This Week in Australian Startups #44, 5th November 2023

This week saw the Startup Muster report released, after a 5 year hiatus, which has historically been the largest survey of Australia's startup ecosystem.

There was plenty of controversy, widely spoken across LinkedIn, with the top startup mentors page initially being all male. Shortly thereafter, the report was re-released to include both the top male AND female mentors in the industry. SmartCompany wrote a good summary here.

The most insightful discussion was found on LinkedIn on a post shared by Simon Thomsen, Editor of Startup Daily. One part of his post read;

But I also want to know, given how vigorously Adam Spencer, Murray Hurps, and even guys like me, sought feedback from everyone in the ecosystem for the survey, if those now suggesting it's crap data took the time to be part of it.

So did you:
a). Know it was happening?
b). Respond to the survey?

Reports are only as good as the data. It’s why it’s often said the world's most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data. It was never going to be an easy feat to get everyone in the startup ecosystem to respond, but some comments highlighted that despite working in major coworking hubs or even being on the boards of peak bodies they were not aware of the report, invited to participate or asked promote it to their members.

The best thread on this post was with points raised by Kirstin Hunter, Managing Director for Techstars, which I strongly recommend you read here. There’s a strong call out for why diversity matters and prevents incidents like this from happening, and how things always tend to fall on minorities to do the work - in this case women.

Regardless of the quality of data in this years Startup Muster, the report does provide a useful insight - more representation is required in respondents, organising/reviewing team for Startup Muster and the entire Australian startup ecosystem.

It’s an opportunity for both the ecosystem and Startup Muster to make next years report better.

You can read more analysis of this years Startup Muster below

• Read the full 2023 report (Startup Muster)

• Grey hair rising in Australia’s start-up scene (AFR)

• “A travesty”: Startup Muster re-releases top mentors list after survey returns all-male list (SmartCompany)

• GreenTech is Australia’s fastest growing sector for startups: survey (InnovationAus)

• The Return of Startup Muster: A Deep Dive into Australia's Premiere Startup Ecosystem (Antler)

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Top News

Australia

• Atlassian gobbles up another startup – bootstrapped Melbourne IT data platform AirTrack – to build out Jira (Startup Daily | BNA | AFR)

• Startup Muster reveals AI, greentech, a 2nd job, home offices, older founders and impact are central to the Australian ecosystem (Startup Daily)

• CSIRO opens the door for its R&D funding program, Kick-Start, to larger companies (Startup Daily)

• Sydney’s $31 million climate tech hub, Greenhouse, is open for business (Startup Daily)

• LaunchVic entices venture capital to Victoria with up to $300,000 backing. (Startup Daily)

• Australia’s privacy watchdog launches legal action against Australian Clinical Labs (BNA)

• Zeller launches Tap to Pay on iPhone for business owners to accept contactless payments with Zeller iOS App (Yahoo)

• Aussie Broadband wins battle for Symbio with $262M takeover bid (BNA)

• Sydney's Leonardo AI Start-Up Hits $1.6M in Revenue, Faces Retention Challenges Amidst Investor Hype (AFR)

• Atlassian shares plunge as growth slows (AFR | The Australian)

• Australia and UK sign quantum computing accord (AFR)

• MST opens books for healthcare AI biz Enlitic’s $136m IPO (AFR)

• Blackstone, Vista Equity to buy Energy Exemplar in $1.6b deal (AFR)

• The names behind Energy Exemplar’s $1.6b surprise deal of year (AFR)

• AirTree Ventures-backed Zepto cuts jobs after cryptocurrency reset (AFR)

• Inside Eucalyptus' Ozempic growing pains (Capital Brief)

• ASIC steps up assault on scammers, gaining new powers to shut down websites (The Australian)

• Westpac to acquire health payments provider HealthPoint (BNA | Westpac)

• Investment platform DomaCom has entered into a non-binding MOU with superannuation advice technology platform Super Fierce to offer residential property investment to super members (MoneyManagement)

• Cost-saving measures see Redbubble lay off 37% of its staff (SmartCompany)

• Female-founded legal disputes startup Immediation placed in voluntary administration after raising $19 million in six years (Startup Daily)

Around the World

• President Biden issues executive order to set standards for AI safety and security (TechCrunch)

• HubSpot picks up B2B data provider Clearbit to enhance its AI platform (TechCrunch)

• A new generation of companies is moving on up in San Francisco (TechCrunch)

• Sam Bankman-Fried trial: former crypto star facing up to 110 years after being found guilty of fraud - as it happened (The Guardian)

• Amazon’s secret pricing scheme made it an extra $1 billion, FTC says (The Verge)

• Wholesale marketplace Faire, which raised at a $12.6B valuation last year, lays off 20% of its staff (TechCrunch)

• Disney to buy out Comcast's stake in Hulu (Axios)

• Google CEO Defends Paying Billions to Remain Top Search Engine (Gizmodo)

• WeWork reportedly on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, stock plummets (TechCrunch)

• Microsoft’s new AI-powered Office assistant is here — if you’ve got $9,000 and 300 friends (The Verge)

• Unredacted documents in the FTC's Amazon lawsuit shed light on the company's secret price-gouging algorithm (Engadget)

• NYT tech workers walk out in protest of return-to-office policies (Axios)

• The YouTube Ad Blocker Crackdown Is Ramping Up (Forbes)

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Australian Funding Rounds

• Happly, the proptech startup designed to make moving less painful, has raised a $1.75M Seed round (Startup Daily)

• AirSeed Technologies, which uses uses drones to plant trees and re-seed barren ground, has secured a $500K grant from the Australian Red Cross innovation program Humanitech Lab (Startup Daily)

• SunDrive, the startup making solar panels, has raised $11M in a new funding round by the government-backed Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) (Startup Daily)

• Mutinex, the martech startup that specialises in marketing mix modeling, has raised $9.5M led by EVP Partners (AFR)

• Firmable, which is building Australia’s most definitive B2B database, has raised a $9M Seed round led by AirTree Ventures (AFR)

• Coach Welly, a startup which provides a health engagement platform for gyms, corporates & insurers, has raised an undisclosed sum in a Pre-Seed round led by AngelLoop valuing it at $4.25M (LinkedIn)

• Analog Quantum Circuits, Australia’s first superconducting quantum hardware startup, has raised $3M from Uniseed (SmartCompany)

• Cyclion, the climate tech startup that converts rubbish into fuel or electricity, has raised $523K in an equity fundraise on Birchal (SmartCompany)

• Heartful, a new accommodation booking platform, has raised $131K in an equity fundraise on Birchal (SmartCompany)

• Cranium, a startup spun out of KPMG that provides software to companies to ensure their AI systems are compliant and secure against hackers, has raised a $39.5M Series A round led by Telstra Ventures (The Australian | LinkedIn)

• Morfless, a FinOps Automation platform built to help organisations take back control of their ever increasing bills, has raised an undisclosed sum in a Pre-Seed round led by Antler giving it a pre-money valuation of $1.65M (LinkedIn)

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International Funding Highlights

• Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia raises $41 million for his startup building small, pre-fabricated houses that spun out of Airbnb in 2022 (Fortune)

• MapLight Therapeutics Closes $225 Million Series C Funding Round to Advance Pipeline of Central Nervous System Therapeutics (PR Newswire)

• Shield AI raises $200M at a $2.7B valuation to scale military autonomous flying tech (TechCrunch)

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