Four Aussie startups that raised $123.6 million this week
It’s been another bumper week for funding for Australian startups, led by a massive $105 million raise by Melbourne construction tech firm HammerTech.
It’s been another bumper week for funding for Australian startups, led by a massive $105 million raise by Melbourne construction tech firm HammerTech.
A local startup with strong ties to Apple has also raised this week, as has a startup that wants to build the “Palo Alto Networks of biosecurity”.
Keep reading to find out more.
HammerTech: $105 million
Melbourne-based construction tech startup HammerTech leads the funding round-up this week, thanks to a $105 million capital raise led by US-based Riverwood Capital at an undisclosed valuation.
HammerTech was founded in 2013 and its SaaS solution has been designed specifically to help firms with safety, compliance and management on construction sites.
The startup previously raised $10 million in Series A funding in 2019 and was selected for LaunchVic’s 30×30 program in 2022.
It plans to use part of the latest capital injection to grow the business and R&D, including by integrating AI.
Co-founder and CEO Ben Leach told SmartCompany the startup can provide its customers with more comprehensive data and visibility across safety and field operations than other companies operating in the same space.
“We have always focussed specifically on the needs of construction. We don’t dilute our focus outside of the built environment – the industry is too high-risk for corporate solutions and live construction sites require very specific safety management and engagement processes to include the worker,” said Leach earlier this week.
Construction sites have the highest number of workplace fatalities in any industry, but many of these are preventable, says Leach.
“Our impact is both across the safety of the organisation and also in helping teams spend less time on paperwork and more time on higher leverage items. We help builders crowd-source safety efforts from their subcontractors which increases buy-in to safety and we also engage workers,” Leach said.
JigSpace: $13 million
Melbourne AR startup JigSpace has raised $13 million in a round led by Breakthrough Victoria that coincided with the release of the $5,999+ Apple Vision Pro in Australia.
Founded in 2015 by Numa Bertron and Zac Duff, Jigspace has developed strong ties to Apple, having now been featured in four major Apple announcements, including the Vision Pro announcement last year and its official launch last week.
Its demo app has been pre-installed on both the Apple Vision Pro and iPads across the globe, and it’s also available across MacOS, Windows and Android devices.
The startup’s latest funding round also included investments from Aura Ventures and Anorak Ventures, and follow-on investments from Rampersand, Investible, Vulpes Ventures and angel investor Hugh Bickerstaff.
JigSpace raised $6 million in Series A funding in 2021.
It plans to use the new funding to expand its team in Melbourne, open its first US office, and continue building out its product, which allows users to turn CAD models into 3D presentations. Called ‘Jigs’, these can be used for training, sales, marketing and product education.
ExoFlare: $5.3 million
Sydney-based startup ExoFlare has raised $5.3 million in seed funding to help it in its mission to transform the biosecurity sector.
ExoFlare was founded in 2020 by Data61 CEO Adrian Turner and Chris Aitken and has operated in stealth mode since 2022.
ExoFlare has developed a tech platform to help agricultural and food companies monitor and guard against biosecurity risks, including diseases such as avian flu.
And it has attracted some big-name backers, including Woolworths’ venture capital outfit W23, the co-founders of Harris Farm supermarkets, David and Cathy Harris, and Wollemi Capital, the family office of Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, according to The Australian Financial Review (AFR).
The round was led by Salus Ventures and also included participation from US-based VC firm In-Q-Tel, the Cultiv8 Agriculture and Food Technology fund, Rich Lister Shaun Bonett’s Precision Group, and former Rabobank Australia CEO Peter Knoblanche.
Speaking to the AFR, Turner described ExoFlare’s potential to be the “Palo Alto Networks of biosecurity” by protecting facilities and supply chains from outside threats.
The subscription-based platform reportedly combines expert knowledge and AI, including predictive machine learning, sensing and genomics-based diagnostics, to provide fast detection of, response to, and recovery from, biosecurity threats.
“What we’re creating is a new category, and in the same way that Israel put its hand up around creating global cybersecurity breakthroughs … This is a new industry for the world from Australia,” he said.
“At the minute, you may have a centre of excellence somewhere focused on a particular class of invasive species, or a top research group focused on foot and mouth disease, but there is no infrastructure to integrate it.
“We are not replacing any tech systems already in use today, if anything we are replacing handwritten forms.”
The startup plans to use the new funding to grow its headcount and continue building its core platform.
Go Locum: $350,000
Also raising this week is medical startup Go Locum, which has raised $350,000 in a seed funding round led by Northern Territory firm Paspalis Innovation Investment Fund.
Go Locum was founded by Dr Joshua Case and Phoebe Bardsley in 2022 as a digital medical staffing platform that connects doctors with temporary, or locum, positions in regional and remote areas.
As a strategic venture investor, Paspalis specialises in pre-seed to Series A investments in high-growth potential businesses in the NT.
Bardsley has previously worked as a senior analyst in the Deloitte Health Advisory Practice, while Dr Case is a software developer as well as a doctor.
Go Locum employs three staff members, as well as an AI named Matilda, and plans to use the funding to expand into New Zealand and Ireland, as well as launch a mobile app to streamline locum recruitment across Australia.
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