Didi

Blobfish appoints former Coca-Cola executive to spearhead US expansion in $4b sampling market

Five Aussie startups that raised $85 million this week

Roundup of five Australian raises totalling $85 million: National Renewable Network's Series A, plus Syenta, Cuttable, SprintSuite and Bitwise Agronomy, with lead investors and expansion plans for each.

Cuttable tops up seed round with $4.5 million for AI ad platform

Melbourne adtech firm Cuttable has added $4.5 million to its seed round with Square Peg leading, taking total backing to $10 million and valuing the business at $44.5 million ahead of its US push.

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Three Aussie startups that raised $9.7 million this week

Weekly roundup of three Australian raises: adtech firm Cuttable's seed round, Fundabl's equity round and SeenCulture's funding, naming investors, plus new Cuttable co-CEOs and a board appointment.

Ola vamos? Reports suggest Uber's Indian rideshare rival is quitting Australia, but it's impossible to confirm

Startup Daily says it cannot verify reports that Indian rideshare firm Ola will stop running in Australia this week, finding no official notice, dormant social accounts, and an app still quoting fares.

Fintech TaxLeopard acquires PwC spinout rival and Uber favourite Airtax

Melbourne tax app maker TaxLeopard has bought Airtax, a PwC-born tax tool with tens of thousands of users, and is now seeking new funding.

Ignition Lane's Wrap: the state of Cloud, VC advice, Tiger stripes, cattle class crypto, M&A fires up

Weekly tech wrap: cloud-market trends, Tiger Global's cheques into Stake, Shippit and Carma, new VC funds, several acquisitions, grocery delivery startups Send and Quicko collapsing, and Elaine Stead joining M8 Ventures.

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Investment notes: Neuron US$18.5m Series A

Square Peg's investment note explains why it backed e-scooter operator Neuron's US$18.5 million Series A with GSR Ventures, highlighting the company's city-permit strategy across Australia and New Zealand.

Also Square Peg Capital portfolio

Brisbane workforce productivity startup Skedulo raises $100 million from SoftBank

Skedulo, founded in Brisbane and now San Francisco-headquartered, has raised a Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 to scale its deskless workforce platform and expand internationally.

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Starting from scratch: Why launching your startup in China might be harder than you think

Construction materials tracking startup Matrak received a government commercialisation grant while adapting its platform for China, building on earlier seed backing and support from a trade program.

This Indian startup just closed a $1.2 billion Series E round, backed by Didi and Grab

Indian hotel platform Oyo closed its Series E at $1.2 billion, with SoftBank leading, Didi Chuxing putting in $100 million and Grab just over US$100 million, valuing the company at $5 billion.