Australia hands out the best part of A$1 billion per year in grants to businesses. Many of these come with no strings attached, meaning there is no need to evaluate whether the grants boost employment, help the recipients become more efficient, or benefit the nation. To test what good these grants do, my team at… Read more »
US private equity has swooped into Australia to back construction site safety platform HammerTech in a $105 million (US$70 m) raise. Californian investment firm Riverwood Capital has backed the Melbourne startup as it eyes off a larger slice of the US building market. HammerTech is a cloud-based performance and productivity platform for the building industry… Read more »
An agtech startup cofounded by the former boss of CSIRO’s Data61 has raised $5.3 million in a Seed round. The round was led by existing investor Salus Ventures, which has also backed local deep tech startups such as HEO, Advanced Navigation, and Q-Ctrl. Also chipping in for ExoFlare were Harris Farm’s David and Cathy Harris,… Read more »
A Melbourne startup described as the Canva of 3D presentations has raised another $13 million as it becomes part of $6000 Apple headset. The state government’s $2 billion venture fund, Breakthrough Victoria, led the round for Jigspace, tipping in $4.4 million, joined by existing investors including Rampersand, Investible, Vulpes and angel investor Hugh Bickerstaff. The… Read more »
Would-be startup founders seeking a helping hand to take their first steps to tackle important problems will have seven new ways to do it thanks to a series of pre-accelerator programs bankrolled in Victoria by LaunchVic. Seven new programs have received up to $400,000 as part of LaunchVic’s ‘Grants for Targeted Pre-accelerator’ program to offer… Read more »
The country’s largest e-waste processor, Sircel, has banked $5 million from impact investor Kilara Capital to tackle solar panel recycling amid national ambitions. The Sydney startup, founded in 2018, grew rapidly in May when it acquired venture-backed Victorian recycler Scipher Technologies, including its solar panel recycling plans, for $5 million, after it collapsed into administration… Read more »
Sydney startup Fugu Carbon has raised $1.67 million in a Seed round to ramp up production of its low-cost CO2 capture technology. The round was led climate tech-focused Sydney VC Investible, with support from Andrea Gardiner’s Jelix Ventures, as well as Melbourne climate tech fund Electrifi, and Counteract, a London-based VC specialising in carbon removal.… Read more »
A single deal that saw Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund sling $300 million at 15-year-old exchange traded funds (ETFs) manager Betashares in mid-June has plumped up Australia’s venture capital turkey in the final quarter of the 2024 financial year, hiding an otherwise disappointing three months for local startups. Data compiler Cut Through Venture included government-backed Temasek’s… Read more »
A Melbourne startup developing carbon capture technology for hard-to-abate industries has raised $10 million. KC8 Capture Technologies, founded in 2021, was backed by local energy giant Woodside, and the VC arm of Mexican cement producer Cemex, among others. The funding is earmarked for team expansion and deploying the technology in sectors such as construction, steel,… Read more »
Brisbane startup EVOS has raised $4 million as the first tranche of plans to raise $10m in a Series B. The fresh capital once again came from existing investors, 12 months after the electric vehicle (EV) raised $5 million in a Series A. EVOS was founded in 2020, by Marcelo Salgado, Seshan Weeratunga and Chris… Read more »
It’s a new financial year and that means a new round of the NSW government’s MVP Ventures Program for startup founders has opened, offering grants worth between $25,000 and $50,000. The NSW Government is offering up to $3 million a year in MVP (minimum viable product) grants until 2027. The popular early-stage grants program was… Read more »
A Brisbane biotech startup eliminating the need for animal testing in pharmaceutical drug development has raised $2.2 million in pre-Seed funding. The round for Gelomics was led by Andrea Gardiner’s Sydney VC Jelix Ventures, alongside the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) Enterprise Acceleration Fund and Angelloop. The cash injection is expected create more than 70 highly-skilled… Read more »
A developer platform created by former Atlassian product managers to tackle the missing AI engineering and security skillsets in enterprise software engineering teams has raised $11.5 million in a Seed round. The funding for Melbourne-based Redactive AI was co-led by Californian VC Felicis and local VC Blackbird, supported by Atlassian Ventures and US automated workflows giant… Read more »
The march south by NSW startups seeking funding continues with Breakthrough Victoria ending the financial year with a $3 million investment in 5G semiconductor startup Millibeam to expand in Melbourne. It’s part of a $6 raise for the deep tech startup, which is building chipsets that are faster and cheaper for what’s known as “mmWave… Read more »
Antler in Australia has unveiled seven new pre-Seed startup investments as part of its Portfolio Spotlight event tonight. The early-stage VC invests $225,000 at a $1.875 million post-money valuation for a 12% stake. The seven are part of the 29 investments Antler in Australia has made over the last 12 months. Antler partner James McClure… Read more »
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
