Startup funding is off to a strong start in August, with this week’s tally reaching $85.6 million from eight startups spanning sectors including mining tech, cybersecurity, wellness, food waste and medtech.
This compares with $58.5 million raised by five startups last week, rounding out what ended up being a bumper month for startup funding in July.
Here’s a look at the latest Aussie startups to secure fresh funding.
Deep tech mining startup Plotlogic led the raises this week, having secured US$28 million ($43 million) in Series B funding from a host of Australian and US venture capital funds.
The round was co-led by climate-focused global investment firm Galvanize Climate Solutions, which was founded by billionaire Tom Steyer and Katie Hall, and the Schneider Electric-based SE Ventures.
Australian deep tech VC Main Sequence also participated through its new Main Sequence Three fund, while existing investors, including Innovation Endeavors, DCVC, Bentley iTwin Ventures and GRIDS Capital also joined in, following on from their Series A investments.
Founded five years ago by CEO Andrew Job, Plotlogic specialises in ore characterisation and counts the likes of BHP, Vale, South32 and Pilbara Minerals among its clients.
The startup plans to use the new funding to “bolster commercialisation” and invest in further research and development as if focuses on its North American expansion, according to a company statement.
Also raising millions this week was Sydney-based cybersecurity startup Plerion, which has successfully completed a US$10 million ($15 million) seed funding round.
The round was led by Prosus Ventures, with Cercano and Atlassian Ventures also participating.
Plerion was founded in 2021 by Mike Rahmati, Paul Garner and Pierre Liddle, to empower companies and organisations to “proactively identify, prioritise and mitigate risks within their cloud operating environments”.
The startup says the new funding will go towards product development, building out its team, and taking its products to market.
“We are thrilled to have successfully closed our seed round funding, which is a testament to the strength of our team, vision, and the groundbreaking work we are doing in cybersecurity,” said Plerion CEO Mike Rahmati in a statement.
“This investment will empower us to enhance our capabilities further, hire top-tier talent, and drive the adoption of our cutting-edge solutions to protect businesses and individuals from cyber threats.”
Canberra-based startup Goterra revealed this week that it raised $10 million in a bridging round earlier this year, as it continues to scale its robotic maggot farms that transform organic waste into animal feed.
Founded in 2016 by former sheep farmer Olympia Yarger, Goterra previously raised $8 million in mid-2020, from lead investors Tenacious Ventures and Grok Ventures. According to the Australian Financial Review, the startup is gearing up to start its Series B raise next month.
Yarger shared the details of the $10 million raise this week together with the news that Goterra will soon open a $3.5 million waste facility in Wetherill Park in greater western Sydney that will be fully contracted by supermarket giant Woolworths and waste management company Cleanaway.
According to the AFR, the facility will help divert organic waste from more than 200 Woolies stores, and the facility itself will employ 12 people and turn some 6000 tonnes of food waste into animal feed each year.
Main Sequence is also among the investors backing clean energy company MGA Thermal, which has secured $8.25 million in new funding this week.
The CSIRO-backed deep tech fund has previously invested in MGA Thermal and was joined in this round by a number of other existing investors, including Varley Holdings, Melt Ventures and New Zealand’s Climate Venture Capital Fund. New investors include Pollination Group and Understorey Ventures.
MGA Thermal, which was founded in 2019, plans to use the funds to sell its long-duration energy storage solution, by commissioning an on-site production line and accelerating its operations over the coming months.
“It’s a combination of our purpose-built MGA Thermal Blocks and Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems that unlocks the transition to clean energy by making it reliable, cost-effective and scalable. With the imminent completion of our production line, we’re on track to produce 1,000 blocks per day which can then be assembled into 24/7 renewable energy storage,” said Erich Kisi, MGA Thermal CEO, in a statement.
Main Sequence partner Martin Duursma added that the startup’s long-duration energy storage will be a “key enabler to a reliable and stable grid” as energy markets continue to transition to renewables.
Sydney-based Vitable has closed a $7.5 million funding round this week, while also launching an equity crowdfunding campaign on Equitise, which it hopes will secure it another $3 million.
The healthtech was launched in 2019 by former HelloFresh executive Larah Loutati and former Deloitte staffer Ilyas Anane, and offers a personalised direct-to-consumer vitamin subscription service.
In the space of four years, the startup has served more than 100,000 customers in Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia-Pacific region. The company says it has more than doubled its revenue year-on-year over the past four years, and in June reached a revenue run rate of $12 million.
To date, Vitable has raised more than $15 million in external investment, with its backers including Global Founders Capital, Rocket Internet, Artesian, Commencer Capital and Brenteca.
Co-founder Larah Loutati says Vitable was created because the team “knew there was a better way” to improve health outcomes.
“The global health and wellness market is booming, worth over $2 trillion and growing at 5-10% annually. Yet, despite increasing efforts, health outcomes continue to worsen. An alarming 74% of worldwide deaths are caused by chronic illnesses linked to nutrition and lifestyle factors. This is compounded by the fact that the traditional consumer health journey is confusing, costly, and ineffective,” she said in a statement this week.
Australian not-for-profit Global Sisters will launch a three-year pilot program to help women with disabilities and their carers to start and grow their own businesses, thanks to a US$500,000 ($736,579) grant from Google’s charitable arm, Google.org.
Social entrepreneur Mandy Richards, who founded Global Sisters in 2016, describes micro-businesses run by women as the “backbone” of the economy that nobody talks about.
Because of this, the Global Sisters program chooses to work with women in small businesses who typically aren’t given adequate attention, including Indigenous women, migrants and refugees, women over 50, and women with disabilities.
“The funding we’ve received from Google.org will enable more women living with a disability to participate in our lifecycle of business support, so they can access all they need to start and grow their micro business, and embark on the path to financial independence,” Richards said this week.
Victorian startup Navi Medical Technologies will receive $700,000 in investment from Breakthrough Victoria to support the development of its medical device that aims to make hospital care safer for newborn babies and children.
The startup’s medical device, the Neonav® ECG Tip Location System, is being designed to help clinicians when inserting central venous catheters into critically ill babies and children who need life-saving therapies. It is currently being tested in a second clinical trial involving unwell babies at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne.
Navi has also received backing from other investors, including Medtech Actuator and Artesian VC.
“Our goal at Navi is to build a world-leading medical device company for the most fragile patients in our healthcare system,” said Navi Medical Technologies CEO and co-founder Alex Newton in a statement.
“Support from Breakthrough Victoria at this early stage is vital in growing our team and building a strong foundation for success.”
Aussie startup MicroFleet is aiming to take a slice of the global e-micromobility market, which is estimated to be worth $300 billion by 2030, and has $500,000 in new funding to get it closer to that goal.
The funding comes from the iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre, which is part of the federal government’s Cooperative Research Centres Network and supports Australian companies that are developing innovative tech, products, and services in the transport space.
MicroFleet will use the funding to launch its patent-pending invention OneDock — a universal charging and parking station that can be used for electric bikes, scooters and other light vehicles. It hopes to install 100,000 smart docking points in Australia and one million globally by 2030.
The startup was developed out of its sister company Electric Vehicles Pty Ltd, which supplies and maintains e-bikes for Australia Post’s 2000-strong national fleet.
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Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
