David Jones

Group48 buys accessories distributor Vimwood to widen its brand portfolio

Butter: The anti-establishment app working to get you offline and breaking bread IRL

Forbes Australia profiles Butter, a year-old Melbourne app fighting loneliness through in-person gatherings, now at 10,000 users with $260,000 from backer Antler at a roughly $2.2 million valuation.

Sonder raises $40m from Blackbird Ventures, Seek, Hostplus

Sonder, a workplace health and wellbeing provider, closed a 40 million dollar round with Blackbird and Seek leading, Hostplus newly investing, and funds aimed at growth across Australia, New Zealand, Britain and AI features.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

‘When Lachlan calls, you answer’: Inside this Murdoch-backed luggage giant

Profile of luggage brand July, built by Melbourne founders Athan Didaskalou and Richard Li with backing including Lachlan Murdoch, covering its pandemic pivot, Olympic team supply deal and retail expansion.

Zero-waste enterprise Circonomy celebrates national expansion and the “gritty, shitty, and unpretty” fight for sustainable consumption

Circonomy, formerly World's Biggest Garage Sale, has opened a Melbourne refurbishment hub and launched a national squad helping corporate clients divert surplus goods from landfill, with new CEO Ryan Swenson appointed from shareholder Officeworks.

Business digitisation and consulting startup FORMM raises $600,000 pre-Seed

Digital consulting startup FORMM has raised a $600,000 pre-seed round from individual investors who also take on leadership, board and advisory roles, to help mid-sized businesses digitise.

Also SmartCompany

After $10 million in sales, Liquor Loot is using crowdfunding to launch its international expansion

Maker of whisky and gin tasting boxes plans an equity crowdfunding campaign on Birchal to fund Southeast Asian expansion, having earlier taken capital from Koala's co-founders; no money has been raised yet.

Marley Spoon CMO Kate Whitney joins fintech Wisr Board

Wisr has appointed Marley Spoon marketing chief Kate Whitney as a non-executive director from April 2022, following Cathryn Lyall's January appointment and lifting female board representation to 40%.

Personal care company selling in 12 countries | Awarded Australian government grant | $1.5M already raised

Wholesale Investor profiles Dr Mark's HyGenie, an oral hygiene company that has raised $1.5 million in a Series A and received a $1 million Australian government commercialisation grant, and is now offering $5 million.

Aussie ISV Zetaris to go global after Ingram Micro investment

Zetaris, a Victorian analytics firm, received an investment and partnership from Ingram Micro after its Cloud Comet Competition, enabling global expansion, while Ingram Micro Australia appointed Trent Gomersall as cloud director.

5 things you should know about tech today

Daily tech roundup covering Walmart's engineering workforce, Udaan's US$585 million Series D, Dyson abandoning its electric vehicle project, criticism of AirPods battery waste, and Zip's leadership hires plus acquisitions of PartPay and Spotcap.

Sugar-free drinks startup Nexba used crowdfunding to raise a quarter of its $6 million Series A round

Drinks brand Nexba closed a $6 million Series A, sourcing $1.5 million through VentureCrowd crowdfunding and the balance from private backers including River Capital and Gaingels, alongside other crowdfunding campaigns by Mungalli Creek Dairy and Supp.

Shoes of Prey goes into liquidation

Custom footwear startup Shoes of Prey has entered liquidation, with FTI Consulting appointed, six months after pausing orders. Its cofounder reflected on the failure, including a 2015 US$15.5 million funding round.

Also Startup Daily