This Week in Australian Startups #56, 25th February 2024
You may have noticed that amongst the four startups that raised capital this week, it included Hatch - the startup I work at.
Whilst on the outside, it’s a few articles and take over of a news cycle, on the inside it’s quite a different experience. You get to see the culmination of months and months of work of the actual fundraise and the coordinated marketing/PR effort.
Being such a small team for now (we are hiring!) has meant I’ve been fortunate to work so closely with our founders seeing first hand the fundraising process, and our marketing team and how they’ve pulled off a great week of PR.
Keep an eye out as I’ll be sharing some exciting content around this in the coming weeks!
With a busier fundraising announcement week, there’s no deep dive this week.
Australia
Top News
WiseTech Global shares hit an all-time high, beating expectations with a market cap of $30B (Startup Daily | AFR | The Australian)
The federal government wants more quantum research commercialised – as it eyes off a US supplier for its secretive computer plan (Startup Daily)
Startmate’s summer cohort invests in women cofounders for 60% of the startups (Startup Daily)
Finder cuts staffing for the 3rd time in a year, shedding 60 jobs (Startup Daily)
“It’s like a sinking ship”: Inside Finder’s latest redundancy round (SmartCompany)
After leading the first bank to list on the ASX in 30 years, Judo co-founder Healy to resign (BNA)
ASX-listed VC Touch Ventures books $15.4 million loss in 2023 (Startup Daily)
Instagram creator marketplace opens in Australia, giving SMEs a new way to reach influencers (SmartCompany)
Dempstah, which turns turning textile waste into knitwear, wins eBay’s 2024 Circular Fashion Fund (SmartCompany)
The secret sauce of Coles’ and Woolworths’ profits: high-tech surveillance and control (BNA)
Hipages profits grow to $3.7M as revenue jumps 15%, as fewer jobs lead to more competition from tradies (BNA)
Byron Bay compost technology startup Subpod shuts down due to tough conditions (BNA)
Euclideon, a Brisbane-based 3D data visualisation technology company, has been ceased operations as administrators look to sell IP and assets (BNA)
Nuix swings to $4.8m loss as legal bills soar (AFR)
Australian start-up Diraq says it will beat Silicon Quantum Computing and produce the country’s first quantum computer (AFR)
Inside Canva’s $39B office of the future (The Australian)
Samsara Eco, lululemon debut first-ever infinitely recycled nylon (Capital Brief)
CSIRO targets startups for AI commercialisation program (InnovationAus)
1000 Conversations about AI by Casey Flint (Square Peg)
MRFF awards $50 million to Australian team developing artificial heart (AuManufacturing)
AirTree marks its 10th anniversary with a throwback to their first Investor Presentation in 2014 and reflections from cofounder Craig Blair (LinkedIn)
Boosting Female Founders cohort announced before agreements were finalised (SmartCompany)
Listing Loop has acquired Hello Haus (LinkedIn)
Canva CFO Damien Singh’s departure is software company’s greatest test (The Age)
Funding Rounds
Hatch, a next generation employment marketplace that uses AI to match candidates and employers, raised a $7M Seed round led by Rampersand, with support from Alberts Impact Ventures, Aura Ventures, Jelix Ventures, and Investible (The Age | SmartCompany | BNA)
Gilmour Space Technologies, that is developing and launching LEO launch vehicles and new satellite platforms, raised a $55M Series D led by the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), with participation from Blackbird, Main Sequence, and superannuation funds HostPlus and HESTA (Startup Daily | SmartCompany | AFR)
FirstWave, a global cybersecurity technology company democratising enterprise-grade cybersecurity-as-service to SMBs, has raised $2.5M to support expansion into Latin and North America (ARN)
Wrappr, which turns cars into outdoor advertising through branded wraps, has raised an undisclosed amount from Skalata (Skalata)
Around The World
Top News
Google announces Gemma; Introducing new state-of-the-art open models (Google)
Marc Lore’s startup Wonder is opening food halls inside Walmart stores, in a sequel to his e-commerce startup’s $3 billion acquisition by Walmart (Fortune)
Reddit sells training data to unnamed AI company ahead of IPO (Ars Technica)
Tech Leaders Fled San Francisco During the Pandemic. Now, They’re Coming Back (WSJ)
First Neuralink patient can control a computer mouse by thinking, claims Elon Musk (Mashable)
Inside the Funding Frenzy at Anthropic, One of A.I.’s Hottest Start-Ups (The NYT)
Reddit Plans to Sell Stock to Loyal Users in Unusual IPO Wager (WSJ)
Techstars Seattle is shutting down as accelerator shifts focus to cities with more VC activity (GeekWire)
Techstars CEO defends changes, says physical presence in a city is not necessary for investment (TechCrunch)
Reddit Files to Go Public, Reveals That It Paid CEO $193 Million Last Year (Daily Beast)
Nvidia hits $2 trillion valuation as AI frenzy grips Wall Street (Reuters)
Crypto exchange FTX to sell shares in AI startup Anthropic (Reuters)
Nextdoor Co-Founder Nirav Tolia to Return as CEO (MarketWatch)
Funding Rounds
Roche leads Freenome's $254M funding round for cancer-detecting blood tests (Fierce Biotech)
Magic AI Secures $117 Million to Build an AI Software Engineer (Maginative)
Recogni Raises $102 Million to Meet AI Applications’ Compute Demand (PYMNTS)
Monzo targets £4bn valuation in fresh funding round (FT)
Fabric Raises $60 Million to Grow Conversational AI-Powered Healthcare Platform (PYMTNS)