As far as startup funding tallies go, this week’s one for the record books.
We’ve counted 14 Australian and New Zealand startups that have collectively raised more than $230 million, led by a massive $150 million Series D round for South Australian company Fleet Space Technologies.
Keep reading to find out which other startups announced fresh funding this week.
South Australian space tech startup Fleet Space Technologies leads this week’s funding round-up with a massive $150 million Series D raise.
As reported by SmartCompany earlier this week, the funding round values the pioneering company at over $800 million.
The funding comes from lead investor Teachers’ Venture Growth, as well as existing investors Blackbird Ventures, Hostplus, Horizons Ventures, Artesian Venture Partners, and Alumni Ventures.
Fleet Space, which was founded in 2015 by Flavia Tata Nardini and Matt Pearson, previously raised $50 million in Series C funding in 2023, and $36 million in a Series B round in 2021.
The company plans to use the Series D round to expand the capabilities of its ExoSphere platform, which combines LEO satellites, smart seismic sensors, and AI to accelerate critical mineral discovery.
“There are two versions of the future. One where we bend the latest advances in space, AI, and big data towards building a clean energy future and another where we risk net-zero targets falling out of reach as the rate of new discoveries of energy transition minerals continues to decline,” said CEO and co-founder Flavia Tata Nardini this week.
“With ExoSphere, we have combined these technologies into an end-to-end platform that seamlessly integrates with and compliments modern mining operations — making the frontier of exploration technology accessible to the global mining industry within a single workflow.
Second in line this week is Quantum Brilliance, which has secured $10 million from Breakthrough Victoria and $13 million from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) as part of a $30 million Series A funding round that also includes offshore investors.
It adds to an impressive fundraising record for the startup, which raised $25.7 million in 2023 and $13.4 million in 2021.
It is also the second investment from the federal government’s NRF’s $15 billion fund, following its $40 million investment into Queensland mining services company Russell Mineral Equipment last month.
Founded in 2019 by Mark Luo, Dr Marcus Doherty and Dr Andrew Horsley, Quantum Brilliance stands apart from other quantum computing startups because its technology is based on the use of diamonds.
Whereas traditional quantum systems require cryogenic cooling or more complicated setups, Quantum Brilliance uses synthetic diamonds as a stable medium for quantum computing and sensing. This allows it to create small, energy-efficient quantum devices that work at room temperature.
As reported by SmartCompany earlier this week, the new funding will go towards establishing Australia’s first quantum diamond foundry to advance the design and fabrication of diamond quantum devices.
Brisbane-based market research startup Askable has secured its first external investment, raising $22 million (US$15 million) in a Series A funding round led by prominent Australian VC Airtree Ventures.
Founded in 2017, Askable says it began “as an idea scribbled on a sticky note” to make high-quality market research accessible to everyone, from the big end of town to brand-new startups.
Founders John Goleby, Scott Goleby and Andreas Zhou were frustrated with dealing with “clunky, outdated research process” and set about creating an on-demand research and insight delivery platform.
This platform connects companies with leading researchers and vetted participants, and combines human expertise with AI to produce in-depth market insights to help build better products.
The previously bootstrapped startup says it has been profitable from the beginning, and has grown from one office in Brisbane to outposts in London and Chicago. It employs a team of 60 people and has worked with more than 600 brands around the world, including the likes of Canva, Atlassian, Visa, Afterpay, BP and Deloitte.
Askable plans to use the new funding to scale its on-demand platform, as well as invest in new technology and global talent.
In a statement, co-founder and CEO John Goleby said Askable “fundamentally shifts the way products are built”.
“The greatest brands in the world still launch products no one wants. Without a way to quickly and deeply extract the full truth from users, digital products stand almost no chance of success.
“The way we see it, traditional research methods and no amount of DIY tools can keep pace with today’s demands, leading to backlogs, poor product decisions, and unnecessary risks.”
Ticket resale platform Tixel has raised $8 million in fresh funding as it readies to expand into the US and UK markets.
As reported by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, the funding comes from ASX-listed Touch Ventures, which was spun out of Afterpay, as well as Alberts, Aura Group, Lalotte Ventures and Side Stage Ventures.
Tixel was founded in 2017 by Zac Leigh and Jason Webb and has reportedly attracted close to 2.5 million users across the globe.
The Tixel platform allows these users to safely buy and resell concert tickets by using technology to verify the legitimacy of the tickets being sold. It also caps resale prices to combat ticket scalpers and those attempting to scam would-be buyers.
In an interview, Leigh said the startup is “building the world’s most trusted live event marketplace”.
“There’s still a lot more work to do but we certainly have ambitions to really shake things up in the market,” he added.
Tixel previously raised $1.5 million in 2021, and in 2018 was selected to participate in Monash University’s The Generator accelerator program.
A retail data analysis startup that was only founded 12 months ago has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by leading VC Square Peg.
As reported by Startup Daily, Goodwork.ai is an artificial intelligence-based startup that wants to make it easier and faster for retailers to analyse their performance.
The analysis is done in real-time and covers a vast array of factors that can affect a retailer’s performance, from changes to promotions on its website to even the weather.
Goodwork.ai was founded by Matthew Smith, a former partner in Boston Consulting Group’s global retail team; Alex Bergsaker, a developer who specialises in AI for retail; and Ric Porteous, a BCG data scientist. Another former BCG retail data scientist, Adam Whybrew, has joined the startup as director of research.
In investment notes featured on the Square Peg website, partner James Tynan described Goodwork.ai as “a different animal” compared to other retail insights tools.
“They are building their own proprietary models to replicate the brains of the world’s best retail analysts,” he said.
“They’re using LLMs to provide an interface to those models so that real humans on the team can work in partnership with the AI analyst to dig into the ‘why’.”
New Zealand fund administration startup Caruso has also raised this week, securing $3.2 million in an equity round led by private credit firm Balmain.
Founded in 2023 by co-CEOs Oliver Shaw and Mark Hurley, Caruso is a SaaS platform that simplifies fund management operations into a single system, including investor onboarding, compliance processes, and ownership tracking.
In a short period, the startup has now grown to a level where it is managing over $15 billion in assets from 400 funds and 27,000 investors.
Caruso previously raised $3 million in seed funding in November 2023, with Icehouse Ventures, GD1, Pushpay founder Chris Heaslip and Gull Oil among its investors at the time.
The new funding will go towards expanding the startup’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region and into North America, and further develop its technology.
Geospatial tech startup Terria launched this week with $3 million in seed funding from deep-tech investment fund Main Sequence.
Terria, which itself has been spun out of a CSIRO lab, is a tool designed for the planning and managing cities of the future, as well as energy use and environmental monitoring.
Founded by Ana Belgun and Amber Standley, Terria’s technology has been developed over the past 10 years, following the availability of the first open-data and open-source Australian government platforms.
The startup produces digital twins — digital representations of buildings, roads and other infrastructure, which can then be data from the natural environment or forecasts related to traffic, air pollution or population.
“A digital twin will help not just the cities of the future, but also regions, with simulations of future scenarios – what happens if we have a flood, what happens if climate impacts our population,” Terria co-founder and chief executive Ana Belgun said earlier this week.
The seed funding from Main Sequence will go towards building out the next phase of the startup, which is targeting the rapidly growing geospatial data market.
Grw AI has raised $2.2 million — the highest pre-seed round ever seen in New Zealand — with support from Investible and unnamed Silicon Valley VCs and angel investors.
The company aims to make performance coaching scalable and accessible, starting with sales teams. The company says its AI-driven platform is already delivering results, with customers such as real estate platform Relab reporting a significant increase in monthly sales.
“Grw AI’s platform has been invaluable for us leading to a remarkable 400% increase in monthly sales. The real-time feedback and tailored AI coaching have been game-changers, equipping our team to handle complex sales and customer questions with confidence,” Brigitte Mandeno, head of growth at Relab, said.
Founded by a team with expertise in AI, data science, and sales coaching, Grw AI plans to use the funds to scale its platform and relocate its team to San Francisco to be closer to global AI innovation hubs.
Equity crowdfunding platform Birchal raised $2 million in just 29 hours from over 800 investors.
Since launching in 2017, the platform has facilitated $218 million in capital raises for over 300 companies. The fresh funds will support its plans to grow the platform and expand its offerings further.
“This is an extraordinary milestone, not just for Birchal, but for equity crowdfunding in Australia,” Matt Vitale, CEO of Birchal, said.
“The speed and scale of this raise reflect the incredible community we’ve built around Birchal, and the belief our investors have in our mission to empower everyday Australians to invest in visionary businesses.
“More importantly, it’s a signal that the markets are reopening. It’s been a challenging few years for raising capital, but confidence is returning, and Birchal’s result here is a further signal of brighter conditions ahead.”
Clutch Glue founder Annabel Hay recently made a splash on Shark Tank Australia, wowing the Sharks with her water-soluble product that helps users affix dresses, tops, and strappy shoes to their bodies.
Her Shark Tank pitch earned her a $400,000 offer, split evenly between Sharks Rob Herjavec and Davie Forgarty, for a combined 20% stake in the company.
However, The Australian Financial Review reported this week that the proposal did not come to fruition.
Instead, Hay has secured $2 million in pre-seed funding from investors including Blackbird Ventures and Dany Milham, which values the business at $10 million.
Speaking to SmartCompany in October, Hay said Clutch Glue’s international expansion is well underway, with the brand now stocked in CVS, one of North America’s largest pharmacy chains.
The brand has secured distributor and retailer agreements in the UK and New Zealand, and is stocked in Priceline and Woolworths in Australia.
Queensland-based startup Accoil Analytics plans to scale up its operations after locking in $2 million in seed funding in a round cornerstoned by QIC Ventures and Atlassian Ventures.
Accoil Analytics was founded in 2023 by former ThinkTilt and Atlassian colleagues Simon Herd, Kate Caldecott and Peter Preston.
The startup has developed a product engagement analytics platform that provides companies with a more in-depth understanding of their customers, to help them improve their products.
It does this by automatically collecting and organising customer clicks, events, traits, engagement, activation and adoption.
In a statement provided to SmartCompany, Nick Capell from QIC Ventures said the three founders have a strong track record of “building products that solve real problems that are important to their customers”.
“We’ve seen that dating back to 1999 in Simon and Kate’s case with Our Community, and bringing Peter on board with ThinkTilt in 2018, where QIC Ventures first invested in the group,” he said.
“We’re excited to be partnering with them again as they leverage their lived experience and relationships in the Atlassian Marketplace with Accoil, supporting the shift from intuition-based to data-driven digital product builds responsive to individual end-user behaviours.”
QIC Ventures has invested in Accoil Analytics via its early-stage $24 million Enterprise Acceleration Fund, which is focused on investing in Queensland businesses with global potential.
Victorian startup Umps Health has secured a $2 million investment, led by Breakthrough Victoria, for its technology to support older people to live in their own homes for longer.
Launched in 2023 by Adam Jahnke and Geoff Ayre, Umps Health has developed a smart home platform to facilitate better aged care at home.
The startup’s proprietary wearables, sensors and AI are designed to provide real-time insights into the health and wellbeing of the person using them. The platform also allows users to connect to emergency response services or family caregivers if required.
Already, the startup says its platform is supporting thousands of households across the country, as it aims to help meet the increasing demand for aged care support services in Australia.
The company’s products are offered under the Home Care Package Program, the Commonwealth Home Support Program and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Intervalley Ventures also participated in the funding round, alongside follow-on support from existing investors Sprint Ventures, the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, the 5Point Foundation and Agnes Health.
The investment is expected to help Umps Health undertake ongoing research, development and commercialisation of its tech, and create up to 40 jobs over the next two years.
Solar tile startup Volt has raised $1.7 million via equity crowdfunding platform Birchal, attracting 464 investors.
Volt’s solar tiles combine efficiency and design, integrating into roofing systems for a discreet renewable energy solution. The startup has established a global presence in 85 countries through partnerships with industry leaders like Bristile Roofing and La Escandella.
The funds will support Volt’s efforts to scale production and address key challenges in the solar tile market, such as cost and installation efficiency.
Volt recently won a Gold Good Design Award for Engineering Design, recognising its innovation in the renewable energy space.
Melbourne-based Conry Tech has raised $1.6 million in new funding, which brings its total funding raised to date to $8.7 million
Founded in 2020 by Ron Conry, Sam Ringwaldt and Brenda Ringwaldt, the climate tech startup wants to build what it is calling its “Bull Ant army” — a force made up of the startup’s small, ultra-efficient modular air-conditioning units that are designed for use in commercial buildings and data centres.
The founders’ mission is to eliminate another billion tonnes of CO2 emissions caused by air-conditioning, which is something they achieved at their last business where they created a better air-conditioning unit.
This pre-seed funding round was led by Bandera Capital, alongside Pacific Channel, according to a statement provided to SmartCompany.
Conry Tech said it has several field trials lined up for 2025 and is looking for more commercial sites to test its technology, which it says can help companies slash their energy bills and emissions.
“As we approach another record-breaking summer, the Bull Ant could be Australia’s answer to one of the biggest, yet most easily ignored polluters on the planet,” said CEO Sam Ringwaldt in the statement.
“We started with a blank piece of paper, with a mission to revolutionise air-conditioning, knowing that approximately 10 new air-conditioners will be installed every second for the next three decades. The result is a modular system that cuts AC electricity use by 40%, which is an essential step for countries like Australia as they transition to renewables and focus more efforts on removing excess energy from the grid.”
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Editor
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.
Deputy editor
A multi-award-winning journalist, Tegan has been reporting on technology, telecommunications and gaming for the past 10 years. She regularly appears on mainstream media channels as an expert tech commentator. Her previous roles include editor of Gizmodo Australia and global reviews editor at Finder. She has also served as a reporter and editor across Business Insider, Lifehacker and Kotaku Australia. Tegan is also the co-host of one of the top technology podcasts in Australia, Weird Tech. You can find her on Twitter @Tegan_Writes.
