This Week in Australian Startups #68, 19th May 2024

The biggest headlines this week is certainly the 2024 Budget being released. The general sentiment is that whilst there’s good things in there it’s lacking in conviction when it comes to our startup and tech sectors with minimal investment and commitment.

I’m certainly no expert on the topic, nor have a background in economics so here’s what I’ve been reading this week on the topic that I think you should read too;

• It’s time for the Albanese government to stand and deliver for Australia’s startup sector. Analysis by Simon Thomsen, editor of Startup Daily (Startup Daily)

• Tech sector reactions (Startup Daily)

• More reacts (SmartCompany)

• R&D boost needed for Future Made in Australia plan to fly (AFR)

• Dickie Currer shares his summary

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Top News

• Little Birdie, the online retail marketplace developed by Catch founders, which was backed with $30M in funding from the CBA has shut down (Startup Daily)

• Founder Institute ANZ reveals the 8 startups in its latest cohort ahead of Demo Day (Startup Daily)

• How Maslow, a social impact fintech, ran a set a new standard for crowdfunding campaigns on Birchal (Startup Daily)

• Australia scraps Global Talent visa for National Innovation one amid immigration cuts (Startup Daily)

• Redback Technologies, the solar battery startup, is out of voluntary administration with fintech Australia Ebon taking ownership in a deal worth $500K (Startup Daily)

• The founder, Jonathan Badeen, and founding team member, Rosette Pambakian, of Tinder have joined the Getahead advisory board ahead of funding round (BNA)

• Openn Negotiation calls administrators a week after $1.3m bid for prop-tech Proffer Group (BNA)

• Game developer Mighty Kingdom lays off 28% of staff as it chases profitability (BNA)

• MYOB’s Slate Super, controlled through Flare HR, sale in the offing (AFR)

• PsiQuantum deal will cost almost $30M just to check it works (AFR)

• UK’s bet on PsiQuantum is one-fiftieth the size of Australia’s (AFR)

• Cybersecurity industry needs 5000 new workers every year just to keep up (AFR)

• Hackers steal the keys to Iress’ OneVue platform (AFR)

• Hackers hold Australian prescription platform MediSecure to ransom (AFR)

• Sydney start-up Apate to change how telcos deal with scammers (The Australian)

• Biotech investor Hashan De Silva is seeking to launch a new biotech/medtech fund worth up to $200M (The Australian)

• Spacecubed’s Plus Eight Accelerator cohort has been announced for 2024 with 12 companies selected (Spacecubed)

• Plans to tax unrealised gains on earnings from super accounts over $3M are another potential hit to a startup ecosystem (Capital Brief)

• Nuix COO and CFO Chad Barton to step down (Capital Brief)

• Square Peg to raise another US$550 million fund in the second half of 2024 (Square Peg)

• Esther Chin summarises the key insights from OnePitch VC’s first Reverse Pitch event (Ester Chin)

• Build Club, the AI Accelerator, launches their founding cohorot Y24 with 16 startups (Annie Liao)

• Humanitix, the first and only not-for-profit ticketing platform, has now donated a total of $10.5M (Sarah MacDiarmid)

• Cheryl Mack, CEO of Aussie Angels, shares her submission and summary to the inquiry of wholesale and sophisticated investor tests (Cheryl Mack)

• Michael Batko starts an open-source list of the best community sourced startup newsletters, accelerators and coworking spaces across Australia (Michael Batko)

Funding Rounds

• Cover Genius, the insurtech for embedded protection, has raised a $120M Series E round led by Spark Capital with support from existing investors, including Dawn Capital, King River Capital and G Squared (Startup Daily | BNA)

• Neo-Bionica, the startup looking to solve medical device prototype manufacturing capability, has raised $5M from Breakthrough Victoria (Startup Daily | SmartCompany)

• Data Zoo, a global identity solution which provides a modern verification experience, has raised $35M after 13 years of bootstrapping (Startup Daily | BNA | AFR)

• RecycleSmart, the recycling startup which disposes of hard-to-recycle items by picking up unwanted waste from a customer’s doorstep, has raised $1.15M through an equity crowdfunding campaign on Birchal (SmartCompany | BNA)

• Asseti, a proptech startup which provides an asset performance management platform that generates insights at scale on infrastructure, has raised a $2.5M Seed round led by Tidal Ventures (Asseti | BNA)

• Melodie, an Australian music licensing start-up which provides an online platform for companies and content creators to find and license music for their projects, has secured a $1M convertible note (AFR)

• ATEC, an Australian startup solving clean cooking & climate change through disruptive technology, has raised $1.5M in quasi-equity financing from the Spark+ Africa Frund (Ben Jeffreys)

• Zeta Markets, a Solana-based decentralized exchange for trading crypto perpetuals, has raised $7.45 (US$5M) in a token round led by Electric Capital with participation from Airtree Ventures (The Block)

• Sunshine Hydro, a climate tech startup making a Superhybrid technology that can provide 24/7 carbon-free energy, has raised $422K through an equity crowdfunding campaign (Birchal)