🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #108, 9th March 2025
Top News
Girl Geek Academy, which fosters female participation in tech, secures a $4.9m grant to expand female-focused technology programs (SmartCompany)
Swiss PE giant Partners Group acquires Australian data centre operator GreenSquare DC for $1.2b, targeting surging AI and cloud computing demand (AFR)
Airwallex acquires Vietnamese payment provider CTIN Pay to expand its global payments services (Australian FinTech)
Ed Husic criticizes “inane barriers” in STEM as the government pledges to adopt Diversity in STEM Review recommendations (SmartCompany)
Fleet Space Technologies has acquired mining tech firm HiSeis and announces new Adelaide Airport headquarters to bolster geophysical exploration services (BNA)
New court documents reveal that Bethany Lo Russo has accused Dovetail of threatening to terminate her employment after her relationship with co-founder and CEO ended (Capital Brief)
Software aggregator Software Combined has completed its ninth acquisition - Hero Software (ARN)
The Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (AMRF), a manufacturing incubator backed by the NSW government and 11 universities has officially launched (InnovationAus)
Apple is introducing ‘ID tech’ ahead of Australia’s under 16s social media ban (Startup Daily)
Diraq presses accelerator on US market, opens two new offices (InnovationAus)
CBA's x15ventures invites other corporates to join its startup program (Capital Brief)
Galileo Ventures opens a San Francisco office to provide stronger backing and resources for Australian startups (Capital Brief)
Biotech Avecho, partners with pharmaceutical giant Sandoz to develop a CBD-based insomnia therapy (Capital Brief)
Buildkite founder and CEO exits without explanation (Capital Brief)
Buildkite’s co-founder and CEO exits abruptly with no successor or explanation (AFR)
Encore Holdings acquires water-management technology provider Halytech as part of its strategy to address global water scarcity (Capital Brief)
London-based fintech investor Apis Partners enters the Australian market with 'a number of investments' likely to be signed in the coming months (AFR)
NSW exploring state VC fund in innovation push (InnovationAus)
Upswell Ventures has joined Verona Capital, the firm that has supported them from the beginning (Chris Breidahl)
Funding Rounds
Instant, an all-in-one retention marketing platform for the e-commerce sector, has raised $18m in a Series A round from Hummingbird Ventures, Blackbird, Ten13 and Reinventure (AFR | SmartCompany | BNA)
Esper, startup focusing on collecting hyperspectral imagery from micro satellite constellations to supercharge industries with environmental data, has raised $5m in a Seed round from Paspalis Capital and Hejaz (SmartCompany | AFR | BNA)
Agtuary, an online platform for rural property data, has raised undisclosed amount from REA Group (StartUp ScaleUp | Australian Broker)
Curlew Bio, a biotech startup focusing on discovering and developing novel small molecules to treat inflammatory diseases, has raised $1m from Molecule to Medicine, UniQuest Extension Fund (BNA)
Flowing Bee, an AI-driven marketing platform that leverages customer and behavioral insights to optimise marketing strategies, content creation, and performance measurement , has raised $1.6m from Archangel Ventures (SmartCompany | Capital Brief | BNA)
Heidi Health, which develops a AI-powered medical scribe and clinical workflow automation tool to reduce admin for clinicians, has raised $26.5m in a Series A round from Headline, Local Globe, Blackbird and HESTA (Capital Brief | SmartCompany)
Trusst AI, which deploys AI agents to analyse and automate customer experience interactions for text and voice queries, has raised $4m from OIF Ventures (SmartCompany)
Missing Perspectives, a media tech company filling the gap in young female storytelling across news, media, and entertainment, has raised an undisclosed amount from Angel Investor Deanne Weir (B&T | Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks)
Critical Arc, the maker of SafeZone, a unified safety, security, and emergency management solution designed to help organizations protect their people and respond more effectively to incidents, has raised and undisclosed amount from Five V Capital (Critical Arc | Artesian)