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 »

Annie Liao
Funding

AI edtech Build Club prompts $1.75m pre-Seed

- October 11, 2024 2 MIN READ

AI-focused e-learning platform Build Club has raised $1.75 million in a pre-Seed round led by Airtree and Blackbird. Also hitting the PayTo button for the round were Archangel Ventures, Co Ventures and Treble VC, and angel investors including Startmate’s Small Bets Fund, Curious Thing founder Sam Zheng, Superpower’s Max Marchione, Eric Chan from Aura Ventures… 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 »

Climate Tech

Westpac & CEFC underpin new $200 million climate tech VC fund

- October 8, 2024 2 MIN READ

Specialist climate tech investor Virescent Ventures is halfway towards its goal of creating a new $200 million fund thanks to backing from  Westpac and the government-backed Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). Virescent Ventures hit the $100 million first close of its second climate technology investment fund (Fund II), following on from the first portfolio, managed… Read more »

Eric Gao
Business

Australian startup investor Boman Group grabs a $10 million slice of OpenAI

- October 7, 2024 2 MIN READ

OpenAI’s gobsmacking US$6.6 billion (A$9.5 billion) raise, announced last week at a US$157bn (A$230bn) valuation, has a small slice of Australia on the cap table, with Melbourne fund manager Boman Group chipping in A$10 million. The record raise for the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup was led by Josh KuschUS VC Thrive Capital with… Read more »