TechCrunch Venture

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.

TechCrunch Mobility: A new robotaxi scorecard shows China’s dominance

Mobility newsletter: a new autonomy index puts Chinese robotaxi operators on top; Cargofy raises $11m, XDOF $70m; Carro buys CarPlace; plus driverless partnerships and a Waymo recall.

AirTrunk commits $30B to build 5GW of AI data centers in India

Blackstone-backed AirTrunk, an Australian data-centre operator, plans to build 5GW of AI data-centre capacity in India by 2030, having entered the country by acquiring Lumina CloudInfra.

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Sierra raises $950M as the race to own enterprise AI gets serious

Sierra, Bret Taylor's enterprise AI company, announced a $950 million round with Tiger Global and GV leading, lifting its post-money value past $15 billion; the piece also covers its ARR growth and Ghostwriter launch.

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Once close enough for an acquisition, Stripe and Airwallex are now going after each other

Airwallex co-founder Jack Zhang recounts turning down Stripe's billion-dollar buyout, describes building a licensed global payments network, and argues the Melbourne fintech can now challenge Stripe directly.

Airwallex is about to take on Stripe and the rest of the payments industry — in the physical world

TechCrunch profiles Airwallex's new point-of-sale offering letting businesses take payments in person across countries, pitting the Australian firm against Stripe, Square and Adyen, and recalls its rejection of Stripe's 2019 buyout bid.

TechCrunch Mobility: Uber everywhere, all at once

Mobility newsletter roundup: Uber's robotaxi deal with Rivian, Nvidia's automaker partnerships, Advanced Navigation's Series C, other startup raises, and acquisitions including Amazon's purchase of robotics startup Rivr.

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Canva launches its own design model, adds new AI features to the platform

Canva rolls out a proprietary design model, broader AI assistant features, Forms, email design tools and Canva Grow, and makes Affinity free; the report also recalls its buyouts of MagicBrief and Affinity.

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Alloy is bringing data management to the robotics industry

TechCrunch profiles Alloy, a Sydney startup whose software helps robotics firms manage sensor and camera data; it has raised a pre-seed round led by Blackbird Ventures and signed four local design partners.

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Atlassian acquires DX, a developer productivity platform, for $1B

Atlassian has agreed to buy DX, a tool that measures engineering team output, for $1 billion — its biggest deal yet — after also announcing The Browser Company purchase this month.

Also Tech Funding News - Australia

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Startups Weekly: Different paths on the road to liquidity

Weekly roundup covering several startup acquisitions, a clutch of venture rounds across AI and other sectors, a Clay employee share sale, and Marathon Venture Capital's new fund close.

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Relevance AI raises $24M to help businesses build AI agents

AI agent platform Relevance AI has closed a Bessemer-led Series B with its earlier backers reinvesting, and is rolling out new agent-building tools while expanding its American go-to-market presence.

Also Forbes Australia·Startup Daily

Blinq lands $25M to further its mission to make business cards passé

Melbourne-based digital business card maker Blinq has raised a $25 million Series A round, with Touring Capital leading and Blackbird, Square Peg and HubSpot Ventures joining, to grow its enterprise reach.

Also TechCrunch Venture·Forbes Australia

Why some former Bench customers are not happy

A fintech roundup: Bench's closure and sale to Employer.com, multiple acquisitions, fresh raises at Float Financial, Open Ledger, NomuPay and Buk, Robinhood's regulator settlement, and Groww's listing plans.

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TechCrunch Space: Sayonara

A space industry newsletter looks ahead to 2025 missions and financing recovery, and highlights Fleet Space Technologies closing a $100 million Series D round.

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Fleet Space raises $100M to scale satellite-enabled mineral prospecting tech

Adelaide satellite company Fleet Space has banked a $100 million Series D, with Teachers' Venture Growth leading and a $525 million valuation, to grow ExoSphere, its space-based mineral exploration platform.

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M&As and AI are in the spotlight, but there's still capital left for quick commerce and more

Weekly deals roundup: Typeface buys two AI startups, Workday and IBM also acquire, Flink, Intezer, GreenLite and EasyDMARC raise, and Era Ventures gathers $88 million for its debut fund.

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Generative AI startup Typeface acquires two companies, Treat and Narrato, to bolster its portfolio

Typeface has bought Treat and Narrato, its third and fourth acquisitions. The article recalls Treat's $8.5m-plus raise, Narrato's $1m-plus raise, and Typeface's $165m round at a $1bn valuation.

Also TechCrunch Venture

Linktree acquires social media scheduler tool Plann

Linktree has bought Plann, a Sydney-based startup whose tool schedules and auto-posts social content; Plann's team, including founder Christy Laurence, joins Linktree, which will add scheduling to its link-in-bio platform.

Also Startup Daily

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Bill Gates-backed Type One Energy lands massive seed extension to commercialize fusion power

Fusion startup Type One Energy has pulled in a $53.5m extension to its seed round, led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures with Foxglove Ventures and GD1 taking part, to accelerate its stellarator reactor plans.

Also Forbes Australia

Canva acquires Leonardo.ai to boost its generative AI efforts

Canva has bought Sydney-based generative AI startup Leonardo.ai, price undisclosed, taking on its 120 staff; Leonardo keeps operating separately. The piece also recalls Canva's earlier acquisitions and Leonardo's backers.

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Samsara Eco is working to replace plastic packaging with fossil fuel-free alternatives

Australian enzymatic plastics recycler Samsara Eco raised a large all-equity round led jointly by Temasek and Main Sequence, with Lululemon among other backers, funding new recycling facilities and team growth.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·Forbes Australia·@AuManufacturing·Forbes Australia·Forbes Australia

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Canva launches a proper enterprise product — and they mean it this time

Design platform Canva has launched a genuine enterprise tier with single sign-on, security and brand-management features, while its earlier product becomes a teams offering.

Airtree Ventures already returned its first fund thanks to Canva while maintaining the majority of its stake

Profile of Airtree Ventures' use of secondary sales for early liquidity; selling part of its Canva stake paid back its debut fund while the firm kept most of its holding.

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With Affinity acquisition, Canva should be able to compete better with Adobe's creative tools

Canva has bought UK creative software firm Affinity for roughly US$380 million in a completed deal, and its value dipped to $26 billion in a recent share sale.

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Australian space startup Esper wants to build hyperspectral sats for cheap

TechCrunch profile of Esper, an Australian startup preparing low-cost hyperspectral satellites, recalling its $1 million pre-seed close, grants from a foundation and the federal government, and a Techstars accelerator stint.

How Neara uses AI to protect utilities from extreme weather

TechCrunch profiles Neara, an Australian startup whose AI models of electricity networks help utilities predict and manage extreme-weather risks, naming its investors and utility customers.

Linktree launches features to schedule and archive links

Linktree adds scheduling and archiving tools plus video fetching. The Australian firm also hired a chief product officer and two AI leads, and last year bought Koji and Bento.

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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

The Australian VC firm that sponsored California's diversity bill

Profile of F5 Collective, an Australian venture firm backing women-led startups across Asia-Pacific, its family-office-funded first fund, and its sponsorship of California's diversity-reporting law SB 54.

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.

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Linktree acquires link-in-bio platform Koji in its second investment of the year

Linktree has bought rival link-in-bio service Koji from owner GoMeta for an undisclosed sum, its second such purchase of 2023 after acquiring Sequoia-backed Bento in June; Koji's product sunsets in January.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·TechCrunch Venture·TechCrunch Venture

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Relevance AI’s low-code platform enables businesses to build AI teams

Relevance AI, an Australian startup whose low-code platform assembles AI agent workforces, has banked a Series A round with King River Capital at the helm; Surge, Galileo Venture and Insight Partners also joined.

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Sydney-based generative AI art platform Leonardo.Ai raises $31M

Leonardo.Ai, a Sydney-based AI art platform, has raised $31 million US from Blackbird, Samsung Next and other backers, money it will put toward its enterprise push and hiring.

Also mediaweek.com.au·inaitoday.com·Forbes Australia·ARN (ARNnet)·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia

Avarni gets backing to help large enterprises hit their net-zero goals

Sydney carbon accounting startup Avarni raised an A$2.5 million extension round from Main Sequence, Sprint Ventures and AfterWork Ventures, following a $3 million round in November 2022, to help enterprises track supply-chain emissions.

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Refilled wants to save 100 million plastic bottles from the landfill

Sydney startup Refilled has raised a A$1.3 million seed round, with Melt Ventures leading and Envato's Ta'eed brothers among backers, to scale refill stations that cut single-use plastic; Google is already a customer.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia

Blackbird backs Heidi Health’s AI platform for overworked doctors

Melbourne healthtech firm Heidi Health has pulled in A$10 million Series A capital, headed by Blackbird Ventures, to grow its AI scribe that lightens clinicians' documentation workload.

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

From zero to Employment Hero

Sydney HR-and-payroll firm Employment Hero announced a TCV-led Series F reaching unicorn valuation; the profile covers its products, remote workforce and global ambitions, citing rival raises.

Also Tech Funding News - Australia·TechCrunch Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Techboard·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·Forbes Australia·employmenthero.com·employmenthero.com

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Darwinium brings digital security and fraud prevention to the perimeter

Fraud-prevention startup Darwinium, built by ThreatMetrix's co-founders, has announced an $18m Series A backed by USVP; the piece also recalls its 2022 seed round and ThreatMetrix's 2018 sale to LexisNexis.

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How do you pronounce IaaS?

Equity podcast panel parses the week: California's venture disclosure law, ALIAVIA Ventures' fund for women founders, Canopy Servicing's Series A1, EVPassport's $200m deal, plus shutdowns and Blue Apron's sale.

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ALIAVIA Ventures fights gender funding inequalities in the US and Australia

ALIAVIA Ventures has closed its debut fund at A$13.5 million. The US-based firm backs female founders bridging Australian and US markets; backers include Carol Schwartz, Tattarang, the Denholms, Euphemia, Dom Pym and Cynthia Scott.

Also SmartCompany·Women's Agenda·Forbes Australia·TechCrunch Venture

BioticsAI wants to improve prenatal ultrasound scans with AI

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.

Techstars selects 12 companies for its fall space accelerator

Twelve startups, eleven American and one Australian, will join the newest cohort of Techstars' thirteen-week aerospace program, run alongside two US space bodies.

Meet Marqo, an open source vector search engine for AI applications

Melbourne vector-search startup Marqo has announced a $4.4 million seed round, with Blackbird Ventures leading and Creator Fund, January Capital and Cohere's co-founders also in; the piece recalls its pre-seed and rivals' raises.

Also Blackbird Ventures portfolio

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BNPL vendor Splitit moves to go private in exchange for fresh funds

Splitit announced $60 million in committed investment from Motive Partners, Thorney and Parea Capital, tied to conditions including leaving the ASX; the piece recalls the payments firm's 2019 listing.

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Linktree is now letting users add Threads on their profile

Linktree launches a feature letting creators embed their Threads profile and posts on their Linktree pages, following its recent Snap partnership and Threads' rapid user growth.

Main Sequence hits first close of $450M AUD for its third deep tech fund

Australian deep tech venture firm Main Sequence announced the first close of its third fund at A$450 million, backed by new and returning limited partners, with plans to complete the raise by year-end.

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Thales enters app security market with $3.6B Imperva acquisition

Also ARN (ARNnet)

These are the first Denon-branded Nura headphones

Nura, an Australian audio startup, was acqui-hired by Masimo, and its technology now appears in the first Denon-branded PerL earbuds, which have just launched.

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Bootstrapped to 800,000 users, online programming community JDoodle lands funding

Sydney coding-platform JDoodle raised 3.2 million Australian dollars in a round led by Main Sequence after bootstrapping to 800,000 users, aiming for eight million within two years.

Also SmartCompany

One Future Football's virtual worldwide soccer league launches with backing from Blackbird

Melbourne virtual soccer league One Future Football launched and announced a $3 million pre-seed round led by Blackbird Ventures, with several athlete investors participating.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

T. Rowe Price has marked down its stake in Canva by 67.6%

T. Rowe Price marked down its Canva stake by 67.6%, implying a value near $13 billion versus the $40 billion set in 2021; Canva disputes the figure, citing profitable growth.

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Qflow raises $9.1M to track construction receipts, making it easier to de-carbonize

Construction materials tracking startup Qflow closed a Series A led by Systemiq Capital to grow in the US and Australia; the piece recalls earlier seed backing and lists construction industry customers.

Australian clean tech Endua fixes renewable energy's intermittency problem

Australian hydrogen startup Endua raised AU$11.8 million from QIC, Melt Ventures, 77 Partners, Main Sequence and Ampol to scale modular hydrogen power banks that store surplus renewable electricity for later use.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing

‘Infinite recycling’ startup Samsara Eco partners with Lululemon

Enzyme-based plastics recycler Samsara Eco announces a multi-year partnership with Lululemon, which makes an undisclosed minority investment, its first in a recycling company.

Also SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·Techboard·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·Forbes Australia·@AuManufacturing

Go1 snaps up speed reading app Blinkist to expand in enterprise learning

Australian learning platform Go1 is buying Berlin's Blinkist to grow its corporate training offering; deal terms are undisclosed, though Blinkist backer Insight Partners is taking $30 million of Go1 equity alongside the purchase.

Also SmartCompany·Techboard

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Headphone startup Nura gets acqui-hired by Denon parent, Masimo

Customisable headphone maker Nura has been acqui-hired by medical device firm Masimo, with its team and technology folded into Denon; the Nura brand will be sunset once remaining inventory is sold.

Also TechCrunch Venture

Cortical Labs raises $10M for its Pong-playing stem cells that eventually could power AI

Australian biotech startup Cortical Labs has raised a $10 million round led by Horizons Ventures to develop neuron-based biological computing, with several venture firms participating.

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NovoNutrients wants to turn CO2 into protein

NovoNutrients uses bacteria to convert carbon dioxide into protein and has secured a three million dollar technology and investment deal with Woodside Energy to build a pilot-scale plant.

Cultured meat firm resurrects woolly mammoth in lab-grown meatball

Australian cultivated meat company Vow unveiled a mammoth meatball made with engineered mammoth DNA; the article recalls its $49.2 million funding round from months earlier.

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