Australian venture funding, tracked

SaaS startup Capsifi banks $11 million from government-backed investor the Australian Business Growth Fund

Enterprise software firm Capsifi has received an $11 million growth investment from the Australian Business Growth Fund, its first for 2022, to fund international expansion, with the fund's earlier backing of two other startups also recalled.

Also SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·SmartCompany·Techboard·Startup Daily

Auto tech startup Splend secures $150 million to build a fleet of 10,000 EVs by 2024

Vehicle subscription firm Splend, founded in Australia and now London-based, has banked $150 million in a Pollen Street Capital-led round to grow its electric fleet to 10,000 cars by 2024.

Also Techboard·SmartCompany·SmartCompany

First grant awarded under new NT Advanced Manufacturing Ecosystem Fund

Corrosion Instruments receives the first grant from the NT Advanced Manufacturing Ecosystem Fund, gaining $110,000 in co-investment to build a Palmerston facility and double its team.

Also @AuManufacturing

Stone & Chalk Group builds solutions for tomorrow through increased Climate Tech commitment

Stone & Chalk Group reinforces its support for Australian climate tech startups, highlighting partnerships with Trellis and Ping while listing portfolio companies focused on sustainability.

$50 million funding awarded to four-year defence manufacturing project

A $50m federal grant funds an Adelaide-led defence research commercialisation centre, with matching pledges from universities, CSIRO and industry partners; a Curtin-led resources hub and engineering internship funding were also announced.

Federal government awards $140 million to two WA hydrogen hubs

Australia commits $140 million in Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs grants for Pilbara and Kwinana, plus $4 million critical minerals grants each to Global Advanced Metals and Mineral Commodities.

Kiwi emissions credits startup Carbon Crop tops up with $1.73 million in pre-Series A

New Zealand forest-carbon assessor CarbonCrop has banked a NZ$1.9 million top-up before its planned Series A; Jo Blundell takes the CEO role while co-founder Nick Butcher shifts to CTO.

Investment notes: Athena AU$25m Series B

Square Peg explains its rationale for leading Athena's Series B, joined by Hostplus and Airtree, with analysis of the Australian mortgage market, the challenger lender's model, and its founding and senior team.

Also Startup Daily·Australian FinTech·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Crunchbase News

Jason Calacanis backs Australian productivity startup Llama Life in $950,000 pre-Seed raise

Llama Life, a Melbourne desktop tool for focus and task completion, has collected $950,000 in pre-seed backing, with Black Sheep Capital leading and US investors Jason Calacanis plus his LAUNCH syndicate joining.

Connected strength-training startup Vitruvian eyes US with $15M raise

Perth fitness hardware maker Vitruvian raised a $15 million Series A from Larsen Ventures and Ten13 to scale its Trainer+ system and enter the United States market, after a 2020 seed round.

Also Crunchbase News

Daily Crunch: Since December 2021, Better.com has laid off nearly half of its workforce

TechCrunch's April 19, 2022 news roundup: Better.com cuts headcount again, Brex buys Pry Financials for $90 million, Square Peg commits $550 million to Southeast Asia startups, plus more raises and fund closes.

FinTech Archa closes $24 million funding round backed by high profile investors

Corporate-card fintech Archa closed a $24 million pre-Series A round of debt and equity led by Wisr's Anthony Nantes, and secured a new institutional debt facility from Roadnight Capital.

Also Techboard

Follow-on notes: Athena AU$70m Series C

Square Peg's post explains why it led mortgage platform Athena's $70 million Series C, with Hostplus and Airtree reinvesting and Australian Super, NAB Ventures and Salesforce Ventures joining as new backers.

Data privacy startup DataBench bags cybersec heavyweight Paul Muller as CEO

Data privacy firm DataBench has named security industry veteran Paul Muller as its first outside chief executive, while founder David Christmas shifts to chair parent company Portfolio4 ahead of a planned Series A.

FUNDED MARCH 2022

Techboard's March 2022 roundup of Australian funding: megadeals by Immutable, Saluda Medical, Linktree and Zeller, many smaller raises, acquisitions, an IPO, several fund closes, and companies still seeking capital.

Also SmartCompany·Australian FinTech

Square Peg on building its foothold in Southeast Asia

Interview with Square Peg partners about the Australian venture firm's growing Southeast Asia presence and portfolio; mentions a fresh fundraise underway and points to Cialfo's recent $40 million backing co-led with SEEK.

Sydney startup Canopy Study raises $1.1 million for AI-driven education platform

An education technology company has secured seed capital to expand its platform that turns coursework into adaptive learning resources, with a venture firm leading the round.

Also Startup Daily·Techboard

Fleetsu acquired by US-based Rand McNally

Perth fleet-management analytics company Fleetsu has been bought by Rand McNally, a portfolio company of US private equity firm Teleo Capital, with terms undisclosed; founder Jakub Falinski becomes Rand McNally's Chief Innovation Officer.

Also Startup News (WA)·Techboard

Sydney startup Earnd, now Wagestream, raises $236M Series C to bring financial wellbeing to employees

UK pay-access fintech Wagestream, formed from Sydney's Earnd, secured a A$236 million Series C — equity led by Smash Capital with Silicon Valley Bank debt — to expand beyond Britain, including across Australia.

Three of the most exciting startups to come out of Startmate’s Summer 2022 program

SmartCompany profiles three picks from Startmate's latest accelerator intake — Critical., Lockpick Games and MyGigsters — each receiving $120,000 under the accelerator's revamped investment terms.

Health tech startup Consultmed raises $1.2 million to transform patient referrals

Consultmed has banked a $1.2 million first venture round led by Investible, with clinician users also investing, to scale its hospital referral platform across Australia.

Also Techboard

Proptech UrbanX raises millions for real estate agents to fly solo

Queensland property-tech firm UrbanX has picked up an undisclosed multi-million-dollar investment led by three 29North founders, whose fellow backer will chair its board, as the agent-platform startup pushes across Australia and New Zealand.

Vegan R.M. Williams one step closer to reality after Andrew Forrest's firm invests $26.8 million in plant-based textiles

Tattarang, Andrew Forrest's investment firm and R.M. Williams parent, has put $26.8m into Natural Fiber Welding's Series B; the US materials startup's Mirum leather substitute may reach the bootmaker's vegan lineup.

Startup Daily TV: Melbourne biotech Tessara Therapeutics has developed a 'mini human brain' to help find better drugs to treat diseases such as Alzheimers

Startup Daily TV interviews Tessara Therapeutics' CEO about RealBrain, its 3D brain-tissue models for neurological drug discovery, and a fresh push to raise funds; the Melbourne biotech is also among the latest Tech23 companies.

Kikapay continues to grow

UK payments company Kikapay hires Glenn Quadros for its legal and commercial leadership, launches a soft-POS product, and notes a funding round set to wrap in May.

Edtech unicorn Go1 buys first European company amid expansion push

Go1 has bought corporate learning platform Coorpacademy, its first European acquisition, to support expansion; the piece recalls Go1's earlier raises, including a 2019 Series B and a 2021 Series D.

Also Aura Group portfolio·OIF Ventures portfolio·OIF Ventures portfolio·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Techboard·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Tech Funding News - Australia·edtechchronicle.com·go1.com·Crunchbase News·Crunchbase News·Crunchbase News·TechCrunch·TechCrunch

Brisbane DeFi reputation startup raises $6.7 million seed round

Also Techboard

French renewable hydrogen trailblazer secures major new backer

Mitsui & Co has put €10 million into French green-hydrogen developer Lhyfe, its first international backer, to fund growth and overseas expansion, following a €66 million raise from French firms in 2021.

Kaseya snaps up Datto in $6.2B MSP deal

Kaseya has agreed to acquire Datto for US$6.2 billion, funded by an equity consortium including Insight Partners, TPG Capital, Temasek and Sixth Street. The article also recalls Datto's earlier acquisitions, merger and NYSE listing.

Also ARN (ARNnet)

Startup Daily TV: Crowdfunding platform Birchal is raising $3 million to take CSF to the next level

Birchal opens an equity crowdfunding campaign on its own marketplace, an industry first, chasing $3 million with Up cofounder Dom Pym committed, while marking $100 million raised and unveiling secondary trading plans.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Techboard·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Pfizer bids $100 million to acquire Australian COVID-19 testing startup

Pfizer has bid $100m for ResApp, a Brisbane healthtech firm whose app diagnoses respiratory conditions from coughs; its board backs the deal, and the piece recalls a 2021 $5.5m raise under Fidelity International's lead.

Also Startup Daily

TagEnergy gets $660 million funding boost for wind and battery projects

Renewable developer TagEnergy raised €450 million (A$660 million) from Impala, Mirova and Omnes, each putting in €150 million, to fund its 2.7GW wind and storage pipeline, mostly in Australia.

Insight Partners backs ‘hype commerce’ startup EQL in $25 million raise

Melbourne startup EQL raised A$25 million led by Insight Partners and AirTree Ventures, with angels and family offices participating, to grow sales teams and improve its product-launch platform.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Techboard·SmartCompany

Pathios Therapeutics Highlights Role of GPR65 as Critical Innate Immune Checkpoint in the Human Tumor Microenvironment and Reports Anti-Tumor Activity of GPR65 Inhibition During Podium Presentation at AACR 2022

UK cancer biotech Pathios Therapeutics, backed by Canaan Partners and Brandon Capital, presented preclinical data at a US conference showing its GPR65 inhibitor PTT-3213 shrank tumors in mouse models.

World-first pilot to electrify calcination in alumina refining

ARENA grants Alcoa $8.6 million for a pilot trialling electric calcination in alumina refining, with the WA Government adding $1.7 million toward the $19.7 million decarbonisation project.

Bee-inspired biopolymer project will develop new textile coatings

New Zealand biotech Humble Bee Bio received a $70,000 grant via IMCRC's activate program to work with Deakin University on a bee-inspired, water-repellent textile coating.

Alcoa gets $8.6 million grant to support renewable-powered alumina pilots

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has awarded Alcoa 8.6 million dollars for trials of electric-powered calcination at its Pinjarra refinery, following earlier funding for low-emission refining work at Wagerup.

Kiwi legal tech LawVu tops up its Series A with an extra NZ$20 million

Insight Partners and AirTree have added NZ$20 million to LawVu's Series A, lifting the New Zealand legal software firm's total funding, with Insight's large recent cheques into SafetyCulture and Octopus Deploy also noted.

AgFunder-backed GROW Impact Accelerator reveals its latest cohort of cutting-edge startups

AgFunder and GROW unveiled ten startups joining the latest GROW Impact Accelerator cohort, each receiving $100,000, following the first close of AgFunder's SIJ Impact Fund with Asahi and Meiji as strategic investors.

$2.5 million in mining technology grants awarded

METS Ignited has granted over $2.5 million in matched funding to six mining technology companies to scale commercialisation, bringing its six-year investment past $13 million across 26 projects.

Insurtech startup AuditCover books $1.7 million Seed round

Tax audit insurtech AuditCover has raised a $1.7 million seed round led by Hunter Equity Group, with angels and Greenlight Re participating, and appointed Claire Wivell Plater as a director.

Also Techboard

WA universities and industry enjoy state's space ambitions

The Western Australian government committed $6.5 million over four years to the state's space sector: $4 million to consortium AROSE and $2.5 million to Curtin University's Binar space program, supporting Diversify WA.

Also @AuManufacturing

Porsche buys into green liquid fuels developer

HIF Global, developing carbon-neutral eFuels including a Chilean pilot plant, raised US$260 million from Porsche, EIG, AME, Baker Hughes and Gemstone, with plans to expand into Australia.

AWS partner Unleash live tests drone for Endeavour Energy

Unleash live, working with Optus and AWS, flew its first drone test for Endeavour Energy, streaming 5G footage; the project earlier received a $648,000 federal government 5G Innovation Initiative grant.

IoT security vendor Armis opens APAC base

US IoT security vendor Armis has launched a Melbourne APAC office and hired nine staff under former Nutanix manager Andrew Draper; the piece also recalls its 2020 acquisition and 2021 investment round.

From geothermal to pumped hydro: WA names seven new clean energy fund recipients

Western Australia's government awarded over $11 million in Clean Energy Future Fund round two grants to seven regional renewable projects, spanning pumped hydro, geothermal, biofuel, microgrids, battery storage and electrified alumina refining.

Three manufacturers awarded grants in Northern Australia Development Program round

Four companies, three of them manufacturers, have received federal grants totalling $18 million under the Northern Australia Development Program, with Wulguru Steel the largest recipient at $11 million for expansion projects.

Our portfolio dinner – the Playground XYZ exit

Shearwater Capital recounts a 2022 portfolio dinner where Playground XYZ's founders shared their journey to the company's late-2021 acquisition by US firm GumGum.

Also martech360.com·europesays.com

STARTUP DAILY TV: Media startup Ukufu, the ‘Spotify of news content’, is on a rapid rise

Profile of Sydney news-aggregation app Ukufu, which has passed 50,000 Android installs. Founder Kevin Garber discusses its AI-curated newsfeeds, planned premium and B2B versions, and its earlier seed backing from local angel investors.

Zii acquires POS platform Suntech Australia

Melbourne hospitality tech firm Zii has completed its purchase of fellow Melbourne point-of-sale provider Suntech Enterprises Australia, extending its reach into food and beverage retail as it plans further growth.