You might think government debt is bad, but it actually plays a crucial role in modern finance. Back when he was treasurer, Peter Costello famously declared that April 21 2006 would be known as Australia’s “Debt Free Day”. On this day, he proclaimed, the Commonwealth would eliminate its net debt and “pay off the mortgage”.… Read more »
An ad tech platform that helps publishers monetise product mentions has raised $4 million in a Series A as it looks to ramp up its global ambitions. The round for Linkby was led by investors Perennial Private Investments, with existing backer OIF Ventures, which led Linkby’s $5 million Seed raised in early 2022 also going again,… Read more »
Corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has issued its first interim stop order over a crowd-sourced funding (CSF) campaign. ASIC intervened in the raise for Hirehood, an hire marketplace for holiday items such as surfboards, bikes and baby equipment, on the VentureCrowd platform. The regulator’s concern is over the structure of shares… Read more »
Victorian startup The Leaf Protein Co has raised $850,000 in a pre-Seed raise as it looks to join the race for palatable meat alternatives. The round was led by the Breakthrough Victoria-backed University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, Loyal VC and LaunchVic’s recently launched agtech sidecar fund, the Hugh Victor Mckay Fund. Previous investors include… Read more »
Supply chain integration platform Switchboard has raised $1.5 million from a consortium of early-stage VCs to digitise logistics. The Sydney startup was backed by Archangel, AfterWork, Investible, Skalata, Startmate, TEN13, and The Fund. Founder and CEO Hugh Dixson launched Switchboard in August 2022, having previously worked at road freight backfill startup Ofload in M&A, setting… Read more »
Mind mapping startup Omniscient has raised US$60 million (A$89m) in a Series C as it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to decode the human brain. The raise was backed by mining magnate Gina Rinehart and existing investor Will Vicars, the billionaire chief investment officer at Caledonia. The five-year-old startup previously raised $40 million in a Series… Read more »
Internet of Things agriculture scale-up Farmbot Monitoring Solutions has exceeded its capital raising plans by 50% to bank $4.6 million as it looks to ramp up its US presence. The round, originally targeting $3m, was backed by existing investors Telstra and Macdoch Ventures, among others. Telstra first joined the cap table a decade ago when Farmbot… Read more »
Documents compliance checking startup Atticus has banked $10.84 million in its first external raise, with VCs Blackbird and Kim Jackson’s Skip Capital buying in. The Melbourne legal tech – named after the To Kill a Mockingbird lawyer – was founded in 2017 recovering corporate lawyer Saul Wakerman and former Palantir software engineers Misha Wakerman and… Read more »
Sydney fintech Bridgit has raised $14.2 million in a Series A as the non-bank lender looks to offer bridging loans to homeowners moving house. The round was led by existing investor OIF. Bridgit, founded in 2021 as TechLend, previously raised $7.5 million two years ago in a round co-led by OIF Ventures and Perennial Partners.… Read more »
Australian disability tech accelerator Remarkable has ramped up its venture side, and is now looking to back startups in disability, ageing and health, from Seed to Series A. Remarkable is the startup venture arm of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA), founded in 2016 by Pete Horsley. Over the past 8 years Remarkable has helped 120… Read more »
The Victorian government is doubling the size of its early-stage agtech fund to $2 million. The extra $1 million for the Hugh Victor McKay Fund, run by LaunchVic, follows the initial $1 million commitment revealed last year. The fund offers up to $200,000 to early-stage Victorian agtech startups, so the new funding doubles the potential… Read more »
Global fintech unicorn Airwallex recently launched its Airwallex for Startups program in Australia to such success that they’re giving away a second $10,000 Business Acceleration Grant. Designed to foster the next generation of local startup talent, the program is already making huge waves in several industries, providing entrepreneurs with a suite of financial tools, educational resources,… Read more »
Sydney biotech startup Psyslo has banked a fresh Seed round worth US$8 million (A$12m) as it relocates to the US. It’s Psylo’s second major Seed round, having previously banked a A$5 million Seed raise in late 2022 on top of an initial $1.1m 12 months earlier as the company emerged from Startmate. The latest round… Read more »
Sydney logistics software startup Ofload has finally confirmed an additional $31 million capital injection, six months after it was first reported. The new funds are to support to product roll out and wider business growth in digital freight technology The AFR first reported Ofload had banked $27 million in December 2023, led by David Acton’s… Read more »
Business software subscriptions management platform Subble has raised $1 million in a pre-Seed round as it goes to market. The raise was backed by entrepreneurs Jordan Walsh and Leon Hayes from Haystack Capital to support product refinement and customer expansion. The Melbourne startup gives business execs improved visibility over their SaaS subscriptions for greater control… Read more »
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