Startup · $3m raised · Financial services · AI
Melbourne, VIC
Every published round Skalata Ventures took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted, and a place in one of its own programs is under Cohorts.
Everyone Skalata Ventures has named to a program in published coverage. A place in a program is not a raise: the cheque is the figure recorded with the place, which is the program's standard terms where we hold them, and a blank is one we don't.
| Member | Program | Announced | Cheque | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ardacious | Skalata Ventures Seed Investment Program | 6 Aug 2026 | - | Skalata Ventures, Startup Daily |
| Strength by Numbers | Skalata Ventures Seed Investment Program | 6 Aug 2026 | - | Skalata Ventures, Startup Daily |
Companies Skalata Ventures has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preezie | 28 May 2020, Seed | 2 | 0 | |
| Bookbot | 14 Dec 2021, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Patch | 14 Dec 2021, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| NetNada | 31 Aug 2022, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Optomni | 6 Oct 2022, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Omni Biotech | 2023, Pre-seed | 1 | 0 | |
| WhyHive | Mar 2023, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 | |
| CO-Architecture | 12 Apr 2023, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Restoplus | 21 Apr 2023, Seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Cleverbean | May 2023, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Enrola | 2024, Pre-seed | 2 | 0 | |
| Doohly | Mar 2024, Pre-seed | 1 | 0 | |
| WorkRex | 22 Apr 2024, Pre-seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Switchboard | May 2024, Seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Nucanon | 6 May 2024, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Humii | 24 May 2024, Pre-seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Monty Compost Co | 9 Aug 2024 | 1 | 0 | |
| LoveHeart AI | 19 Aug 2024, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Viewa | 14 Nov 2024, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 | |
| TALY | 4 Dec 2024, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Mobius | 9 May 2025, Accelerator | 1 | 0 | |
| Foremind | 21 May 2025 | 1 | 0 | |
| Termina | 10 Jun 2025, Seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Paperly | 29 Nov 2025 | 1 | 0 | |
| Cor | 3 Dec 2025, Pre-seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Ardacious | 1 Sep 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Strength by Numbers | 1 Sep 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 |
Fund closes reported for Skalata Ventures, as distinct from the investments it has made.
| Fund | Announced | Committed | Target | Close | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund II | 9 Dec 2021 | $25m+ | $50m | Interim | Skalata Ventures, Startup Daily (Mon 13 Dec 2021), Startup Daily (Thu 9 Dec 2021) |
Investors that coverage says has money in a fund Skalata Ventures runs. This is a stake in the fund, not in any company the fund has backed.
| Investor | Fund | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Anthony Eisen | Skalata Fund II | Skalata Ventures, Startup Daily |
| Darrell Wade | - | Skalata Ventures, Startup Daily |
| Paul Little | - | Skalata Ventures, Startup Daily |
| Touch Ventures | Skalata Fund II | Skalata Ventures, Startup Daily |
Companies Skalata Ventures has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Skalata Ventures did.
Companies Skalata Ventures acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Skalata Ventures raised.
Stories naming Skalata Ventures. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Skalata Ventures, the seed fund and founder-training program led by Paul Little and Rohan Workman, is raising a second vehicle plus growth capital, reporting 30 investments and a 44 per cent IRR.
Touch Ventures' investment lifts commitments in Skalata's second fund beyond $25 million, with Afterpay co-founder Anthony Eisen investing personally; Touch also recently headed a $5.5 million raise for portfolio company Preezie.
Australian startup capital climbed 30% in early 2024 even as deal counts fell; Skalata Ventures topped investor activity with 13 participations, ahead of Blackbird and Investible.
Also TechCrunch Venture·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Australian FinTech·Forbes Australia·Forbes Australia
Skalata Ventures unveils its October 2021 seed intake of 13 startups, among them Ardacious and Strength By Numbers, and notes alumnus Preezie recently secured a $5.5 million Series A.
Profile of Skalata Ventures' Rohan Workman and Maxine Lee recounting the firm's founding, pandemic-era restructuring, $7 million raise, second fund deployment, and backing of Flux, Explorate and Preezie.
Skalata announces a $5M allocation from Western Australia's $45M venture capital program to back local startups, recalls its existing WA investments, and plans a permanent WA base from 2025.
Victorian agtech firm Smart Paddock has raised a $1.7m seed round co-led by Breakthrough Victoria and Telstra's muru-D, with Skalata, Twynam and Little Group also investing; Telstra executive Jon Young Flores joins the board.
Skalata Ventures uses its recent accolade as Australia's busiest early-stage investor to pitch founders on its hands-on, seed-specialist approach, arguing most VCs overpromise support and underdeliver.
Skalata's rebrand announcement explains its shift to year-round seed investing, wider cheque sizes and follow-on plans, recaps team hires including a Venture Partner and three associates, and notes portfolio companies' Series A raises.
Eight Australian and New Zealand startups secured a combined $67.4 million in funding across various sectors including agtech, medtech, robotics, and fintech.
Also ontargetish.com
Weekly roundup: Firmus completes its $2.85b round; Procore acquires DroneDeploy; Atlassian rebounds while Canva cuts guidance; plus fresh raises for Zabidou, BioScout, Vexev, Enrola, Spacetalk and others.
Australian startup Enrola has banked seed funding to scale its AI sales agent after pivoting from an education marketplace, with a new growth head joining.
Also Startup Daily·This Week in Australian Startups·ontargetish.com·bushletter.com·SmartCompany·ontargetish.com
Six Australian startups, including Bodd, Hachiko and Cor, collectively secured about $24 million in fresh backing, while seaweed peer Sea Forest floated on the ASX and jumped in early trade.
Weekly funding roundup covering raises by Bodd, Hachiko, Fremantle Seaweed, Cor, Detail Earth and Recovr, plus seaweed peer Sea Forest's ASX float at a $112 million market capitalisation.
Also Startup Daily
Zupee, a major Indian gaming platform, has bought Sydney-based AI storytelling startup Nucanon for a reported $5 million; Nucanon earlier raised pre-seed money via Antler and a seed round led by Skalata Ventures.
Funding roundup covering four raises: Pay.com.au's $25 million round plus a $28 million secondary, Ruminant Biotech's Series A, Australis Scientific's Rohto-backed funding, and Paperly's $3 million round led by Tribe Global Ventures.
Weekly roundup of seven Australian startup raises, led by Airwallex's Series F, plus EatClub, Kite Magnetics, Termina, Preve, Foremind and Liveheats.
Also Startup Daily
Canberra workplace wellbeing startup Foremind has secured $1.5 million with Giant Leap leading and Skalata plus the Snow Foundation taking part, money earmarked for product growth before a push into Britain and New Zealand.
Also SmartCompany
Melbourne data startup WhyHive is closing next month; founders T Guthrie and Matt Cohen couldn't sustain growth despite a $600,000 pre-seed round revealed last August with backing from Skalata Ventures and several tech founders.
Also Startup Daily
SmartCompany roundup covering six Australian funding deals totalling $18.4 million: Visibuild, My Mirror, Cambium Bio, Freckle, Old Young's Distillery and Taly, plus news that Freckle's founder earlier sold Everproof to GO1.
Western Australia's government added $15 million to its WAVC fund-of-funds, committing $45 million across seven venture firms to back local startups; Purpose Ventures' fund closed at $55 million after backing My Mirror and SpacetoCo.
Western Australia's government has grown its WAVC fund-of-funds commitment to $45 million, backing seven venture funds, four WA-based, to invest locally; Skalata's WA portfolio already includes C0-architecture and Omni Biotech.
TALY, a Melbourne startup applying personality data to management decisions, has closed a $500,000 pre-seed round with Skalata leading; founder Peter Treloar previously sold Telmy to US firm Sago.
Also SmartCompany
Roundup of two raises: a Pilates studio chain's $1.6 million crowdfunding round and a $300,000 pre-seed investment in an AR shopping platform by an early-stage backer.
Melbourne AR shopping startup Viewa has secured $300,000 in pre-seed backing from Skalata. CEO Ed Sedgley earlier sold identity-verification firm GDC to Trulioo; retailer M+Co Living will deploy the technology.
Also SmartCompany
Crimson Education has completed a NZ$67 million Series D with Movac leading and a valuation above NZ$1 billion; fulfilment-robotics maker Nexobot has raised $400,000 pre-seed from Skalata and Antler.
Weekly round-up of four Australian raises: Shift's $35 million Series D, Inform Ag's $7 million Series A, Cropify's $2 million round and WhyHive's $600,000 pre-seed.
Weekly round-up noting two Australian raises: LoveHeart AI's $2.3m seed round for its early-childhood educator documentation platform, and Metakosmos's $2m pre-seed for spacesuit development, alongside recalled government grants.
LoveHeart AI, an early childhood education technology startup, has secured $2.3 million in Seed funding from OIF Ventures and Skalata to grow its AI assistant that reduces educators' paperwork.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany
Roundup covering seven Australian companies' recent raises — Splend, Rich Data Co, Slice, InvestorHub, Eyeonic, Graceview and Monty Compost Co — from fleet electrification finance to AI compliance and compost-monitoring seed rounds.
Weekly roundup: InvestorHub banks a $4m Series A extension led by EVP, while Brisbane compost-tech maker Monty Compost Co picks up $1 million from Skalata, Antler and other backers.
Also SmartCompany
TEN13's investor letter celebrates passing $100 million deployed, plus fresh backing for iion and Switchboard, team promotions, AutoGrab's overseas growth and NZ-arm sale, and the Mr Yum–Me&U merger.
Melbourne document-analysis company Affinda has pulled in $10 million from its previous backers at double its earlier valuation, and Christine Christian has joined its board.
Also Forbes Australia
Weekly roundup detailing new funding for eight local startups: home lending, document verification, farm water monitoring, alcoholic drinks, freight software, leaf protein, artist content sales and organic bedding, totalling over $36 million.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany
Weekly roundup covering seven ANZ startup raises — Bare Funerals, Humii, WeMoney, CLT Toolbox, Clean Slate Clinic, SpatialGPT and Great Wrap — plus LaunchVic's $900,000 into Paul Little's Skalata fund.
Also Startup Daily
Weekly roundup of nine Australian startups that together raised over $233 million, led by Hysata's $172 million Series B, with rounds also for V2 Digital, AgriWebb, Disco, Genero, Brainfish, Kite Therapy, Nucanon and Maslow.
SupplyScope, which helps product sellers clear regulatory hurdles, has collected a $300,000 pre-seed round from Skalata, an early-stage backer betting on the next wave of tools for online sellers.
Stori is now Nucanon following a $500,000 pre-seed round led by Skalata with Antler, Outlier Ventures, Paperclip Partners and Sydney FC's chief executive aboard, on top of 2023 backing from Antler and Jason Calacanis.
Also SmartCompany
Roundup of the week's funding news: nine companies across Australia and New Zealand secured investment spanning clean energy, construction logistics, legal tech, coaching, research tools, creator media, medtech and marketing software.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·LaunchVic
WorkRex, a Melbourne-based startup selling AI marketing tools to small firms, has banked a $220,000 pre-seed round from VC firm Skalata; the company recently came through Melbourne University's MAP accelerator.
Also SmartCompany