Black soldier fly larvae
Funding

Breakthrough Victoria pours $2.5 million into food waste rival to Goterra and Bardee

- October 17, 2024 2 MIN READ

Breakthrough Victoria, the $2 billion state government-backed venture fund, has invested $2.5 million into a Melbourne startup recycling food waste as animal feed and fertiliser. Viridian Renewable Technology, founded in 2016, lays claim to being Australia’s first large scale insect protein manufacturing plant. It has a commercial plant in Derrimut, in Melbourne’s western suburbs and will use… Read more »

Mark Swinnerton
Climate Tech

Green Gravity, which is turning old mineshafts into energy storage, raises $9 million

- October 16, 2024 2 MIN READ

A Wollongong startup converting disused mining shafts into long-duration energy storage has raised $9 million to turn the idea into reality. Green Gravity was backed by HMC Capital, BlueScopeX, New Zealand’s Pacific Channel and SCAP H, a subsidiary of Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation. BlueScopeX’s hosts Green Gravity’s demonstration plant at BlueScope’s Port Kembla Steelworks facility in… Read more »

Funding

7 Melbourne Uni startups share in $11.7 million in VC funding

- October 14, 2024 2 MIN READ

Seven University of Melbourne-linked startups are sharing in $11.7 million worth of early-stage venture capital from two funds. The investments for research commercialisation come from the $15m University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, backed by Breakthrough Victoria, and $125m Tin Alley Ventures fund, a joint venture deep tech VC with Tanarra Capital. Tin Alley backed… Read more »

Dr Margaret Matanda & Tando Matanda
Business

Mother-daughter cofounders launch Musa to end traditional pitch decks for funding

- October 11, 2024 2 MIN READ

Mother-daughter duo Tandadzo (Tando) Matanda and Dr Margaret Matanda will step on stage founder at SXSW Sydney this Tuesday as the founders of fintech platform Musa.  Musa is the world’s first intelligent venture assessment platform, tackling the funding process for startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Musa Ventures equips founders with the digital tools… Read more »

Funding

Macquarie glams up makeup maker with $10 million Series A

- October 11, 2024 < 1 MIN READ

A B2B marketplace that speeds up cosmetics launch times has raised $10 million in a Series A led by Macquarie Capital. Sydney-headquartered Atelier streamlines and manages manufacturing, logistics and packaging for beauty, health or wellness brands to cut time-to-market by two-thirds. Founded in 2018, cofounder Nick Benson bills Atelier as “the future of manufacturing” and… Read more »

Funding

Marketing analytics startup’s valuation jumps 60% in a year with $17.5 million raise

- October 10, 2024 2 MIN READ

Sydney martech startup Mutinex has raised $17.5 million in a deal that’s nearly doubled the marketing spend analytics platform’s valuation in 12 months. The round was led by new backer Marbruck Investments, with support from EVP and Archangel Ventures, and ups Mutinex’s valuation to $132.5 million from $75 million 12 months ago when EVP led… Read more »

Funding

Bailador drops another $5 million into fintech Dash for acquisition ambitions

- October 10, 2024 2 MIN READ

ASX-listed venture fund Bailador is having a busy week investing, ploughing an additional $5 million into financial advice software and investment platform Dash Technology Group to fund its acquisition plans. Alongside the $5m equity investment, Bailador is also stumping up $5m in a repayable debt facility for Dash to acquire Integrated Portfolio Solutions (IPS), a… Read more »

Rosterfy cofounders, Shannan Gove, Bennett Merriman and Chris Grant
Funding

Bailador tops up volunteer management startup Rosterfy with $3 million

- October 9, 2024 2 MIN READ

ASX-listed venture capital fund Bailador Technology Investments Limited (ASX:BTI) has increased its stake in people management software platform Rosterfy, investing an additional $3 million. Rosterfy provides volunteer and workforce management software to not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, government volunteering bodies and mass-scale events.The SaaS platform allows organisations to recruit, screen, train, and schedule their volunteers better engage… Read more »

Jamie Hall and Steve Hind
Funding

Bird Seed: AI customer support platform Lorikeet flies high with $7.3 million raise

- October 4, 2024 2 MIN READ

An Australian-US startup that’s developed an AI-based customer support agent used by the likes of Chemist2U and Eucalyptus to solve complex problems has raised  US$5 million ($7.3m) in Seed funding. Lorikeet, named after the colourful and garrulous Australian parrot, was founded in mid-2023 (originally as Optech) by US-based former Stripe executive Steve Hind and former Google… Read more »

Richard Boyd, Prof Alan Trounson and Dr Ian Nisbet
Funding

Biotech startup Cartherics doses up on $15 million raise for cancer treatment trials

- October 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

Melbourne biotech startup Cartherics has raised $15 million as it looks to begin trials of its cell therapy product for ovarian cancer. Cartherics, founded in 2015 by Alan Trounson, Bob Moses, and doctors Richard Boyd, Ian Nisbet and Peter Hudson, is developing immune cell therapies to treat cancer and other diseases. The startup previously raised $26… Read more »