Startup · $8.5m raised
Sydney, NSW
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Curious Thing raised.
| Investor | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| Black Sheep Capital | Seed | - |
| Hawkstone | Seed | - |
| January Capital | Seed | - |
| Qualgro | Seed · Seed | - |
| Reinventure Group | Seed · Seed | - |
Companies Curious Thing acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Zheng | CEO · Founder | Startup Daily (Mon 16 May 2022), TechCrunch Australia, Startup Daily (Fri 8 Oct 2021), Startup Daily (Wed 19 Feb 2020), SmartCompany, Startup Daily (Tue 5 Feb 2019) |
| Dr Han Xu | CTO · Founder | TechCrunch Australia, SmartCompany, Startup Daily |
| David Mckeague | Chief Strategy Officer · Founder | TechCrunch Australia, SmartCompany, Startup Daily |
Stories naming Curious Thing. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Voice AI company Curious Thing has secured $7 million in a pre-Series A round led by Hawkstone, with Blacksheep Capital, January Capital and returning backers Reinventure and Qualgro, to fund hiring and expansion.
Also TechCrunch Venture
Analytics automation firm Alteryx has acquired Sydney AI startup Hyper Anna on undisclosed terms. The article recalls Hyper Anna's 2016 seed round and 2017 Series A backed by Sequoia China, Airtree, Reinventure and IAG Firemark.
A two-year retrospective on the Sydney Startup Hub profiles resident ventures, including Cheq's seed raise, OpenSparkz's funding totals and Antler's early-stage investments.
Reinventure Group promotes its first two employees to partner roles, while the article recalls its earlier investments in SocietyOne, Slyp, Curious Thing and Flybits, and Westpac's role as limited partner.
A guide to twelve funding routes for Australian startups, covering venture capital, angels, debt, accelerators, grants, corporate venture, crowdfunding, ICOs and loans, with many past raises cited as examples.
Also Crunchbase News·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Crunchbase News·TechCrunch Venture·TechCrunch Venture
A Sydney conversational AI startup built for automated job interviews has raised seed capital from two investors to grow its team and product; a competitor's earlier backing is also recalled.
Reinventure's blog post says the fund and Singaporean investor Qualgro together backed Sydney conversational-AI startup Curious Thing with $1.5 million at seed stage.