This Week in Australian Startups #96, 1st December 2024
ICMYI or are wondering why something looks different with the newsletter/website it’s because it is different!
the tl;dr below
I'm going to be rolling up (not sure if you can call it a self-acquisition?) This Week in Australian Startups as part of a larger publication I'll be calling Haris's Newsletter (which is now live, no action required as you’re already subscribed)
I'll be splitting out the analysis and deep dives into separate articles, you can expect at minimum one article per month on a wider range of topics not just limited to Australian tech or startups
No other changes to This Week in Australian Startups, you'll still receive a weekly wrap up of what I've been reading and all publicly announced funding rounds in Australia
And I'd love to hear from you what are the top trends, news stories and themes you'd like me to cover from this year and heading into next year?
(PS. not sure why the subtitles only work part way through the video)
Top News
WiseTech co-founder Maree Isaacs sells out, nets multi-million dollar payday (AFR)
Alium Capital is raising another $200m across 3-4 funds (AFR)
Breakthrough Victoria launches $7.5m program to fund 50 startups (Capital Brief)
Public sector software provider, Civica has acquired Loop Software (ARN)
Hostplus commits another $125M to IP Group Hostplus Innovation Fund (Startup Daily)
Seven, ABC, SBS and ACM form alliance to chase AI deals (Capital Brief)
FB10X, has now invested nearly $500K into eleven startups, with seven that are founded or co-founded by women (Startup Daily | Vidit Agarwal)
Goterra’s maggot ‘robots’ launch in Western Sydney, set to revolutionise food waste management (Startup Daily)
Inside Swoop Aero's fall from $100 million buyout offer to liquidation (Capital Brief)
Swoop Aero administrators "accept offer" to salvage company with re-employment plans (BNA)
WA awards $3.5m grant to earth observation satellite company LatConnect 60 a $3.5 million grant to help develop the state’s first local commercial satellite assembly facility (InnovationAus)
A Senate committee has recommended the government force tech companies to pay publishers, authors and artists for content used to train their bots (AFR)
Athletic Ventures is launching its first fund with $20m already committed (AFR)
Australia’s first Cybersecurity Bill passes Parliament (InnovationAus)
Ballarat cryopreservation biotech Vitrafy lists on ASX at $126m valuation (BNA)
Birchal has appointed Crowdcube founder Darren Westlake as strategic advisor and former Investible chief executive Rod Bristow as non-executive director (Capital Brief)
Figma’s Dylan Field on the Adobe deal collapse and APAC expansion plans (Capital Brief)
Scale takes aim at Australia's venture gender gap with $100m fund (Capital Brief)
Start-up stars: what’s happened to tech’s Class of 2021 (AFR)
Dovetail lawyer sues start-up and founder over ‘personal relationship’ (AFR)
Hort Innovation and VC Artesian will plough $60 million into startups with a new agtech fund (Startup Daily)
Kapture, a green tech startup, has made significant progress after trial results show they can successfully sequester CO2 during concrete production (BNA)
Tech companies must stop waiting for interest rate relief (AFR)
WA commits $15m to new health innovation hub (InnovationAus)
The Monash Venture Studio has launched (Simon Wilkins)
Ticketing platform Humanitix hands out $16.5m in donations (Forbes)
Press Play Ventures has now helped 85 women launch their journeys as founders in Victoria (Preethi Mohan)
Dome, a podcast analytics & community platform that provides hosts with listener engagement data and AI-powered insights, has won the Australian leg of Red Bull Basement and will be heading to the World Final in Tokyo (Red Bull)
Funding Rounds
Ajust, an AI-powered consumer advocacy platform, has raised $2M in a Seed round from Carthona Capital (Capital Brief)
My Mirror, a mental health care startup that connects people to telehealth psychology services, has raised $4M in a undisclosed round from Purpose Ventures (Capital Brief)
Celosia Therapeutics, which is developing solutions for neurodegenerative diseases that have limited alternative therapeutic options, has raised $16.75M in a Series A round from Uniseed and Unisuper (Capital Brief | The Australian)
National Renewable Network, which is building a connected network of solar and storage systems, has raised $4.28M in a Pre-Series A round from Club Investible Syndicate, Electrifi Ventures, Jelix Ventures, Ecotone Partners (Capital Brief)
Airtasker, the online services marketplace, has raised $26.2M in a media-for-equity deal (BNA)
SpacetoCo, a marketplace for the sharing and short-term rental of physical spaces, has raised $2M in a Pre-Series A round from Purpose Ventures (BNA | Capital Brief)
FPR Energy, which is harnessing the power of particle based Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) technology to deliver zero emissions, 24/7 heat and power, has raised $15M in a undisclosed round (InnovationAus)
Safewill, Australia's highest rated Will-writing platform, has raised $17M in a Series B round from Reinventure, King River Capital, Flying Fox Ventures and Carthona Capital (The Australian | AFR | Capital Brief)
DataCo Labs, which acts as an intermediary between companies and allows them to share data without compromising their customers, has raised $6M in a Seed round (The Australian)
Fresho, an order management platform, built specifically for fresh food suppliers and their customers, has raised $17M in a Series B round from Geoff Tarrant (Forbes)
Raindrop, an AI-powered platform that decodes and analyses insurance policies, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Seed round (Insurance News)
Affinda, which leverages AI to digitise document-intensive processes, has raised $10M in a undisclosed round from family offices and high-net-worth investors (Forbes)