Funding | Investment

Here are the key startup fundraising rounds from this week:

This week appears to be an extension of last week’s events. Here are the key startup fundraising rounds from this week:

Venture capital firm Tenacious Ventures, which specialises in the Australian Agri-foodtech segment, has closed its first fund at $35 million. The Tenacious Ventures Fund I will be used to invest in Pre-series A businesses within the Agtech space. The firm expects to invest 80% of the capital raised into Australian-domiciled startups. Matthew Pryor, co-founder of […]

Australian deep tech venture firm Main Sequence has announced a $250 million fund to increase its focus on solving some of the world’s biggest issues in areas such as climate and food.

The federal government has launched a new $11.6 million funding round under the Boosting Female Founders Initiative that will support female entrepreneurs.

“COVID Safe Harbour” insolvency rules have been replaced by legislation that includes a new, streamlined SME restructuring process…

The third round of the government’s Global Innovation Linkages Program, aiming to provide funding to help Australian businesses or researchers collaborate with international partners, is now open for applications.

Aiming to not just outperform meat but replace it, Australian cultured meat company, Vow, has banked US$6 million of fresh funding. In 2019, Vow became the world’s first company to make a food product from the cells of an undomesticated animal, instead of the animal itself.  The company has since grown its library to 11 […]

More than one in five (22 per cent) of Australians businesses would use their credit card if they needed additional finance. A further 31 per cent would dip into their savings, while 21 per cent would look at a bank loan and 14 per cent access an overdraft.  This snapshot into borrowing habits has been […]

Snowflake, the Data Cloud platform based in the US, announced its first-ever Global Startup Challenge, with the winner receiving up to $250,000. “This competition will showcase the power of data network effects while also expanding their reach. We look forward to rewarding a top startup who both embodies and employs the Snowflake vision: To mobilise […]

The Australian Business Growth Fund (BGF) has been formally established, providing eligible Australian SMEs between $5 mn to $15 mn in long-term equity capital investments. Eligible SMEs include Australian businesses that “have generated annual revenue between $2 million and $100 million and can demonstrate three years of revenue growth and profitability, allowing for the impact of COVID-19 […]

In the months following the onset of COVID-19, startup incubators are being asked to prove their worth to funders, or risk being discontinued.  With the Australian economy continuing to contract and greater financial pressure being put on both the private and public sector, funding to entrepreneurs seems to have taken a back seat. James Alexander, […]

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO), Kate Carnell today welcomed the announcement of an Australian Business Growth Fund, a recommendation in the ASBFEO’s Affordable Capital for SME Growth report. “Our report identified the need to address a critical funding gap for long-term, patient capital to enable our up-and-coming, high growth potential small […]

Taking the leap of faith to establish a small business can be incredibly daunting. By no means an easy task, the myriad of formal loops to jump through, combined with business plans, prospective employees and the like, can be overwhelming. There are currently 2.25 million small businesses in Australia with that number growing each year. […]

Around 9 out of 10 Australian SMEs are frustrated about their business funding, naming onerous loan conditions, having to provide property security and a lack of flexibility as their major concerns. These are the findings of the latest SME Growth Index, conducted independently by banking market analysts East & Partners, on behalf of national working capital […]

Skalata Ventures is seeking applications from early-stage businesses with proven traction to join its seed investment program. The six-month program, customised for each company, will offer operational support and up to $250,000 in funding to early-stage businesses to become significant and sustainable. Backed by noted business leaders Paul Little and Carol Schwartz, the seed investment […]

The challenge of securing bank finance is seeing a growing number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) turn to online lenders. One in four SMEs have been knocked back for bank finance Among SMEs rejected by a bank, one in three have turned to family/friends or a credit card for funding Of those SMEs that […]

Dr James Fielding founded Audeara Headphones in 2014 with Dr Chris Jeffrey – two doctors who saw patients with hearing issues and decided to act to solve a problem. In the public system, the wait for an appointment could be six months or longer – and then people could be turned away because they didn’t […]

Meet Jessica Koncz: the founder of new food app EatSee where people can see their menu options before ordering A 25 year old female social media and technology entrepreneur from Newcastle, Australia, has won a $100,000 investment and a spot in the LAUNCH Accelerator program in San Francisco, after pitching the ‘Tinder for Food’ App […]

Female only co-working space One Roof has secured investment from female investors to secure their next premise in Melbourne. Sheree Rubinstein, CEO of One Roof, set up the company with the inspiration to help women succeed in business and address the gender gap in entrepreneurship. After major success as a simple pop-up using an Airbnb […]