Every round, fund close and exit we can source, with the article it was reported in and what it actually said.
BeforePay has raised $9 million ahead of a planned IPO, while Affirm's Nasdaq debut topped US$22 billion; PayRight's ASX listing and Limepay's December raise point to ongoing buy-now-pay-later momentum.
Also Startup Daily·Cut Through Venture·Australian FinTech·SmartCompany·Startup Daily
Braking systems maker Advanced Braking Technology receives a $240,000 defence grant to buy machinery, train staff and gain accreditation, supporting its work on the Hawkei vehicle with VEEM manufacturing.
Wave Swell Energy has placed its UniWave200 wave energy converter at Grassy Harbour, King Island, Tasmania, a project supported by a $4 million renewable energy agency grant.
Also ARENA·RenewEconomy·@AuManufacturing·Wholesale Investor·Wholesale Investor
Digitology Healthtech, an Australian-Indian joint venture, closed a $900,000 pre-Series A for its SmartICU patient monitoring system, after CEO Michael Koss used the technology remotely to manage his own severe Covid-19 illness in India.
Also Cut Through Venture
BHP Ventures took part in Boston Metal's US$50 million Series B, backing the MIT spinout's emissions-free steelmaking technology, with its own stake reported at close to US$10 million.
Nineteen listed companies received federal BRII feasibility-study grants totalling $2.27 million across five government agency challenge themes, including turning farm crops into renewable hydrogen.
Remondis Australia received a Victorian government grant for a solvent recycling facility at Dandenong, trading as Organic Environmental Solutions; it also last year acquired two Somerton liquid-waste businesses.
Square Peg's podcast features Vow's co-founders discussing cultured meat and their Sydney company's origins, with principal James Tynan named as Vow's lead investor.
Rapid Response Revival has opened a Series E offer of up to $5 million for working capital and trials, and finalised an agreement with an unnamed global OEM to manufacture the CellAED defibrillator in Taiwan from July.
Defibrillator maker Rapid Response Revival appointed Cochlear executive Greg Bodkin as a non-executive director and signed a mandate with an unnamed US investment bank ahead of a planned October IPO.
Brewer Two Birds has been acquired by Fermentum, parent of Stone & Wood, a decade after its founders launched Australia's first female-owned brewing company; Fermentum also flagged expansion plans.
Also drinksdigest.com·brewsnews.com.au·beerandbrewer.com·theshout.com.au
Banking software firm Mambu announced a 110 million euro round led by TCV, with Tiger Global and Arena Holdings joining, lifting its valuation to 1.7 billion euros and unicorn status.
Blackbird announces it followed on in cultured meat startup Vow's Series Seed round, led by Square Peg, having earlier backed Vow's 2019 pre-seed round, and profiles the company's approach.
Also Square Peg Capital portfolio·Square Peg Capital portfolio·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·AgFunderNews·TechCrunch
Reekoh named former TechnologyOne GM Steve Terry as its Chief Commercial Officer, with responsibility for revenue, growth strategy and execution across its Industrial IoT integration products.
Aura Group's 2020 review recounts several exits, the Anytime Fitness Asia buyout, a new special situations fund launch, and growth in funds under management despite the pandemic.
Tenacious Ventures announces its fifth investment, backing RapidAIM, a Brisbane pest-analytics company spun out of CSIRO, alongside prior backer Main Sequence Ventures. The post profiles the startup's sensor platform, market, and founding team.
Square Peg Capital recaps 2020: eight new investments including Zeller and HealthMatch, a US$450 million fourth fund close, follow-ons, new hires across Sydney, Singapore and Israel, and portfolio updates.
Also Square Peg Capital portfolio·Square Peg Capital portfolio·SmartCompany·Australian FinTech·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Women's Agenda·Australian FinTech·Crunchbase News·TechCrunch
Nightingale Partners revisits Control Bionics, which it backed in 2005 and still holds a stake in, marking the assistive-tech firm's December 2020 ASX debut and sharing a chief executive interview.
Weekly newsletter rounds up venture news: multiple Australian and regional VC fund closes, startup raises including Brighte and Judo, acquisitions of eNett and Sine, neobank collapses, and new revenue-based lenders.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Australian FinTech·Australian FinTech·TechCrunch
A roundup profiling ten Australian startups expected to grow in 2021, reporting raises by VAPAR, HealthMatch, Ovira, Heaps Normal, Vop and Outland Denim, plus grants, accelerator alumni and founders' plans.
Tidal Ventures reflects on backing logistics software company Shippit from its 2017 seed round through its newly announced A$30 million Series B led by Tiger Global, crediting product-led growth and strong operating metrics.
Also Crunchbase News·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·TechCrunch·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·alkye.com
Victoria's startup agency LaunchVic has granted $300,000 to SBE Australia and $125,000 to Atto Accelerator to fund programs supporting women founders, including SBE Evolve places, alumnae support, scholarships and a pre-accelerator extension.
Sandstone Technology promotes its Chief Customer Officer Michael Phillipou to CEO, replacing co-founder Bob Hall, who returns to the Chairman role after filling the position since February.
Payments firm GoCardless announced a Series F round of AUD$126 million led by Bain Capital Ventures, to fund its open banking strategy and expansion into e-commerce payments.
Also Australian FinTech
ARENA and the NSW Government are funding Centennial Coal to study converting a disused underground coal mine near Newcastle into pumped hydro energy storage.
Year-end review of Australian additive manufacturing covering listings by AML3D and Amaero, capital raises at several firms, GoProto's acquisitions, defence sector engagements, and the author's own 2020 activities.
FutureFeed, a seaweed cattle supplement spun out by CSIRO with backing from GrainCorp, Woolworths and others, has won a US$1 million Food Planet Prize from the Curt Bergfors Foundation for slashing livestock methane emissions.
Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews
Energy and fintech firm Brighte has raised $100 million from existing backers, led by Grok Ventures, and is moving into retail energy with a new model combining generation and retail.
Also RenewEconomy·Startup Daily·Australian FinTech·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Fintech News Australia
Printer maker SPEE3D teams with NERA, Charles Darwin University and Santos to develop an industrial 3D printer for remote oil and gas sites, backed by NERA project funding.
Western Australian environmental technology company Ecocene has been named overall winner of a global space-technology competition, beating two British finalists on a mangrove and seagrass mapping challenge.
Sydney-based digital debt collection firm InDebted has launched its platform in Canada, its first Northern Hemisphere market, with two Canadian lenders already onboarded ahead of the official launch.
Xinja is handing back its banking licence and closing accounts after failing to secure promised funding, despite several past raises; it hopes to continue its delayed US share trading product Dabble.
Profile of ProofTec, an AI startup detecting asset damage for rental and insurance sectors, noting its in-progress seed raise, backing by Halkin Venture Partners, CSIRO program acceptance, and early customer trials.
Brisbane diagnostics company Ellume wins US emergency authorisation for its COVID-19 home test, backed by an earlier NIH grant and a mid-2020 private raise as it scales production.
Also Startup Daily
Neobank Xinja is shutting its Australian banking operations, handing back its ADI licence and returning deposits, blaming COVID-19 and difficult fundraising, while pivoting to its US share trading product.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Profile of Ethicool Books, a Melbourne children's publisher founded by a husband-and-wife team, which won an Amazon Launchpad innovation grant and sells its sustainability-themed books through Amazon Australia.
Handbag customisation startup Mon Purse has entered liquidation and stopped trading, with Wexted Advisors appointed and seeking buyers, while the article recalls the company raising roughly $9 million from backers over six years.
Also Startup Daily
A podcast interview profile of insurtech founder Naby Mariyam, covering her path from academia to entrepreneurship, launching Coverhero's gig-worker insurance product, and her views on creativity, diverse teams and burnout.
Square Peg has closed a $600 million fourth fund, capping a year in which Australian venture funds collectively gathered over $1.6 billion, with closes by Blackbird, OneVentures, Equity Venture Partners, Antler, Tidal and others.
CSIRO's seaweed-based cattle feed venture FutureFeed has won the Food Planet Prize and its million-dollar purse, which it plans to spend on first-nations supply-chain participation and rangeland delivery research.
Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Beef Central / Grain Central·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews
Seaweed-based cattle methane-cutting venture FutureFeed, spun out of CSIRO, won a US$1 million Food Planet Prize, partly funding Aboriginal participation in Asparagopsis supply chains; it earlier raised AU$13 million from agriculture backers.
Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·Beef Central / Grain Central·Beef Central / Grain Central·AgFunderNews
Write-up of a Giants Weekly fireside chat where Blackbird co-founder Rick Baker discusses the firm's $500 million fund, seed investing, software and science companies, and offshore interest in Australian startups.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany
Glaciem Cooling is deploying solar-powered heat pump and thermal storage cooling, showcased via a virtual tour of its Pernod Ricard winery installation, with AGL solar panels and renewable agency funding supporting several sites.
Podcast episode in which Square Peg partners discuss investing across Australia, Southeast Asia and Israel, marking the close of the firm's fourth generation of funds totalling AU$600 million.
Also Square Peg Capital portfolio·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Space incubator Moonshot has closed its first investment fund and opened applications for its next accelerator, having earlier put $300,000 into four startups via a Startmate partnership.
Also Startup Daily
Medtech startup Peak Medical has won the NSW-backed Innovation Districts C19 R&D Challenges, gaining support from Macquarie University, Western Sydney University and CSIRO to speed its post-operative home care product toward market.
Commentary argues defence spending since 2016 is driving Australian SME innovation, spotlighting Ron Allum Deepsea Services' Deep Ray autonomous undersea glider, built under a $2.8 million Defence Innovation Hub contract, with two patent applications lodged.
Perth space startup Space Industries becomes the first Australian participant in Brinc's CleanTech accelerator, receiving A$150,000, with Artesian as the program's Australian funding partner.