Topic Archives

BeanstalkAgTech is building a $10 million venture studio to back nearly 100 startups focused on drought resilience

Startup Daily - June 27, 2024 2 MIN READ

Food and agriculture advisory and venture firm Beanstalk AgTech has launched a venture program to support researchers and entrepreneurs build new agtech products and services for farmers. The $10 million project is working towards building the world’s first venture studio for drought resilience, supported by the federal government’s Future Drought Fund. Expressions of interest for … Read more »

Other tech

The depressing truth about tracking devices is that 25% are bought by abuse perpetrators

Simon Thomsen - June 27, 2024 2 MIN READ

While ASX-listed Life360 has been a godsend to parents keen to keep an eye on the whereabouts of their children without having to stalk their TikTok accounts, a disturbing trend around GPS tracking devices has emerged in analysis of who’s buying them by the NSW Crime Commission. A large number of criminals and domestic violence… Read more »

Funding

lululemon backs recycled plastics clothing startup in $100 million Series A+

Simon Thomsen - June 27, 2024 2 MIN READ

A Canberra plastics recycling startup has raised $100 million in a Series A+ as it looks to take its technology to Asia. Samsara Eco, a spin-out from Australian National University, launched in late 2021 as a partnership between the ANU and CSIRO-backed Main Sequence Ventures. It set out to address the fact that less than… Read more »

Funding

Techboard’s funding analysis reveals NSW gets the lion’s share of VC investment, but it’s starting to wane

Simon Thomsen - June 26, 2024 3 MIN READ

Venture capital funding for NSW startups began to decline in the first quarter of 2024 after swallowing two-thirds of all Australian investment in 2023, according to new data from funding analytics firm Techboard. Startup investment in the first quarter of 2024 had slowed with $761 million invested across 82 deals recorded over the first three… Read more »

Funding

ESG brand authentication startup Klean nabs $725,000 pre-Seed round

Simon Thomsen - June 26, 2024 3 MIN READ

ESG credentials startup Klean has raised $725,000 in a pre-Seed round led by Prtnr Ventures, the new VC founded by Wayne Gerard, a former Queensland chief entrepreneur. Klean was founded in late 2022 by Shan Vahora to address the concerns of the 70% of Millennial and Gen Z consumers who say they care about the… Read more »

Politics

I Psi-ed with my EOI: Details from $940m PsiQuantum deal reveal local startups were played by the federal government

Denham Sadler, Information Age - June 26, 2024 3 MIN READ

The federal and Queensland governments have officially signed the near-$1 billion contract with US firm PsiQuantum, as newly released documents shed some light on the process leading up to the major deal. It was announced earlier this year that the federal and Queensland governments would be inking a $940 million deal with PsiQuantum for the American firm… Read more »