Venture capital fund · 14 deals
Venture fund and studio backing early-stage startups in WA
Perth, WA
Every published round BetterLabs Ventures took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.
Companies BetterLabs Ventures has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete Home Filtration | 29 Jan 2021, Grant | 2 | 0 | |
| Environmental Water Solutions | 23 May 2019, Seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Loopit | 21 Jun 2024, Seed | 1 | 0 | |
| The Volte | 19 May 2023, Series A | 1 | 0 | |
| Gathered Here | End-of-life services for wills, funerals and probate | 24 May 2021, Seed | 2 | 1 |
| Snackr | 30 Jun 2022, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Upcover | 5 Jul 2022, Seed | 3 | 1 | |
| WeMoney | 1 Oct 2020, Seed | 3 | 2 |
Fund closes reported for BetterLabs Ventures, as distinct from the investments it has made.
| Fund | Announced | Committed | Target | Close | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BetterLabs Ventures | 30 Jan 2020 | $23m | - | - | Startup News (WA), Startup Daily |
Investors that coverage says has money in a fund BetterLabs Ventures runs. This is a stake in the fund, not in any company the fund has backed.
Companies BetterLabs Ventures has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal BetterLabs Ventures did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Derek Gerrard | Entrepreneur-In-Residence | Startup Daily, Startup News (WA) (Tue 24 Sep 2019), Startup News (WA) (Thu 14 Mar 2019), Startup News (WA) (Tue 20 Nov 2018) |
| Derek Gerrard | Entrepreneur-In-Residence (former) · Founder | Startup Daily, Startup News (WA) (Sun 7 Apr 2024), Startup News (WA) (Fri 31 Jan 2020) |
| James Edwards | General Manager Strategic Innovation | Australian FinTech, Startup News (WA) (Wed 3 Jul 2024), Startup Daily (Tue 5 Jul 2022), Startup Daily (Tue 28 Jun 2022), Startup News (WA) (Wed 1 Jun 2022), Startup News (WA) (Wed 11 Nov 2020) |
Stories naming BetterLabs Ventures. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Funding roundup covering six Australian-linked startups: Superpower's US$30m Series A, WeMoney's $12m Series A plus debt facility, InsightWise's $1m pre-seed, and Bupa's first venture investments in three health startups.
WeMoney banked $12 million in a Series A led via Laurence Escalante's family office, with Mastercard among backers, plus $1 million debt, at a reported $100 million valuation.
Also SmartCompany
Insurance broking platform UpCover secured a $19 million Series A — $11 million equity led by RealVC plus $8 million debt from Marshall Investments — with Antler Elevate, Betterlabs, Gandel Invest and individual investors taking part.
Roar Global has bought Creator Flow, a marketplace for user-generated content built in BetterLabs' Venture Studio about a year after its May 2023 founding, with no purchase price disclosed.
Weekly roundup covering seven ANZ startup raises — Bare Funerals, Humii, WeMoney, CLT Toolbox, Clean Slate Clinic, SpatialGPT and Great Wrap — plus LaunchVic's $900,000 into Paul Little's Skalata fund.
Also Startup Daily
Weekly roundup listing seven Australian startups and their raises, totalling $17.7 million across AI, packaging materials, fintech, digital health, music licensing, construction software and swimwear.
Also Startup Daily
Startup News profiles the twelve startups chosen for Spacecubed's 2024 Plus Eight intake in Western Australia, naming their founders and crediting the partners behind the program.
Perth backer Purpose Ventures has added follow-on money to WA care platform PlanCare, taking its seed funding to $2.5 million; the firm's $45 million fund has now backed four startups.
WA's Purpose Ventures has put more money into Plancare, a self-managed healthcare platform, lifting its cumulative backing to $2.5 million; the article also profiles the fund's founders, portfolio and history.
Also Startup Daily
Perth's Plus Eight accelerator has picked six startups for its 2023 program, collectively backed with over $400,000 in seed funding, plus an Israel trip and a December Demo Night slot.
Kylie and Derek Gerrard's Purpose Ventures has closed $37m for its Western Australian startup fund, with WA investors, the Steinberg Family Office as cornerstone backer and state government operational support.
Also Startup Daily
The article reports WeMoney achieved its first profitability in late 2022, with strong revenue and user growth, and notes it may fundraise in 2023 after raising $9m to date from several backers.
Spacecubed's Plus Eight Accelerator has named six startups advancing to its final phase, giving them access to a $500,000 seed funding pool and a Demo Night pitch at December's West Tech Fest.
A roundup of Australian startups that raised funds in recent weeks: mx51, Refundid, Storipress, HIVERY, InternMatch, upcover, Pearler and Loopit together secured over $100 million despite a cooling venture market.
Also Cut Through Venture
WeMoney closed a $7 million round in March 2022, led by Full Circle VC and Betterlabs with new backers, following its 2020 seed raise, to fund product development.
Also Startup News (WA)·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Australian FinTech
Insurance platform Upcover has secured a $2.7 million seed round plus $2 million in debt from Antler Australia, Betterlabs and insurance executives, to fund product development and customer acquisition for its embedded SMB insurance API.
RAC's Perth-based BetterLabs Venture Fund has deployed more than $2.5 million across eight Australian startups in six months, including seed funding for Snackr, taking its portfolio to 22 investments and over $12 million.
Also Startup Daily·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Australian FinTech
Podcast episode with the two founders of IDEA, a new school for young entrepreneurs, covering their accelerator graduation, early backing from BetterLabs Ventures, and first student cohort.
Live-event food delivery app Snackr has raised a $915,000 seed round led by BetterLabs with Woodside Energy, Eastcourt Capital and Spacecubed Ventures, to grow across more Australian and UK venues.
Ten startups have been chosen for the 2022 Plus Eight Accelerator in Perth, with corporate partners including Capricorn Society, Woodside Energy and RAC BetterLabs supporting the founders as the program begins.
Death-tech startup Gathered Here raised $1 million led by Common Sense Ventures, with BetterLabs and Murray Bleach participating, doubling its valuation seven months after a $1.1 million seed round.
Also Startup Daily
Will-writing and funeral comparison platform Gathered Here has raised $1.1 million led by BetterLabs, with Luxem and angel Murray Bleach participating, to grow its team and charity bequest tools.
RAC's corporate venture fund BetterLabs has made four recent investments totalling over $2.7 million, backing three WA female-founded startups — The Volte, Digii Social and Hey Lady — plus US insurtech Waffle.
Perth water filtration firm Complete Home Filtration closed a $2.4 million Series A, with BetterLabs Ventures reinvesting and Tasmanian investor Andrew Sypkes joining, to fund expansion and its PFAS-removing Attapure technology.
Perth fintech WeMoney has launched publicly with a $2 million round led by RAC's venture arm BetterLabs, joined by Full Circle VC and several angel investors, for its community-based money management app.
Also Australian FinTech·SmartCompany·Startup News (WA)·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup News (WA)·Australian FinTech·Startup News (WA)·Australian FinTech
Perth motoring club RAC has expanded its BetterLabs Ventures seed fund to $23 million after strong early demand, letting it back startups beyond seed into Series A and B rounds.
Also Startup News (WA)
Startup News recaps its most-read July-September 2019 stories, several of which reported WA funding rounds and a foundation fund launch, alongside growth of its HUBS database and subscriber base.
A Perth water filtration startup has developed technology that removes PFAS from household water, winning a federal commercialisation grant plus matching venture backing, with defence-site trials and certification now planned.
Also Startup News (WA)
Perth space-sharing startup SpacetoCo has received an equity investment from RAC-backed venture fund BetterLabs Ventures, its third deal, having earlier won Shark Tank backing from Steve Baxter and completed the Plus Eight accelerator.
Perth household water filtration business Environmental Water Solutions receives seed funding from RAC-backed BetterLabs Ventures, the fund's second investment after Power Ledger, to expand marketing and commercialise PFAS-fighting filtration technology.
Also Startup News (WA)
A Perth investor explains what his RAC-backed seed fund seeks in startups, describing its application process, deal sizes and criteria, and naming the energy blockchain company as its first investment.
RAC-backed BetterLabs is seeking WA startups for its $3 million seed fund, writing cheques of $100k to $500k per deal, and has previously invested in Power Ledger.