Every round, fund close and exit we can source, with the article it was reported in and what it actually said.
Travel app FreeGuides raised a $360,000 seed round from Scalare Partners, Little Fish VC and angel Malik Irfan at a $2.5 million valuation, with a global launch planned for 2022.
Melbourne marketing operations software company IntelligenceBank has raised US$37 million, about A$50 million, from US investor Five Elms Capital to speed growth, product development and international expansion.
A short OneVentures blog post that simply points readers to a Bloomberg article arguing permanent artificial hearts are nearing reality, adding no details, companies, or funding of its own.
Tennis Australia is creating Wildcard Ventures, a fund and syndicate backing early-stage sports, health and entertainment tech, and has named its investment team and advisory committee.
Lynas Rare Earths and Australian Vanadium revealed multimillion-dollar federal manufacturing grants to commercialise rare earth refining and build vanadium battery electrolyte production in Western Australia.
Wholesale Investor profiles Vpply, a video job board, citing rapid growth in listings and jobseekers, an experienced team, and a pre-seed raise underway, with 15% equity on offer to investors.
AfterWork Ventures interviews OwnHome's co-founders about their friendship, earlier careers and choice to build a startup helping first-home buyers, which recently raised $3.6 million in a pre-seed round with Global Founders Capital and Entrée Capital.
Also Afterwork Ventures portfolio·Australian FinTech·Startup Daily·Australian FinTech
Digital home-loan broker Finspo has raised $4 million in new commitments to grow its team and technology, and used the round to buy Melbourne broking firm Credo, whose co-founders take lending roles at Finspo.
Also Startup Daily
Brisbane lending and payments startup WLTH has closed a $3 million seed round to grow its platforms and back an ocean cleanup partnership, and plans to open a $15 million series A next month.
Also Australian FinTech·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Australian FinTech
Profile of Nano Nutrients, an Australian health technology company making water-soluble supplements from plant compounds, outlining its products, patents and market opportunity for potential investors.
Energy platform GAED is a finalist in two international energy competitions and reports that its Malaysian licensee GENES has raised over RM680,000 in an ongoing crowdfunding campaign.
Regional telco Field Solutions Group received $7.75 million in federal Mobile Blackspots Program grants to trial roaming with Optus, build 15 towers, and pilot a neutral host model across regional Australia.
Profile of Skoutli, a platform for finding and booking shoot locations, co-founded by Caroline Lepron and Jason McDermott and developed with support from investor Antler.
Sydney customer-review software maker Okendo has landed its first outside capital, a $5.3 million seed round led by Index Ventures, to help direct-to-consumer brands manage first-party customer data.
Openpay promotes Dion Appel from Group Chief Commercial Officer to lead its Australia and New Zealand business, while Ed Bunting and Theresa Abela take new group roles and Michael Eidel stays Group CEO.
Fifteen Australian manufacturers share $7.16 million in federal Commercialisation Fund grants across two tranches, with industry contributing $17.95 million toward projects spanning clean energy, medical devices, recycling, defence and food technology.
Queensland's government backed Gilmour Space's $61 million Series C, while Woolworths put $4 million into Seedlab Australia and its W23 arm joined Harvest B's $3.5 million raise, which also drew a $1 million grant.
Energy Renaissance will build a pilot lithium-ion battery factory at Tomago in NSW, backed by a $525,072 AMGC grant, ahead of a larger commercial-scale plant.
Also @AuManufacturing
Wholesale Investor profiles JAVIS, a startup building fully automated bubble tea carts, covering its team, partnerships and expansion plans, and noting a seed round it is launching, targeted to close in September 2021.
The Sydney-based HR and payroll software maker has banked A$140 million in fresh Series E capital from Insight Partners, doubling its worth to A$800 million within six months of its SEEK-backed Series D.
Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·TechCrunch Venture
Tenacious Ventures' investment note explains its backing of Regrow's US$17 million Series A alongside Cargill, covering Regrow's agricultural MRV technology, its FluroSense platform, and its formation from the FluroSat-Dagan merger.
Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·AgFunderNews·Forbes Australia
Anti-fraud fintech Eftsure, whose only venture backer is the publisher's fund, is fielding unsolicited takeover interest and testing the market via Monash Advisory; that fund was recently lifted to $100 million.
Woolworths is putting $4 million into accelerator Seedlab Australia to help food and consumer goods founders reach retail shelves, building on a Tasmanian pilot whose alumni include cheese maker Red Cow Organics.
Sydney debt-collection fintech InDebted raised a $25 million Series B led by Perennial Value Management, with follow-on backing from Carthona Capital, Reinventure, MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia and Jason Lenga, funding global expansion.
UK fintech Revolut announced an $800 million USD Series E round led by new investors SoftBank and Tiger Global, valuing the financial superapp at $33 billion USD as it plans expansion into India and the US.
Australia's Defence Innovation Hub announced ten new innovation contracts worth nearly $20 million, including a $2.7 million award to Western Australia's Mission Systems Australia, as forward defence spending passes $300 billion.
Fitness franchise F45 has listed on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $325 million and finishing its first trading day near a $2 billion valuation, after an earlier SPAC merger plan collapsed.
Discover Financial Services has agreed a US$30 million share placement in ASX-listed fintech Sezzle at US$6.58 per share, with a proposed partnership spanning Discover's payments network and a referral program.
Profile of edutech startup Classnika, founded by Dr Ramtin Shams, offering subject-specific virtual classrooms for remote learning; the company was built with and backed by early-stage VC Antler.
Adelaide-based fitness app Sweat, co-founded by Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce, has been acquired by US connected fitness company iFIT in a deal the article values at $200 million, with both founders staying on.
Also Startup Daily
ARENA has granted $3 million to the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative, a ClimateWorks and Climate-KIC-led project whose 16 corporate members will model pathways to decarbonise heavy-industry supply chains.
Square Peg podcast interview with Airwallex co-founder Lucy Liu covering her journey building the cross-border payments firm, which became Australia's fastest unicorn after a US$100 million round led by DST Global.
Also Square Peg Capital portfolio·TechCrunch Venture·Techboard·SmartCompany·Australian FinTech·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Techboard·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Australian FinTech·Startup News (WA)·Australian FinTech·Australian FinTech·Australian FinTech·Australian FinTech·Australian FinTech·Australian FinTech·Forbes Australia·TechCrunch Venture·TechCrunch Venture
Podcast interview with Erin Bell, whose Camp Connect app tackles FIFO worker wellbeing on mine sites, now winning its first paying client and a place in the 2021 Plus Eight tech accelerator.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency plans up to $2 million for ClimateWorks Australia's Industry Energy Transition Initiative, which convenes major companies to chart emissions reductions in hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, aluminium and chemicals.
Profile of toodle, a UK m-commerce SaaS platform by Payar Ltd, noting £1.5M raised from existing investors and an active £400K equity offering at a £2.7M valuation ahead of its UK launch.
Case study on UK-founded payments fintech GoCardless, which entered Australia in 2018 and has grown strongly there; the article recalls its $95 million late-2020 raise and notes Austrade's facilitation role.
Tenacious Ventures podcast episode in which the chief executives of Enko Chem and RapidAIM discuss turning published scientific research into commercially viable agricultural technology companies.
Volt has bought Australian Mortgage to add digital mortgage approvals, paying mostly in shares; the piece recalls AFG's $15m investment in Volt, plus Xinja's shutdown and NAB's $220m buyout of 86 400.
Also Australian FinTech
German meal kit rival HelloFresh has agreed to acquire ASX-listed Youfoodz via a scheme of arrangement, with the board and majority shareholder RGT Capital backing an offer valuing the company at about A$125.3 million.
Plant-based ingredient maker Harvest B has raised $4.5 million in venture capital and grant funding, led by Aura Ventures and Woolworths' W23, to scale production of its animal-free ingredients.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
Non-bank lender TechLend has launched in Australia offering interest-free bridging loans to property buyers. Founded by Aaron Bassin and Nick Jacobs, it has received seed investment from Stake's Matt Leibowitz.
Two blockchain pilot projects, Everledger and convergence.tech, have received federal grants totalling just under $5.7 million to test distributed-ledger technology in supply chain tracking and data transfer.
Microsoft has bought security vendor RiskIQ, reportedly paying US$500 million, to strengthen its zero trust and cloud security offerings. RiskIQ recently named Arrow ECS its first Australia and New Zealand distributor.
Pay-advance firm Beforepay has named ex-Westpac chief Brian Hartzer as its chairman, and the piece recalls the company's recent $45 million debt facility arranged with Longreach Credit Investors.
Sydney telehealth firm Eucalyptus closed a Series B led by NewView Capital, with Blackbird, W23 and AirTree taking part. NewView's founder joins the board as the company expands its digital health brands.
Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany
Wholesale Investor profiles UMEGO, a platform pairing shared-interest experiences with dating and friend-matching, citing 100-plus B2B partners and advisors formerly at Tinder and Uber, plus an investment offering.
Profile of HealthMatch founder and chief executive Manuri Gunawardena, covering the patient-trial matching platform's investor backing and her win at Veuve Clicquot's Bold Future Award.
Moonshot, an Australian space-tech accelerator, has secured $500,000 from the federal government's Incubator Support Scheme and private investors, with a consortium of space figures investing as mentors, including Andrew Aldrin and Amir Blachman.
Square Peg's podcast interviews Aconex co-founders Leigh Jasper and Robert Phillpot about building the construction collaboration platform, its 2014 ASX listing, and its 2018 acquisition by Oracle for A$1.6 billion.
Manufacturing roundup: AML3D joins a naval shipbuilding research facility with BAE Systems and Flinders University; Cann Group recovers scam losses; Ridley divests its Westbury plant; Skedulo secures $100m from SoftBank's Vision Fund 2.