This Week in Australian Startups #80, 11th August 2024

More details about the Leonardo and Canva deal have been revealed by the AFR;

• Canva paid $370M in a majority equity deal

• Leonardo’s ARR in July was $15M USD, meaning they were acquired at a 16.6x multiple of their ARR

• Blackbird investors will get $63.7M of Canva stock from their initial $16M investment into Leonardo

If you’re in Sydney I’ll be at the Startup Palette Show Live this Monday at Canva’s office.

This episodes topic is all about Digital Health Innovation featuring Dr. Amandeep Hansra, Co-Founder of Medical Angels and Founder of Creative Careers in Medicine, and Zara Lord, CEO & Founder of uPaged.

You can register here and use the code “TWIAS” for a free ticket - drop me a message and say hi if you’re coming!

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Top News

• Industry Minister Ed Husic says he would welcome the Australian National Audit Office investigating the government’s deal with PsiQuantum (The Australian)

• Birchal is getting into angel investing, backed by LaunchVic (Startup Daily)

• EnergyLab reveals the 10 startups in its latest climate solutions accelerator (Startup Daily)

• Inaugural Breakthrough Victoria CEO Grant Dooley is stepping down (InnovationAus)

• LaunchVic tips another $2.4M into eight new early-stage VC funds (Startup Daily)

• The fall of gender equity programs and what it means for tech and AI (SmartCompany)

• Tritium acquired by Indian EV charger giant Exicom (BNA)

• Australia and Vietnam are deepening their AgTech innovation ties through $1.45M in grants (InnovationAus)

• AIM Defence wins Canadian anti-drone contest (InnovationAus)

• ‘More work needed’: Investment NSW eyes innovation upgrade (InnovationAus)

• Reckon posts half yearly revenue in excess of $28M as it transitions to an entirely cloud based product offering (Australian FinTech)

• The second round of a federal government AgTech connectivity rebate program launched Tuesday with $18M of rebates up for grabs (InnovationAus)

• Audinate investors spooked over outlook slowdown as sell-off sheds $359M (BNA)

• Australian venture capital firms face a battle for their future (AFR)

• SunDrive sheds jobs, changes leadership (Startup Daily)

• OneVentures is raising $200M for its 7th fund (Startup Daily)

• Cashrewards acquires Little Birdie (SmartCompany)

• Applications for evokeAG’s Groundbreaker program for future agtech leaders are now open (Startup Daily)

• Hivery, which has raised more than $61M, has had its biggest local investor write down its stake to $0 and two co-founders depart (AFR)

• Centuria Capital invests in next-gen data centres with $21M ResetData acquisition (BNA)

• Remarkable picks 10 disability tech startups for its latest accelerator – here they are (Startup Daily)

• Superhero has acquired MYOB’s Slate Super (AFR)

• Abu Dhabi fund flies into IFM consortium at AirTrunk’s $20B sale (AFR)

Funding Rounds

• Graceview, which provides real-time insights on compliance threats and opportunities through AI, machine learning and data analytics, has raised a $1.5M Seed round led by Patrick Linton (SmartCompany | Startup Daily)

• Eyeonic, which aims to transform glaucoma screening through cutting-edge technology, has raised a $2.6M Seed round (SmartCompany)

• Velox Energy Materials, which develops advanced materials and technologies aimed at enhancing energy storage, conversion, and efficiency, has raised $5M from the QIC (BNA)

• Rich Data Co, an AI-based platform that helps business and commercial lenders make better decisions, has raised an additional $9M for its Series B round from Acorn Capital (The Australian | Capital Brief)

• Noveco Surfaces, the startup which turns old wine bottles into high-end tiles, has raised $7.75M in a debt round from NAB Ventures (The Australian)