As far as Australian startup funding goes, this week is one for the record books.
By our count, nine local startups have collectively raised more than $233 million, led by a massive $172 million Series B round by Wollongong-based clean tech startup Hysata.
In the mix this week are startups building music, video and gaming content platforms, an AI-powered solution for customer support, a new support model for families with autistic children and a disruptive approach to finance.
Keep reading to find out more.
Wollongong-based green hydrogen startup Hysata has received backing from heavy-hitting global investors in a $172 million (US$111 million) funding round that is being described as Australia’s largest-ever Series B round by a cleantech startup.
Hysata has pioneered a high-efficiency electrolyser that promises to transform how green hydrogen is produced and help accelerate the decarbonisation of sectors like steel making, chemical manufacturing and heavy transport.
The massive funding injection comes less than a year after the startup received around $24 million in grant funding from the Commonwealth and Queensland governments to help it undertake a commercialisation project in Rockhampton, Queensland.
The venture arm of oil and gas powerhouse bp co-led the round with Hong Kong-based alternative asset management firm Templewater, with each contributing US$10 million alongside of a host of existing and new investors.
Hysata plans to use the funding to expand its production capacity to reach gigawatt-scale manufacturing of its electrolyser, which requires much less energy to convert water to hydrogen compared to available alternatives.
A Melbourne-based digital and data consultancy startup has also raised significant funding this week, with V2 Digital securing $30 million from growth equity investor Columbia Capital.
Founded in April 2023 by Craig Howe, V2 Digital is on a mission to become the leading digital and data consultancy in the Asia Pacific region with its offering that combines data, software, cloud and design expertise to help clients solve problems.
“This investment will enable V2 to further bolster our strong market position by strengthening our offerings, attracting top talent to grow our consulting team to 90+ by the end of the year, and broadening our geographical reach beyond our existing footprint in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane,” said Howe in a statement.
Howe previously served as Asia Pacific managing director at Contino, which acquired his previous business Nebulr in 2018. His leadership is one of the reasons Columbia Capital decided to invest in V2 Digital, said Columbia Capital partner Jason Booma.
“With an exceptional leadership team, spearheaded by Craig, along with an experienced team of talented data specialists, software and cloud engineers and designers, we saw the potential of V2’s service offerings and believe the business is on track to cement its position as a go-to brand for complex and transformative solutions,” Booma said in the same statement.
V2 Digital said it has already worked with “several household brands” in the retail, energy, healthcare, media and construction sectors this year, and it counts Ox Ventures founder Matt Farmer as an investor and board member.
The startup has previously been selected as a finalist for AWS Rising Star Partner of the Year 2024 in Australia and New Zealand and has been recognised as one of the Best Places to Work in Australia.
Agtech startup AgriWebb has raised $US7.2 million ($11 million) via a convertible note as it eyes profitability, according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
The new funding comes after AgriWebb raised $10 million in October 2022, $30 million in Series B funding in January 2021, and $14 million in a Series A round in 2018.
The livestock management platform, which was first developed in 2014 by fifth-generation Australian farmers Justin Webb, Kevin Baum and John Fargher, allows farmers and ranchers to digitise their records and land management.
This data is then used to improve oversight on herds, as well as bolster productivity and sustainability on farms.
In October 2022, AgriWebb said the platform was being used by 16,000 users globally to manage around 19 million animals across 136 million acres of land.
Now, the startup says its tech is being used to manage more than 23 million animals across more than 150 million acres in 18 countries. Among the startup’s key markets are Australia, the UK, the US and Brazil.
Music tech startup Disco has secured $10 million in funding, including from Mushroom Group CEO Matt Gudinski, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
Disco, which grew out of music supervision agency Level Two Music, allows content creators to find, license and manage music for TV shows, movies and advertisements.
The goal is to help music labels save time and unlock efficiencies, avoiding situations where music files are saved across multiple locations instead of one centralised system.
The file management platform has reportedly attracted 300,000 monthly users, including big-name clients like Amazon and Netflix, and provides access to close to 100 million music files.
The $10 million funding round was led by US-based investment firm Richmond Hill Investment Co and included participation by Bridford Group, Stephen Cook, Future Classic founder Nathan McLay, Tunde Balogun and Neil Jacobsen.
The startup plans to use the funding to build out its existing AI discovery features, according to founder and CEO Karl Richter.
“We’ve long been champions of using AI responsibly to help with the grunt work around tagging and discovery, to free up our users’ time to do more creative work,” he said.
Creative tech platform Genero plans to use $5 million in fresh funding to accelerate its international expansion and continue developing its platform.
The Australian Financial Review reports the round was led by Acorn Capital. It brings Genero’s total funding to date to $15 million, according to the report, which includes $4 million raised from Ellerston Capital in 2018.
Founded in 2009 by Mick Entwisle and Andrew Lane, Genero offers a video production platform that gives users an easier way to manage the financial and legal aspects of their projects, while also connecting them with directors, editors and animators.
The startup reportedly has 150 customers, including corporate giants Amazon, TikTok, Google, Meta, L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble and Kellogg’s, and has offices in London, São Paulo, Singapore, and the US.
Its platform has also been used by record labels to produce videos for the likes of Alicia Keys, Muse, The Temper Trap, and Birds of Tokyo.
A Sydney AI startup that wants to transform customer support has raised $3.85 million, bringing the amount of capital it has raised in the space of 12 months to $5 million.
The funding round, which was completed at an undisclosed valuation, was led by Peak XV Partners’ Surge, with Macdoch Ventures, Black Sheep Capital, MadPaws CEO Justus Hammer and several angel investors also participating.
Brainfish only launched in April 2023 and has seen 65% month-on-month growth since then, it says.
According to the startup, customer support is an area ripe for disruption. Its platform aims to resolve customer inquiries instantly by applying AI-driven contextual understanding to a business’ knowledge base.
“Whilst tooling is better, people today want quick answers that are accurate and contextualised,” Daniel Kimber, CEO and co-founder of Brainfish, told SmartCompany earlier this week.
“We’re able to continue pushing the boundaries of customer support and save businesses countless hours by delivering a superior product that works from the very top of the customer funnel. Bad bot answers just won’t suffice anymore.”
Brainfish has some 300,000 users globally – including the likes of Airtasker and Mad Paws — and is operating across Australia, the US, and Singapore.
Melbourne-based startup Kite Therapy has secured $750,000 in a pre-seed funding round supported by LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund.
Kite Therapy was founded by Rachelle Dunstan, Matthew Morrison and Gregor Whyte to help more families access support for children with autism and developmental delays.
Designed for children aged between one and six years old, Kite Therapy offers access to weekly telehealth consults with therapist-coaches, who work with both children and their parents to support the child’s communication, social, motor and behaviour skills via personalised plans.
The platform also includes an app, which parents can use to connect with their therapist coach and seek feedback, along with personalised content modules.
Dunstan previously worked at disability support marketplace Hireup and has seen firsthand how long families are currently waiting to access support for their children, particularly in regional areas.
At the same time, the high costs of intensive therapy mean that many families cannot afford to access the support they need.
“In Australia today, we have a chronic shortage of allied health therapists; the costs of intensive therapy can exceed $200,000 a year, and in regional Australia, there are often no services at all,” explained Dunstan in a statement provided to SmartCompany.
“It’s common for families to spend years on waitlists to access support and miss their children’s critical windows of development. Access to quality, holistic, and timely therapy ensures a child can flourish to the best of their potential.”
Kite Therapy plans to use the funding to hire more therapists and support more families.
Gaming content startup Nucanon has raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding led by Skalata, reports Startup Daily.
Previously known as Stori, the content generation platform was launched by founder Nilushanan Kulasingham in 2022. It received an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from Antler and US investor Jason Calacanis in 2023.
Antler has again backed the startup in the latest funding round, along with Outlier Ventures, Paperclip Partners and Mark Aubrey, CEO of Sydney Football Club.
Nucanon’s ultimate goal is to boost fan engagement with games and it does this by using large language models (LLMs) to help game creators generate and easily manage narrative content.
According to the startup, it has more than 15,000 demo users, a waitlist of 3,500 people and a partnership with Gamurs, which has a monthly active user base of 66 million people.
Nucanon has previously participated in the AWS Generative AI Accelerator and was a finalist in the SXSW Sydney pitch competition in 2023.
Social impact fintech Maslow has successfully completed its equity crowdfunding campaign on Birchal, raising more than $400,000 from 288 investors.
Co-founders Caitlin Robinson, Kane Jackson and Mina Calvert have an ambitious goal to “turn the finance industry into the world’s largest publicly owned utility” and will use the new funds to bring on new team members and develop its product suite.
This suite is expected to include savings and transaction banking accounts, superannuation, investment and mortgage products, via partnerships with other providers.
The point of difference is that these products will be offered at cost price and will be “free from the commission, conflict and retail profit margins that plague the [finance] industry today”, the startup says.
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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.
