million in pre-Seed funding. The round for Keeyu was led by Rampersand, with support from Archangel, Startmate, Empress Capital, Exhort Ventures, Sydney Angels, Southern Angels, and others including Marketplacer’s… Read more »
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