Dynamic business brings you the key startup fundraising rounds from this week:
Cyara secures growth investment of over $485m
Cyara, a leading provider of automated customer experience (CX) assurance solutions, announced that it has acquired over A.U. $485 million in funding from K1 Investment Management (K1), a renowned investment firm focused on high-growth business software firms.
K1’s investment and experience in business-to-business (B2B) SaaS will aid Cyara’s rapid growth, propelling the contact testing market forward.
The funds will be utilised to accelerate product innovation, expand customer experience assurance into new developing digital channels, support strategic acquisitions of complementary technologies, and fuel global expansion.
Financing Platform Wayflyer hits unicorn status, now valued at $1.6 bn
Wayflyer, a revenue-based financing and growth platform for eCommerce businesses, has announced a $150 million Series B capital round. Wayflyer’s post-money valuation now stands at $1.6 billion, making it Ireland’s sixth unicorn.
DST Global and QED Investors co-led the all-equity round. Prosus, Madrone Capital Partners, and J.P. Morgan joined them as new investors. Existing investors Left Lane Capital and Guillaume Pousaz (creator of Checkout.com) also participated.
$150 million for the CSIRO’s VC arm, Main Sequence Ventures
Under the federal government’s $2 billion commercialisation package, Main Sequence Ventures will receive a $150 million boost, and innovators will access phased accelerator funding.
The large bulk of the cash will be going towards the $1.6 billion Australia’s Economic Accelerator, a three-stage program for turning early-stage research into viable businesses.
Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) is aimed to commercialise the country’s six national manufacturing priority areas – resources and critical minerals, food and beverage, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence and space.
CartonCloud raises $12m to launch U.S. expansion
CartonCloud, a software company, has completed a $12 million capital raise from M.A. Financial to support its expansion into the North American logistics industry and further its transport and warehouse management system.
CartonCloud’s pioneering SaaS-based technology enables warehouse, transport, and third-party logistics businesses to compete with major players in the industry by delivering innovative and affordable software that enables businesses to optimise their operations and grow.
The MA Financial investment follows a $1 million capital raise in 2017 from High-Net-Worth individuals, which supplemented a $1 million grant from the Queensland Business Development Fund.
SaaS construction tech company Buildxact secures $18.5 million in Series A funding
Buildxact, a global SaaS company providing a simple solution for residential builders to better manage and grow their business, has closed an AU$18.5 million (US$14 million) in a Series A funding round.
Backing the fundraise, the Series A funding round saw six of Australia’s most respected investment institutions participate, including Regal Funds Management as the lead investor, Possible Ventures, Shearwater Capital, Ophir Asset Management, Washington H. Soul Pattinson, SecondQuarter Ventures, and Thorney Opportunities.
Founded in Australia and with already an established presence in the U.S. and Canada, Buildxact secured funding from some of Australia’s preeminent venture capital funds, taking Buildxact’s valuation post-money to more than AU$125 million (US$92.5 million).
Blockchain-powered fintech platform Block Earner raises $6.4m
Framework Ventures led the AU$6.4M seed round for Block Earner, which was joined by Coinbase Ventures, DeFi Alliance, Longhash Ventures, XBTO Humla, AvaLabs Ecosystem Fund, Divergence Capital, and Luno.
A number of high-profile crypto angel investors participated in the round, including Kain Warwick (founder of Synthetix), Stani Kulechov (founder of AAVE), Emin Gün Sirer (founder of Avalanche), and Fernando Martinelli (founder of Balancer).
CredShare announces capital raising
Software company CartonCloud has completed a capital raise of $12 million from M.A. Financial to fund expansion into the North American logistics market and further develop its transport and warehouse management system.
Headquartered in Burleigh on the Gold Coast, CartonCloud’s pioneering SaaS-based technology allows warehouse, transport, and third-party logistics businesses to compete with major industry players by delivering innovative and affordable software that enables businesses to optimise their operation and grow.
The exclusive $1b club: There are 1,058 unicorn companies across the world (as of December 2021)
According to the Hurun Research Institute, over 1,058 private companies are valued at over $1 billion worldwide. These businesses are collectively worth more than $3 trillion.
Furthermore, the United States and China, which hold the top two rankings in the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2021, are far ahead of the rest of the globe, with 487 and 301 unicorns, respectively.
Unicorns in the United States had a terrific year, with 487 unicorns, up 254. China comes in second with 301 unicorns, an increase of 74. They together share 74 per cent of the world’s unicorns, down from 79 per cent last year.
India has surpassed the United Kingdom to take third place, with 54 unicorns, an increase of 33 from the previous year. Bytedance, the owner of TikTok, has risen to become the world’s most valuable unicorn, valued at US$350 billion, an increase of US$270 billion, surpassing a Chinese ant worth US$150 billion.
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