Ledger.

Startup · $85m raised

Baraja

Sydney, NSW

Coverage

Stories naming Baraja. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.

8 deals

Four Aussie startups that raised $2.86 billion this week (sort of)

Roundup of four Australian raises: Firmus Technologies' US$2 billion round at a $15 billion valuation, Eudaemon's $3.75 million, Zabidou's $3.5 million seed round, and Rampart's $2.3 million.

Also This Week in Australian Startups

Funding announcement

Here are 19 startups sharing in $2.28 million as part of the Summer ’26 Startmate accelerator

Nineteen early-stage companies join Startmate's Summer '26 accelerator intake, each receiving $120,000 for 7% equity — $2.28 million overall — spanning construction, healthcare, fintech, energy and manufacturing.

Pre-seed

Our investment in Breaker: Physical AI that Supercharges Teams and Missions

Main Sequence's blog post announces it led robotics software startup Breaker's pre-seed round, citing the founders' defence and robotics backgrounds and plans to expand the team and US presence.

3 deals

Workplace coaching platform Fingerprint for Success raises $6.5 million

Fingerprint for Success, an AI coaching platform, has closed a $6.5 million second seed round led by Investible, with Canva's founders investing again; its lifetime funding now totals $9.2 million.

Seed $5m

Virtual personal and professional coach creator takes funding to $9 million

Fingerprint for Success, maker of AI coach Marlee, raised $5 million in an Investible-led seed round, lifting total funding to $9 million, with participation from Five V Capital, Salesforce Ventures and several high-profile angels.

Also SmartCompany

Unnamed stage $5m

Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Roundup of Australian manufacturing news: Orbital UAV's $5m placement with UIL backing, Nufarm's record earnings, a Hazer–Mitsui graphite agreement, Baraja's patent milestone, the new skills agency, and a university research grant.

News

Learn More About Blackbird's First Aotearoa Community Lead Role

Blackbird answers common questions about its new Aotearoa Community Lead job, covering the New Zealand team's community events, programmes with partners, ethical investing approach, venture capital business model and application process.

14 deals

Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: Unicorns galore, online marketplaces put on notice, VC pyramid schemes

Weekly roundup reporting Invoice2go's sale to Bill.com, raises by Go1, Employment Hero, InDebted and others, Rokt's secondary sale, Wildcard Ventures' launch, plus global deals including Zoom-Five9 and Salesforce-Slack.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany

7 deals

Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: VC investment peaks, cowtech as bro, Big Tech earnings soar

Weekly roundup covering Main Sequence's second-fund close, operating partner hires at Blackbird and AirTree, raises by Sea Forest, Adventus.io, Halter and others, acquisitions by Equiem, Stripe and Toyota, plus Big Tech earnings.

Fund close $250m

Fund 2 Announcement

Australia's Main Sequence has pulled in A$250 million for its second deep tech fund, with existing backers returning and a sharpened emphasis on decarbonisation investments.

Also TechCrunch Venture·TechCrunch Venture·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·TechCrunch Venture

7 deals

The startup funding round: $1.25 million for craft beer, Vloggi's $3.3 million valuation, and a payday for Startmate

Weekly funding roundup covering Batch Brewing's equity crowdfunding campaign, Vloggi's pre-seed raise and valuation, Startmate's Victorian government funding, plus large raises by Linktree, Baraja, Lumary and Nourish Ingredients.

Also Startup Daily

79 deals

CTV Funding News - 1Q 2021

Cut Through Venture's debut quarterly newsletter rounds up Q1 2021 raises across Australian and New Zealand startups, highlighting crowdfunding, fintech dominance, active investors, and two newly launched startups currently seeking backers.

Also phocassoftware.com·LaunchVic

3 deals

Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

SEA Electric orders batteries after a $54m raise; Baraja raises $40m for LIDAR, led by Blackbird; Stealth demos weed detection; Wattle Health lifts profit and sells its dairy arm; Hydac wins VR training grant.

Also Cut Through Venture·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing

2 deals

Australian lidar maker Baraja collects $31M B round to illuminate the future of autonomy

Baraja, an Australian lidar startup, raised a Series B with backing from Hitachi Construction Machinery, HESTA, Blackbird and others, funding continued development of its prism-based Spectrum-Scan technology for mining, ports and autonomous vehicles.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing

13 deals

Year in Reflection: 2020

Blackbird's year-end review covers its fourth fund announcement, investments in companies including See-Mode, Morse Micro and SafetyCulture, Startmate's climate cohort intakes, Mike Cannon-Brookes joining its board, and numerous team hires.

Also Blackbird Ventures portfolio·TechCrunch Venture·TechCrunch Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Women's Agenda·Startup News (WA)·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Women's Agenda·Startup Daily

2 deals

Blackbird Raises $500M Fund

Blackbird announces the close of its fourth fund at $500 million, bringing total committed capital to $1.24 billion, and separately announces Mike Cannon-Brookes joining its board as chair.

Also Blackbird Ventures portfolio·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

13 deals

Funding for Australian startups just had a bumper start to 2019, but things are starting to look tougher

Techboard's March 2019 quarterly report records over $2.6 billion in startup funding, driven by CBA's PEXA acquisition, Airwallex's unicorn round, several large raises, and a warning that early-stage deal flow is shrinking.

Also Startup News (WA)

Series A $45m

LiDAR systems manufacturer raises $45 million

Sydney driverless-vehicle sensor maker Baraja has closed a Series A backed by three venture firms, adding to earlier seed money, to scale production of its LiDAR navigation systems and recruit skilled staff.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Crunchbase News·TechCrunch Venture·TechCrunch Venture

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