Oxford

Investment Notes: Elyos

Blackbird's post explains why it led Elyos's Series A with PiLabs, YC and 468 Capital, profiling the AI phone-agent startup for trade businesses, its traction and its three founders.

Inside Ochre: a new startup program for First Nations entrepreneurs

Profile of Dr Kyle Turner launching the LaunchVic-funded Ochre pre-accelerator for First Nations founders, recalling his dental AI startup Pearlii and his role at a new First Nations venture fund.

Indigenous founder focused VC Ochre Ventures hits $30 million first close on $100m target

First Nations-focused venture firm Ochre Ventures has closed the first tranche of its debut fund at $30m against a $100m goal, with PSG Holdings, MicroProse and Xylo Systems among five early investments.

Inside Ochre – here’s what you need to know about a new pre-accelerator program for First Nations entrepreneurs

Profile of Dr Kyle Turner, who is building Ochre, a LaunchVic-backed pre-accelerator for First Nations founders, and previously raised $3m-plus for dental AI startup Pearlii.

Also Startup Daily·LaunchVic

How to fill holes in dental care … without seeing a dentist

Profile of Pearlii founder Kyle Turner, whose Melbourne AI dental-checkup app followed a 2019 Dream Ventures pitch, tracing his journey from Dubbo to Oxford and the company's pivot to dental products.

Investment Notes: Samphire Neuroscience

AfterWork Ventures explains why it invested pre-seed in Samphire Neuroscience, a neurotech startup whose headband eases menstrual symptoms, alongside hardware accelerator HAX, profiling the Oxford-founded team and the women's health opportunity.

Also Startup Daily

Investment Notes: Jupiter Ionics

Tenacious Ventures' investment note on its participation in Jupiter Ionics' AUD 2.5 million seed round; the startup develops carbon-neutral ammonia production using technology invented at Monash University.

Slowly getting closer to the pointy end

Profile of Brisbane medtech firm Vaxxas on scaling its needle-free vaccine patch from prototype toward commercial manufacture, with pharma partner Merck and production specialist Harro Hofliger announced as collaborators.

EvokeAg 2020: Sparks as meat and plant protein share same stage

Conference report from Melbourne where plant-based and conventional protein advocates debated. Fable Foods' funding round closed, and Michael Fox's earlier shoe startup Shoes of Prey is recalled as collapsed.

Trialling drones and tractors for cost-effective revegetation (1 May 2019)

A University of New England-led project with UK firm BioCarbon Engineering will test drone and tractor seeding for cheaper revegetation of cotton farmland, backed by a $1.3 million government grant won by CRDC.

Opal Therapeutics Inc and Massachusetts General Hospital enter Joint Development Collaboration and Initiate HIV Immunotherapy Clinical Studies - Therapeutic Vaccine Trials to Start in London, UK

Opal Therapeutics partners with Massachusetts General Hospital on an HIV immunotherapy collaboration as human trials begin in London; the biotech counts Alloy Ventures, Alta Partners and GBS Ventures among its backers.