Meet the eight startups pitching at Startup Battlefield Australia
TechCrunch selects eight Australian startups to pitch at Startup Battlefield Australia during Stripe Tour Sydney on August 19, competing for Stripe fee credits and a Disrupt spot.
Investor · 4 deals
Every published round TechCrunch 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.
| Company | Stage | Announced | Amount | Role | Alongside | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preve | Accelerator | 5 Aug 2026 | - | Lead | TechCrunch Australia, Startup Daily, SmartCompany | |
| Apate.ai | Accelerator | 5 Aug 2026 | $11.4m | Lead | ARN (ARNnet), SmartCompany, Startup Daily, Dealroom, TechCrunch Australia | |
| BioticsAI | Accelerator | 15 Sep 2023 | - | Participant | TechCrunch Venture, Startup Daily | |
| Okra Solar | Accelerator | 25 May 2022 | $2.1m | Participant | SmartCompany, TechCrunch Australia |
Everyone TechCrunch 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.
Companies TechCrunch has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preve | 5 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 | |
| Okra Solar | 25 May 2022, Accelerator | 1 | 0 | |
| BioticsAI | 15 Sep 2023, Accelerator | 1 | 0 | |
| Apate.ai | 5 Aug 2026, Accelerator | 1 | 1 |
Fund closes reported for TechCrunch, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies TechCrunch has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal TechCrunch did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Isabelle Johannessen | Director of Startup Battlefield | TechCrunch Australia |
Stories naming TechCrunch. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
TechCrunch selects eight Australian startups to pitch at Startup Battlefield Australia during Stripe Tour Sydney on August 19, competing for Stripe fee credits and a Disrupt spot.
Profile of BioticsAI, launching AI software that spots missed fetal abnormalities in pregnancy ultrasounds and auto-generates reports, presenting at Startup Battlefield; it has raised pre-seed money from Techstars Boston, Blackbird and Startmate.
Sydney solar startup Okra Solar announced a $2.1 million round led by Explorer Investments and Didendum to scale its mesh-grid technology, having earlier won TechCrunch's 2019 Shenzhen Hardware Battlefield event.
Profile of Tide Foundation, a Sydney nonprofit startup pitching a decentralised encryption protocol at TechCrunch Disrupt; its founders previously built marketing platform Ziva and it has gathered roughly $2 million, mostly from angels.
TechCrunch invites early-stage founders to apply for free exhibition spots through its Top Picks program at Disrupt SF 2020, with a past participant crediting the designation for helping secure a seven-figure seed investment.
TechCrunch invites startup founders to apply for TC Top Picks at Disrupt San Francisco 2019, pointing to how the 2018 designation helped keyboard maker Sonder Designs attract investors and close extra seed funding.
A year-end reflection on Australian agtech's 2017 rise, covering FluroSat's investment round, several startups' funding totals, SproutX's first accelerator cohort, Observant's acquisition, and the author's hopes for 2018.
Also Tenacious Ventures portfolio·Cotton Research and Development Corporation·SmartCompany·AgFunderNews