An energy storage solution, a carbon accounting platform and technology that turns agricultural waste into activated carbon, are among the local startups to raise significant funding this week, highlighting the growing significance of energy focused innovation across the country.
Take a look at five Australian and New Zealand startups that collectively raised more than $21 million this week.
Melbourne-based data analytics startup Diversity Atlas has raised $6 million in fresh funding from Canadian funding platform, Gener8 VC.
The funding represents the first external investment into Diversity Atlas, which was founded in 2019 and grew out of Cultural Fusion, a company founded by prominent diversity advocate Peter Mousaferiadis to deliver educational and creative experiences.
Diversity Atlas gives companies unique insights into diversity and employee engagement via a platform that was developed over seven years by a team of data engineers, anthropologists and subject matter experts.
The platform’s dataset – which includes more than 45,000 human identity data points – is used alongside the startup’s proprietary algorithm to track cultural diversity and sentiment within a company.
In turn, this provides a company’s leadership with insights that can be used to improve employee engagement, initiate organisational change and meet environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.
New South Wales-based clean energy startup MGA Thermal also raised this week, securing $5.7 million to bring its latest funding round to around $14 million as it prepares to enter the next testing stage for its thermal energy storage system.
Existing investors Main Sequence and Melt Ventures have once again backed the company, participating in the funding round alongside new investor JEKARA.
To date, MGA Thermal has raised a total of $28.8 million in funding and grants, including 560,000 in seed funding from industry giant Shell as part of its GameChanger startup accelerator fund in early 2023.
The startup was founded in 2019 by Dr Erich Kisi and Dr Alexander Post. It is developing long-duration thermal energy storage tech, which it says has key applications in the mining, mineral processes and manufacturing industries.
The startup’s ultimate goal is to abate 30 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030, which would be the equivalent of more than 23 years of commercial airplane flights between Sydney and Los Angeles.
Tasmanian accounting startup Sumday has locked in $5.3 million in seed funding in a round led by US-based VC fund Planeteer Capital and including existing investors Blackbird, Wedgetail and Canva co-founder Cameron Adams.
Founded in 2022 by Jessica Richmond, Lindsay Ellis and Danny Hoare, Sumday is used by accountants to upskill via online courses and to perform greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting work.
In a statement, Blackbird partner Michael Tolo described the startup as “the only carbon accounting platform that is built for accountants first”.
“Few companies can afford a sustainability consultant but all of them have an accountant,” he said.
“As emissions reporting becomes mandatory, Sumday is uniquely placed to become the global solution for thousands of companies worldwide.”
The funding sees Sumday become the first international investment from Planeteer’s fund. The New York-based firm was established by prominent climate tech investor Sophie Purdom and the fund itself is backed by institutional LPs and Silicon Valley executives, including Meta’s former chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer.
Sumday has now raised a total of $7.3 million in funding, after securing $2 million in a pre-seed round in March 2023.
Also in 2023, the startup announced a global partnership with Xero, which itself is using Sumday for GHG accounting.
“We see a world where accounting systems have transformed the global economy into a force for good,” said Sumday CEO Jessica Richmond in a statement earlier this week.
“To make that reality, we’re reimagining the role of accounting through practical education, transparency and trust in relation to non-financial accounting data – it has to be normal and affordable for every business.”
Green tech startup Bygen plans to establish a large-scale production plant and create up to 65 new jobs in Victoria over the next five years, after completing a $2.6 million Series A round.
As reported by Startup Daily, $1 million of the funding comes from the government-backed fund Breakthrough Victoria. Albert’s Impact Ventures, Investible, Artesian and Startmate also contributed.
Founded by researchers Dr Lewis Dunnigan and Ben Morton at the University of Adelaide in 2018 and now based in Melbourne, Bygen has developed a way to turn agricultural waste from nut shells into activated carbon, which it then uses to filter environmental toxins.
Following the opening of its production plant in Victoria, the startup plans to open similar facilities in other Australian and international locations.
In its investment notes, Investible said its backing of Bygen represents the 23rd investment from its Climate Tech Fund.
The startup, wrote Investible investment manager Ben Lindsay, is addressing a significant global market.
“While there are many emerging solutions looking to process biomass waste, ranging from animal feed, biochar, anaerobic digestion and more, many result in the creation of relatively low-value products also reliant on the economic benefits associated with capturing CO2,” he said.
“However, activated carbon (or activated charcoal), that has been treated to increase its absorptive power by significantly increasing its internal porosity, commands a far higher price per tonne — and has the potential to be far more sustainable.”
New Zealand communications startup VXT has secured NZ$1.8 million ($A1.65 million) in pre-Series A funding, according to Startup Daily.
The startup, which was founded by Luke Campbell and Lucy Turner in 2018, targets law firms with an AI-powered platform designed to save lawyers time, capture more of their billable hours and manage risks.
The platform integrates with a range of other practice management software, including Clio, MyCase, LEAP and Smokeball.
Campbell told Startup Daily the startup’s customer base has grown fivefold in 2023. More than 200 legal teams are reportedly using the platform, which had an annual recurring revenue of NZ$1.3 million as of February.
The startup has also undergone a major redevelopment project that involved changing more than half of its codebase, said Campbell.
“The new platform sets lawyers up for an AI-enabled future in which practices free their lawyers to spend more time communicating with clients, and winning new business, as software becomes increasingly more capable of performing legal work itself,” Campbell said.
The funding round was led by existing investor GD1, with Startmate and Phase One also making follow-on investments. Silicon Valley entrepreneur J Zac Stein also participated in the round.
News Editor
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 Twitter at @ellykeating.
