🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #101, 19th January 2025

I took the liberty of taking an extra week off last given the slower news and funding cycle - so this week is a wrap up of the last fortnight.

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Top News

• Airwallex expands to Latin America (Australian FinTech)

• Tennis Australia announced an initial raise of $48m for its first VC fund, AO Ventures (InnovationAus)

• Online sexual health platform Hyphen Health merges with niche digital medico Hey Fella (BNA)

• Rokt completes a $510m secondary share sale and acquires customer data platform mParticle (Capital Brief)

• Gilmour Space readies its rocket for a maiden orbital test flight (The Australian)

• IFM Investors acquires 49% stake in Splend (AFR)

• Telstra and Accenture agree $700m global AI joint venture (Capital Brief)

• Arbor Capital has raised $20m for a new evergreen technology-focused fund (AFR | Arbor Capital)

• Schwartz family-backed Armitage Associates buys ERP software firm (AFR)

• Brisbane biotech Vaxxas secures $3.2m from US medical research body BARDA to develop COVID patch (BNA)

• Govt pledges $20m top up for ‘genius’ AgTech grants (InnovationAus)

• Vow has reduced its workforce by 30%, making 25 staff redundant (The Age)

• Global fintech Banking Circle to acquire Australian fintech ASL (Australian FinTech)

• Telix agrees $73m asset acquisition with US biotech ImaginAb (Capital Brief)

• Employment Hero acquires Humi for $112m as it expands to Canada (AFR | Ben Thompson)

• Titanium Ventures restructures due to Telstra LP investment exit (Capital Brief)

• Breakthrough Victoria-backed epilepsy medtech Seer Medical placed in voluntary administration (Startup Daily)

• Edtech HEX teams up with Toyota to give 1000 regional women STEM career training for free (Startup Daily)

• WiseTech Global to acquire ImpexDocs (Capital Brief)

• Birchal cofounder Matt Vitale steps down as CEO, citing burn out (Matt Vitale | Startup Daily)

• Guy Pearson co-founder of Ignition announces transition to Executive Chairman role as Greg Strickland moves into CEO role (Guy Pearson)

Funding Rounds

• Convergence Medical, creating the world's first arthroscopic robot, has raised $5m in a Series A round from Avicella Capital (BNA | AFR | SmartCompany)

• ElectraLith, a Lithium extraction startup, has raised $27.5m in a Series A round from Main Sequence, Breakthrough Victoria, Rio Tinto, Chevron Technology Ventures, IP Group, Monash University (SmartCompany | InnovationAus)

• Coposit, which fast-tracks ownership by allowing you to own a new-build property for $10k and pay the deposit in interest-free instalments, has raised $14m (BNA | AFR)

• Fair Supply, a cloud-based ESG risk management and compliance solution, has raised $12m from Airtree Ventures, Five V Capital, QIC (Forbes)