This Week in Australian Startups #81, 18th August 2024

$53.05M in funding this week Hapana ($17.3M), Aglow ($1.25M) , Kinoxis Therapeutics ($14.5M), DeCarice (Undisclosed) and Proto Axiom ($20M).

I also missed Apromore’s funding from last week of $22.9M, taking the total funding last week to $48.75M.

It’s been a busy week and nothing this week has warranted the time for a thorough deep dive - but two piece of news that have piqued my interest;

M&A activity continues

This week saw two acquisitions;

1. Linktree acquired Plann, the social media scheduling tool.

2. Cloudfout acquired Incomee

Nice to see that both companies acquiring were Australian, and in Linktree’s case the acquired company was also Australian.

I still think we’ll see even more activity as we get to the tail end of the year - one of my predictions from the start of the year that’s continued.

Airwallex hits $500M ARR

Quite the achievement, in and a response I’d expect from any ambitious founder looking to IPO Jack Zhang has set sights on $1B ARR by 26/27 when they are predicted to IPO.

The use of AI is also interesting, particularly AI agents to augment its existing workforce. The focus on AI making staff more productive, than replacing them is definitely the way I see things too for now at least - Zhang puts it really well when he mentions it means 1 SDR could be managing 5 virtual SDRs rather than replacing the human altogether.

2026 looks like a great year for Australian IPOs with Canva also on the cards.

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Top News

• Cauldron Molecules, Li-S Energy, Brandsec, Electrogenics Laboratories and Forager Automation have received a combined $7.4M in grants from the Industry Growth Program (InnovationAus)

• Airwallex hits $500M USD ARR, aims to get IPO-ready by 2026 (CNBC)

• Earbud maker Nuheara falls into administration (The Age)

• Online vehicle sales platform CAR Group’s revenue races past $1b for first time (BNA)

• Loam Bio has laid off the majority of its staff in the US (AFR)

• Canva recruit from big tech ahead of IPO, but five execs have left (AFR)

• What we know so far about Labor’s Trust Exchange initiative (SmartCompany)

• SEEK slumps to $100M loss amid employment market deterioration (BNA)

• Dean Freestone, co-founder of Seer, is suing Breakthrough Victoria claiming he was unfairly dismissed (AFR)

• ACCC uncovers another secret Google search deal with TPG (InnovationAus)

• Seek’s venture fund wears $210M hit even as top performers surge (AFR)

• Cloudfloat announces the strategic acquisition of Incomee (StartUp ScaleUp)

• ASIC alleges ASX misled market over blockchain-based settlement project (BNA)

• Fermentation startup Cauldron mulls US plant as it raises a Series B (Capital Brief)

• Tech Ready Women launches in Queensland to provide funding boost for local female-founded startups (StartUp ScaleUp)

• Apple opens third-party payments for Australian iPhones (SmartCompany)

• Morse Micro's IPO ambitions (Capital Brief)

• Domain profit surges 62% amid price rises for property listings (BNA)

• How SafetyCulture cheated 'near death' to become a billion dollar business (Capital Brief)

• Linktree acquires social media scheduler tool Plann (Alex Zaccaria | TechCrunch)

• Why this weeks changes to the Consumer Data Right are great news for tackling climate change and the cost of your power bill (Startup Daily)

• Aussie fintech investment fell 13% in first half: KPMG (Capital Brief)

• AI chatbot lands Google execs in a pickle at Senate hearing (The Age)

• Employment Hero announces new wage transparency data as part of SmartMatch - showing both candidates and employers real time salary data from the market (The Australian)

• Maxine Minter announces Co Ventures Fund 1 has officially closed - surpassing the $5M target (Maxine Minter)

• Antler has launched its 12th residency in Australia (Antler)

Funding Rounds

• Hapana, a SaaS platform for gyms, group fitness studios and franchises, has raised $17.3M Series A round led by OIF Ventures and Bailador (Startup Daily | Capital Brief)

• Aglow, a subscription beauty membership platform, has raised $1.25M in a round from Icehouse Ventures (Startup Daily | BNA)

• Kinoxis Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotech that is looking to prevent ­dementia patients being put into care homes prematurely, has raised a $14.5M Series B round from Uniseed, Unisuper, Stoic VC, Avicella Capital and The University of Sydney (The Australian | Startup Daily)

• DeCarice, a ground-breaking hydrogen injection technology that replaces 90% of diesel with no compromise on performance, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Pre-Seed round from Investible (Investible | Startup Daily)

• Proto Axiom, the biomedical technology incubator, has raised a $20M of a planned $30M Series B round (Startup Daily | AFR)

• Apromore, which provides a process mining and AI-driven business process improvement technology, has raised a further $22.9M in a Series B-1 round from Tin Valley Ventures bringing the total raised in its Series B round to $38.7M (Apromore)