Tikpay
Funding

Fintech tikpay pockets $1.6 million pre-Seed round to transform transport ticketing

- September 19, 2023 2 MIN READ

Melbourne fintech tikpay has raised $1.6 million in a pre-Seed round ahead of the launch of its pioneering account-based ticketing (ABT) and payments platform. The round was led by AfterWork Ventures and Black Nova VC with participation from Investible, Func Ventures, Metagrove Ventures, and two transport industry insiders. While Sydney commuters have been able to… Read more »

Party, champagne, yacht
Business strategy

If you’re an early-stage startup looking to raise, a VC investor explains why it might be time to think about a party round

- September 19, 2023 3 MIN READ

You’re a startup raising capital between pre-seed and Series A and struggling to find a lead investor – have you thought about a party round? But before we start the party, let me explain the purpose of a lead investor. When you typically raise capital there is one investor who takes the lead in the… Read more »

Amp cofounders Cameron Priest and Patrick Barnes
Funding

Exit kings return with an 18-month-old ecommerce startup that just banked $28.5 million Series A

- September 12, 2023 2 MIN READ

The founders of TradeGecko and Advocately, Cameron Priest and Patrick Barnes, are back with a bang thanks to their new e-commerce startup, Amp, which has secured US$18.5 million (A$28.5m) in a series A, having only launched last year.  AMP is their solution for the challenge retailers face in using dozens of different apps to run… Read more »

Retail shop window
Funding

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

- September 12, 2023 2 MIN READ

Merchandise data startup Flagship has raised $2 million in a Seed round to help retailers to make better data-based decisions of maximising product appeal for in-store shoppers The round led by Sydney VC Tidal Ventures, with support from Afterpay’s billionaire cofounder Nick Molnar, backing his brother Simon’s startup play. Macdoch and Co Ventures, NRL player Luke… Read more »

Satellite Orbiting Earth
Funding

Satellite inspection startup raises $12 million Series A

- August 22, 2023 2 MIN READ

Sydney satellite monitoring startup HEO Robotics has raised $12 million in a Series A two years after its last round. The raise was led by Sydney VC AirTree Ventures with support from the new $40 million sovereign capabilities early-stage fund Salus Ventures. Salus invest up to $1.5 million into initial rounds for cutting-edge tech for… Read more »

Marqo cofounders Jesse Clark and Tom Hamer
Funding

Former Amazon duo bank $8.1 million Seed round for Marqo, the AI-powered search engine that finds better stuff

- August 17, 2023 2 MIN READ

A Melbourne startup founded by two former Amazon employees to improve online search for related objects has raised US$5.2 million (A$8.1m) in a Seed round led by Blackbird. Marqo is an AI-powered vector search engine. Vector search is a way to find related objects with similar characteristics using machine learning to find semantic relationships. The raise was… Read more »

Artist John Olsen's work projected onto the Sydney Opera House in a work by Curiious for Vivid Sydney
Funding

Curiious, the virtual reality company behind the Opera House Vivid show, raises $1 million in pivot to corporate metaverse

- August 17, 2023 2 MIN READ

Sydney virtual reality startup Curiious has found a new niche for its technology, helping companies embrace 3D worlds for customer engagement, job training and marketing.  The veteran visual content business Curiious, best known for its Vivid Opera House projections, this year featured the late artist John Olsen, has raised $1 million led by seed VC… Read more »

POSConnex CEO Shanti Kumar Photo: snapix
Funding

Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Investment Group leads $11 million raise for ecommerce site

- August 10, 2023 2 MIN READ

Collingwood supporter and investor Alex Waislitz has led an $11 million raise via his Thorney Investment Group into an ecommerce startup that’s pivoted from being a surfboard rental business to underpinning retailers such as Patagonia. Five-year-old Awayco is a unified ecommerce solution that includes retail Point of Sale (POS), rental and appointments for retailers to… Read more »

Navi cofounders Assoc Prof Christiane Theda and Alex Newton, with Victorian industry and innovation minister Ben Carroll.
Funding

Breakthrough Victoria backs baby-saving medtech startup Navi in $2.4 million raise

- August 3, 2023 2 MIN READ

Breakthrough Victoria has backed Navi Medical Technologies as part of a $2.4 million raise to develop a medical device for newborn babies and children. The state government investment fund was lead investor chipping in $700,000, with the federal government also backing the medtech startup with grants. Also backing the round was Medtech Actuator and Artesian VC.… Read more »