Sydney fintech Primary raises $3.5m seed round
Sydney cash-management startup Primary has completed a $3.5m seed round backed by Carthona Capital and five other funds, with Carthona partner Damian Fox set to join its board.
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Every round, fund close and exit we can source, with the article it was reported in and what it actually said.
Sydney cash-management startup Primary has completed a $3.5m seed round backed by Carthona Capital and five other funds, with Carthona partner Damian Fox set to join its board.
Also SmartCompany
Kismet has raised a further $20 million to complete a two-part seed round totalling $32.5 million, with new backer MassMutual Ventures joining Prosus and Airtree; the healthtech startup plans international expansion.
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Menstrual-health startup Femtek has rebranded as Kyri, citing a trademark block; the piece also looks back at its seven-figure raise with Arcanys Ventures and Techstars leading earlier in the year.
Also Forbes Australia
Profile of regional NSW sexual-health startup Hyphen Health: its rugby sponsorship, founding story, past angel and venture-debt raises, and growth in online STI testing.
Typeface has bought Treat and Narrato, its third and fourth acquisitions. The article recalls Treat's $8.5m-plus raise, Narrato's $1m-plus raise, and Typeface's $165m round at a $1bn valuation.
Also TechCrunch Venture
Swyftx adds three directors to its board following Jason Titman's June appointment as CEO, with founders Alex Harper and Angus Goldman also on the newly constituted board.
Main Sequence's blog spotlights Uluu's Julia Reisser, who moved from oceanography into making biodegradable seaweed-based plastics, recalling the company's Startmate beginnings and its first product with Quiksilver.
Bondi Partners' 1941 fund has put $5 million into The Whiskey Project Group's latest capital raise, which could reach $20 million and will fund US expansion plus growth of its NSW boatyard.
Profile of plant-based leather textiles maker Alt. Leather, recalling its 2023 raise backed by LaunchVic's Alice Anderson Fund and growing interest from global fashion and automotive brands.
Interview with Constantinople co-founder Di Challenor on her banking career and the record $32 million seed round she and Mac Duncan raised from Square Peg, Airtree and Great Southern Bank.
Sydney medtech Neurode has raised $5.3 million to refine its ADHD headband, run a clinical trial and open a private beta, offering drug-free brain stimulation for focus, memory and impulse control.
Also Forbes Australia
RFC Ambrian updates on portfolio company MRead, which it co-founded with CSIRO technology, reporting successful handheld explosives detector trials in Brisbane and upcoming field trials in Angola.
Weekly roundup: European climate and food startup raises, an Australian biotech's funding, Rappi buying Fountain9, Motif FoodWorks shutting down, a new Certis CEO, and a letter pressing banks over livestock lending.
FaBA introduces its newly appointed commercialisation director, who discusses his microbiome industry background and the accelerator's co-funded research projects for industry partners.
Brandon BioCatalyst's CUREator incubator has granted an extra $1.865m across four Australian biotechs working on antibiotic prescribing, schizophrenia, muscular dystrophy and autoimmune therapies, on top of their initial awards.
LaunchVic case study profiling Mindset Health, a maker of hypnotherapy apps, and founders Alex and Chris Naoumidis through Startmate, Y Combinator and the 30X30 program.
A Northern Territory developer of portable desalination gear has landed a government grant toward a bigger production project with two partners, aiming to take its device to full manufacture.
Roundup of Australian manufacturing updates: Sparc Hydrogen's R&D tax refund, executive appointments at Lockheed Martin Australia, Wellnex Life and Raytheon, a ReNu Energy power purchase deal, and BlueScope joining a low-carbon research centre.
Sydney agtech Number 8 Bio has banked $7 million in seed capital to develop yeast-based feed additives that cut livestock methane, with Main Sequence leading and Breakthrough Victoria putting in $1.7 million.
Also AgFunderNews·Beef Central / Grain Central·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews
Ten of the twelve startups joining the NSW-backed Techstars Sydney accelerator for 2024 have a female founder; past participant SeenCulture earlier banked $1m in capital.
Breakthrough Victoria has put $1.7 million into Number 8 Bio as part of a Main Sequence-led seed round alongside The March Group, backing feed technology that cuts livestock methane.
Also @AuManufacturing
Australian algae startup Algenie raises A$1.1 million from University of Technology Sydney and Better Bite Ventures while unveiling a thin-layer photobioreactor designed to make algae production dramatically cheaper for fuels, plastics and feed.
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Allegro Energy has completed a $17.5 million Series A round, with The Grantham Foundation at the helm and Origin Energy, Melt Ventures and Impact Ventures also in; Origin held a five per cent stake.
Also @AuManufacturing·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy·@AuManufacturing
SafetyCulture secured $75 million of fresh capital plus $90 million from existing shareholders selling shares, valuing the operations software company at $2.5 billion. Airtree, Blackbird, Morpheus Ventures, Hostplus and HESTA joined the round.
Also Tech Funding News - Australia·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Former Macquarie banker Ben Brazil's FitzWalter Capital raised $1.4 billion for its second distressed-assets fund, beating its initial $1.25 billion target; the firm now manages $2.3 billion.
Melbourne's ENA Respiratory has won a further US$3.18 million US Defense Department contract to widen its INNA-051 Phase Ib trial to younger adults, extending the US$8.18 million the agency had already committed.
Also Brandon BioCatalyst portfolio·Brandon Capital portfolio·Brandon Capital portfolio·enarespiratory.com
Week's funding roundup: Re-Leased raised US$12.5m for its property platform, Modra landed $15m from ABGF, and Safe Ag Systems drew $2.5m from AgFood Fund; Oltre took out the publisher's pitch contest.
Aura Ventures has signed a deal to sell its Integrated Portfolio Solutions stake to DASH Technology Group, its third divestment within a year, after DASH raised $20m from Bailador in July.
Also Bailador·Aura Group portfolio·Australian FinTech·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Australian FinTech
Quantum Brilliance is teaming up with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to run its room-temperature quantum processors alongside classical supercomputers for hybrid workloads; the company's work also receives ACT Government backing.
Aura Group has hired Dan Annan, a two-decade funds management veteran from BlackRock, BetaShares and Cosmos Asset Management, to lead distribution across its institutional and high-net-worth channels.
Cosmetics label founded by Anna Ross went into administration; its business was sold to a Fergus Sully company, leaving crowdfunding backers with nothing, and the New Zealand arm was liquidated.
Data centre company AirTrunk's multi-billion-dollar sale to Blackstone and a Canadian pension board is celebrated by founders of South Asian heritage, who see Robin Khuda's journey as inspiration for Australia's startup ecosystem.
Also Forbes Australia·ARN (ARNnet)·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia
Blackstone, joined by Canada's pension fund, has acquired data centre operator AirTrunk in its largest Asia-Pacific investment, valuing the company at $24 billion; the piece also recalls Macquarie's earlier backing.
The Australian Business Growth Fund puts $15 million into Modra, a Victorian maker of carpet manufacturing technology, for R&D and hiring; the fund's total outlays now reach $180 million from a $540 million pool.
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Advanced Navigation has recruited Wayne Prender, a veteran US defence executive and former Textron leader, to head its defence business from Washington DC, deepening the firm's American footprint amid closer Australia-US defence ties.
Two South Australian space companies, Safety from Space and AICRAFT, each received $100,000 from the state's new Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund for lunar rescue beacons and AI-powered radar payload projects with international partners.
Also @AuManufacturing
Main Sequence describes overhauling its deal-review process after unflattering founder feedback, cutting decision times, and asks the startup community for further input.
Australian shark-deterrent maker Ocean Guardian, behind the Shark Shield brand, has entered liquidation after receivership and two failed IPO attempts; Quartz Advisory's Olga Litosh was appointed administrator and no buyer emerged.
Construction data platform Deep Space has bought CodeSafe, which makes safety and quality compliance tools, folding its QIN app into Deep Space's offering; leaders of both companies describe the combination as a growth move.
Weekly round-up of four Australian raises: Shift's $35 million Series D, Inform Ag's $7 million Series A, Cropify's $2 million round and WhyHive's $600,000 pre-seed.
Main Sequence unveils Atmosphere, a new program backing young Australian deep tech companies with capital and mentoring, and brings on Grace Bird to lead it as Head of Atmosphere.
The venture firm's own post says it is out raising for a new vehicle to fill space corporate investors have vacated; the text states no close and no committed amount.
OneVentures' media-roundup page archives press coverage of the firm and of Employment Hero's major funding round, while its headline funds-under-management milestone remains an intention rather than a completed close.
PM Capital's Enhanced Yield Fund has taken a position in Australian Gas Networks senior secured bonds, and the article explains the defensive, regulated gas pipeline business and its attractive yield.
Grain-grading AI startup Cropify has landed $2 million, anchored by Brisbane agrifood VC Mandalay Venture Partners with Singapore's Hatcher+ — their first joint deal — while Mandalay's own fund has drawn roughly $27 million in commitments.
Commentary by Munro Partners' investment chief on the publisher's site discusses early Australian holders of the chipmaker selling down their stakes amid doubts over its huge market value.
A Mackay Goodwin tax specialist explains Australia's R&D Tax Incentive, urging eligible startups and SMEs to claim early, and cites MindFlight7's recent refund of more than $150,000 as an example of the cash-flow benefit.