Welcome back to SmartCompany‘s weekly round-ups of startup funding deals.
January is traditionally a slower month for startup funding announcements, so this week we’re looking at startups that have raised fresh capital so far this month, rather than this week alone.
On the list are startups tackling rental income, peanut allergies, access to solar power, and AI-powered educational coaching.
Here’s four Australian startups that have raised a combined $94.5 million so far this month.
Australian real estate platform Futurerent locked in $50 million in debt funding earlier this month, while also expanding into the US with a new arm of the company called Downpayments.
Futurerent was founded in 2019 by Godfrey Dinh, as a platform to give property investors on-demand access to up to $100,000 in upfront rental payments.
In Australia, Futurerent says it has advanced more than $25 million to property investors.
Now, the startup wants to disrupt the US real estate market too, starting in Florida, thanks to the debt funding from US venture capital firm Second Century Ventures and US lender Partners for Growth
“Access to the deposit is the biggest barrier to creating wealth through property, and peoples’ personal financial lives are inseparable from their property goals,” said Dinh in a statement.
“We started Downpayments to empower investors on their journey to financial independence. Building on our learnings in Australia with an abundance of data and our proprietary technology, we’re now able to help Americans with one of the biggest purchases of their lives.
A Melbourne biotech startup that is pioneering treatments for food allergies has secured $32 million (US$21 million) in a round comprised of equity and debt financing, reports Startup Daily.
Prota Therapeutics was founded in 2016 and its technology is based on research led by CEO professor Mimi Tang from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI).
The new funding will go towards the biotech’s forthcoming Phase 3 clinical trial for its first product, its PRT120 oral therapy for peanut allergy.
This Series A1 funding round was led by Singapore-based SPRIM Global Investments, with the startup having previously secured US$15 million in Series A funding from Australian venture capital firm OneVentures, according to its website.
OneVentures is one of the startup’s largest shareholders.
“Our Phase 2b multicentre randomised controlled trial conducted by MCRI showed that PRT120 is highly effective at inducing remission of allergy, and more importantly, leads to significant and clinically meaningful improvement in quality of life, compared with standard care (placebo treatment),” professor Tang said in a statement.
“Long-term follow-up data further shows that children in remission have fewer reactions, less rescue epinephrine use, and far greater improvement in quality of life than children who are only desensitized, validating remission as the patient-preferred outcome.”
Alan Hunter, co-founder of car rental startup Splend, has locked in $10 million in new funding for his latest venture, National Renewable Network (NRN).
As its name suggests, NRN’s mission is to make solar and battery systems more accessible to Australians via a B2B platform that allows homeowners to avoid upfront costs and complicated finance deals.
Hunter founded NRN in 2019 and has previously secured $3.5 million in funding.
The latest funding of up to $10 million in funding comes in the form of a funding facility from Catalytic Impact Capital.
In a statement provided to SmartCompany, NRN said it wants to spend $100 million over the next three years to install solar and battery systems in 15,000 homes.
The startup wants to ease the cost of installation — which the company says can exceed $20,000 for a solar battery system —for everyday Australians, with its model that involves its partner energy retailers covering the up-front costs instead.
“As an energy infrastructure platform, NRN is challenging Australia’s current linear, expensive and outdated electricity supply chain by upgrading homes and businesses to produce, store and use their renewable energy,” said Alan Hunter, NRN’s founder and CEO.
“The NRN platform offers energy retailers the opportunity to overcome substantial upfront cost barriers to provide consumers with solar and battery solutions.”
NRN has four energy plans currently available and has recently entered into a partnership with Diamond Energy.
While the startup promises energy bill savings to users, these savings will depend on the individual’s current energy bill and the size of the solar or battery system they choose to install. The average user will save between $750 and $900 annually, says the company.
AI-powered edtech startup Getmee has revealed it has now raised a total of $2.5 million in funding, including a new funding round led by Access Capital Ventures (ACV) and participation from customers and existing investors.
The company confirmed with SmartCompany that the $2.5 million figure also includes angel investment and equity crowdfunding, as well as the latest investment. Getmee has also previously been awarded a federal government grant in 2023.
Getmee was founded in 2020 by Balendran Thavarajah, who had no English or any formal schooling when he arrived in Australia from Sri Lanka. The serial entrepreneur taught himself English, completed a computer science degree at Western Sydney University, and has since founded three tech companies.
Getmee is designed to provide on-demand personalised coaching to individuals who want to improve their English language communication and employability skills.
The startup says its AI coaching product is now being used in 16 countries and is available via a direct-to-consumer mobile app or a white-label service for businesses.
“The funding and the experience of the ACV team brings, will allow us to support our growth,” said Thavarajah of the new investment.
“We look forward to achieving new milestones as we continue to push the boundaries of AI technology for communication skills coaching and reshape the industry landscape.”
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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.
