Goterra

AgriFood Signals: Uber’s $14.8bn bid for Delivery Hero, Hippo Harvest banks $30m, agentic AI for ag

AgFunderNews roundup of agtech and foodtech items: several venture raises and EU grants, Uber's agreed takeover of Delivery Hero, Winnow's purchase of Lumitics, Norrsken Evolve's fund close, and Goterra's liquidation.

Creditors vote to put food waste startup Goterra in liquidation

Creditors have voted to wind up Canberra insect-protein startup Goterra after sale and recapitalisation efforts failed, with administrators reporting mounting losses and recoveries likely confined to their fees.

AgriFood Signals: Bayer wins roundup case, CEO change at Vow, Reservoir acquires Contain

AgFunderNews roundup of agtech and foodtech developments: several funding rounds, four acquisitions including Danone buying Made in Protein, a leadership change at Vow, a grant, and other industry items.

Goterra administrator seeks buyer as founder warns of insect ag sector 'contagion'

Insect farming company Goterra has entered voluntary administration in Australia; its administrator is seeking a buyer while founder Olympia Yarger blames sector contagion and underfunding for the collapse.

The Missing Middle in action: what Goterra's collapse reveals about the cost of abandoning scaleups

Opinion piece argues Goterra's administration shows Australia lacks scale-up capital; the author, AxleTree Capital's co-founder, links the collapse to underfunding of women founders and the system's failure to finance capital-heavy technologies.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·Business News Australia

'There's no such thing as the right investor': Goterra's Olympia Yarger on why she turned to crowdfunding for her new raise

Goterra's founder argues first-of-a-kind companies need a layered capital stack spanning institutional, crowdfunding, government and corporate money rather than one lead investor, and points readers to her live CSF campaign on OnMarket.

💫 Ramplify: November Nattering

Rampersand's newsletter announces it led Keeyu's $2.3 million pre-seed round, alongside portfolio updates from Quantum Brilliance, Cuttable, Hatch and Goterra, plus job listings and reflections on domain founders and Australian venture capital.

Also Rampersand·quantumwire.com·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·semiconductorindustrymonthly.com

9. Goterra

SmartCompany's Smart50 Awards 2024 profile ranks agtech Goterra ninth. The Canberra business turns food waste into animal feed using robot-managed maggots, with customers including Woolworths and the City of Sydney.

The Week in AgriFoodTech: Blue Stripes, Nukoko land rounds for alt chocolate, OroraTech snags deal for wildfire detection

Roundup of agrifoodtech news: alternative-chocolate funding for Blue Stripes and Nukoko, new capital for OroraTech and other climate startups, an Australian plant-based firm's liquidation and sale, executive moves, and a forest fund's first close.

Agtech VC Tenacious Ventures plants $18 million in first close for Fund II

Agtech investor Tenacious Ventures reached an $18 million first close on its second fund, which has a $50 million target; backers include Trawalla Group, Wollemi Capital Group and Macdoch Ventures.

Also Forbes Australia

New $150m fund targets net zero “disruption” start-ups across energy, transport, recycling

Investment firm Pollination has launched a $150m vehicle backing climate and nature start-ups, anchored by a cornerstone commitment from Queensland Investment Corporation, with first investments expected from late 2024.

New $150 million venture capital fund to pollinate climate, nature startups

Pollination has rolled out a $150 million fund for environmentally focused startups, anchored by Queensland Investment Corporation, and will begin picking companies late in 2024 across five sectors.

Also AgFunderNews·Startup Daily

Data snapshot: From ‘lightning in a box’ to microbial carbon capture, agrifoodtech investment moves upstream in Australia as investors focus on climate mitigation

A data review of 2023's ten largest Australian agrifoodtech raises, topped by Loam Bio's US$73.2 million Series B, showing funding down 33% as capital concentrated in upstream climate-mitigation startups.

Mike Cannon-Brookes names former Macquarie banker Tan Kueh as Grok's CEO

Mike Cannon-Brookes' investment vehicle Grok Ventures has hired Tan Kueh, ex-Macquarie, UBS and BlackRock, as CEO, joining CIO Jeremy Kwong-Law, as it sharpens its strategy around climate investing.

Yume's platform helps manufacturers turn potential food waste into money

Melbourne food-waste startup Yume announced a A$2 million seed round from Investible's Climate Tech Fund, Launch VIC, Goodrich Group, Veolia and angel Pitzy Folk, bringing its total funding to A$7 million.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Data snapshot: From insect ag and vertical farming to aquaculture… the top 20 deals in Novel Farming Systems in 2023

AgFunderNews reviews 2023's largest Novel Farming Systems funding rounds, showing sector investment fell to $680 million from $2.8 billion, and notes bankruptcies including Lemnature AquaFarms.

Australia's climate tech industry is booming, but it could bust without funds

Feature on Australia's fast-growing climate tech sector, recounting raises at companies including Neara, Loam Bio, Goterra and Great Wrap, and warning that scarce growth capital and limited foreign investment could stall the industry.

“Groundbreaking”: Goterra deploys insect-powered waste tech at leading Brisbane hospitality precinct

Canberra climate-tech firm Goterra has installed its insect-powered waste processing at Brisbane's Howard Smith Wharves precinct, its first Queensland site, with $18 million of outside funding behind it and Woolworths already a client.

DOG'S BREAKFAST: Pet Circle's $75m raise from US VC a rare highlight for Australian startups amid a 42% fall in funding for September quarter

Cut Through Ventures' quarterly analysis shows Australian startup funding down 42% year-on-year at A$739 million over 77 deals, with Pet Circle's $75 million Series D from Prysm Capital the period's largest round.

Also SmartCompany·RenewEconomy·@AuManufacturing

$739 million hits start-ups in Q3 – but funding still lags behind 2022

A quarterly venture funding report shows Australian startups collected $739 million across 77 deals in Q3 2023, trailing earlier periods; SafetyCulture and Lyre's Spirit Co drew the largest rounds while female founders' share improved.

Also TechCrunch Venture·SmartCompany·Capital Brief·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·AgFunderNews

Eight Aussie startups that raised $85.6 million this week

Weekly roundup reporting eight Australian startups together raised $85.6 million across mining tech, cybersecurity, waste, energy storage, health and micromobility, plus a Google.org grant for Global Sisters.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany

The Week in AgriFoodTech: Konscious Foods snags $26m for alt-seafood, Ocean 14 Capital reels in $33m

Weekly agrifoodtech roundup reporting Konscious Foods' seed raise, commitments into Ocean 14 Capital's blue economy fund, LIVEKINDLY's acquisition of Alpha Foods, several grants, and a Wiliot advisor hire.

Also AgFunderNews

Cannon-Brookes-backed food waste recycling startup banks $10 million bridging round

Goterra, a Canberra venture that recycles food scraps with maggots into animal feed, has banked a $10 million bridge to grow its waste plants serving Woolworths, with a Series B planned this year.

Also AgFunderNews·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·AgFunderNews

On-Farm Food Loss and Beyond with Sarah Hulick and Olympia Yarger

Tenacious Ventures wraps up its food waste podcast series with an episode on losses at the farm, featuring academic Sarah Hulick and Goterra chief executive Olympia Yarger.

Don't Go Chasing (only) Unicorns

An agtech venture firm argues deeptech startups can deliver venture-grade returns: technical breakthroughs unlock industrial demand, while debt and project finance limit dilution, so outsized unicorns need not be the only target.

This Aussie farmer is using maggots to solve a major problem

Profile of Olympia Yarger, founder of Canberra agri-tech startup Goterra, which uses robot-managed maggots to process food waste into protein and fertiliser, recalling its 2018 seed and 2020 raises led by Grok Ventures.

Also SmartCompany

VC Giant Leap pioneers linking carbon reduction to startup company revenue

Impact investor Giant Leap sets a benchmark requiring its climate tech investments to avoid one kilogram of emissions per dollar of revenue, based on data from its portfolio companies.

Mike & Annie Cannon-Brookes just turned Grok Ventures into Australia's first $1 billion VC fund to invest in climate tech

Startup Daily reports the Atlassian co-founder and his wife have pledged a billion dollars via their family firm Grok Ventures to climate-focused startups, plus half a billion to philanthropy.

Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: the rise of the technouveau riche

Weekly roundup covering Canva's huge raise and rich-list climb, a run of Australian startup funding rounds including SiteMinder and Mable, Domain's purchase of IDS, and Mailchimp's sale to Intuit.

Also Startup Daily·Australian FinTech·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Australian FinTech

Founders Stories Podcast: Special Episode - Talent Attracts Talent

Square Peg's podcast special explores how founders build talent engines, featuring interviews with leaders from Deputy, Vend, Aconex, Fiverr, Zeller and others, published alongside the firm's search for a new Head of Talent.

Founders Stories Podcast: Olympia Yarger on tackling climate change using maggot robots.

Square Peg's podcast interviews GoTerra founder and CEO Olympia Yarger about her Canberra robotics venture using maggots to convert food waste into livestock feed, plus her entrepreneurial journey and fundraising experiences.

After closing $27m maiden fund, Tenacious Ventures seeks to scale-up Australian agrifoodtech

Agrifoodtech venture firm Tenacious Ventures has completed the final close of its debut fund at A$35 million, with CEFC and Grok Ventures as cornerstone backers, and has so far backed six startups including Goterra, Nori and Vow.

Tenacious Ventures closes first agrifood tech fund, oversubscribed at $35m

Tenacious Ventures closed its debut agrifood tech fund oversubscribed at A$35 million, after a March 2020 first close of just over $20 million backed by the CEFC's Clean Energy Innovation Fund and Grok Ventures.

Also Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·evokeag.com·farmingahead.com.au·Dynamic Business·agriinvestor.com·@AuManufacturing·AgFunderNews·globalaginvesting.com·@AuManufacturing·globalventuring.com

Your 90-second guide to the day in tech

Comestri, once Fusion Factory, has raised a $15 million Series B led by Moelis Australia; Giant Leap promotes Rachel Yang to partner; plus Musk on SNL, Dogecoin swings and Goldman Sachs bitcoin trading.

Also Business News Australia·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Investment Notes: Goterra

Tenacious Ventures' first investment note describes co-leading insect-farming waste startup Goterra's $8 million Series A with Grok Ventures, profiling founder Olympia Yarger and the company's modular food-waste technology.

Also AgFunderNews·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Women's Agenda·globalaginvesting.com·Forbes Australia

Maggots, mulch and meals: Meet four Aussie businesses committed to eliminating food waste

Profiles four ventures tackling food waste: Bring Me Home, Reground, Yume and Goterra, describing their models and noting Bring Me Home's accelerator completion and crowdfunding campaign reaching its minimum target.

Also SmartCompany·Women's Agenda

VCs are human too: Goterra founder Olympia Yarger on the emotional road to securing seed funding

An interview with Goterra founder Olympia Yarger and investor Will Richardson recalling her emotionally difficult seed raise, backed by Giant Leap Fund, and the investor relationship that helped close it.

Also Forbes Australia