This weekly feature from Dynamic Business runs down the week’s top funding rounds from Australia, India and the US. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.
Advanced Navigation raises $108 mil in Series B led by KKR
Advanced Navigation, a developer of artificial intelligence robotics and navigation technologies, has raised AUD 108 million (US 68 million) in a Series B funding round sponsored by global investment company KKR.
The fundraising round includes new investors, including deep learning venture firm AI Capital as well as current investors like Main Sequence, the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull AC, In-Q-Tel, and Our Innovation Fund bringing Advanced Navigation’s total sum raised to more than AUD 134 million (US 85 million).
Engineers Xavier Orr and Chris Shaw created Advanced Navigation in Sydney, Australia, in 2012 to commercialise university research on AI-based inertial navigation.
Contentstack raises $80 Million Series C co-Led by Georgian and Insight Partners
Contentstack, the Content Experience Platform (CXP) category leader and composable architecture pioneer announced $80 million in Series C funding.
Georgian and Insight Partners co-led the round with participation from Illuminate Ventures. All three companies continue to grow their investment with Contentstack, contributing to a $169 million total raised thus far.
Ofload raises AU$60 mil
Ofload raised AU$60 million in Series B funding, which includes both debt and equity, to accelerate its push for sustainable supply chains. Jungle Ventures, Singapore’s largest independent venture capital firm, led the round, which included increased funding from previous investors King River Capital, Bay Grove, Maersk Growth, and Foundamental.
Following its successful acquisition of Melbourne freight expert CIA Logistics in September, Mars Expansion Capital, part of the Liquidity Group, provided the debt finance component, which helps accelerate Ofload’s inorganic growth efforts.
ULUU secures $8m led by Main Sequence
ULUU, an Australian company developing a revolutionary natural plastic replacement, has successfully raised AUD$8 million (USD$5 million) from a group of strategic investors that includes supermodel, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Karlie Kloss and Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker.
The seed round was led by their existing deep tech investor Main Sequence, founded by CSIRO, with participation from Alberts Impact Ventures, Mistletoe and Possible Ventures.
Buildkite raises A$32 million
Buildkite, a market-leading software development startup, has announced the completion of a $21 million USD series B fundraising round to support the firm’s aim of removing roadblocks for every software developer on the planet.
Buildkite will use 100 per cent of the funds to launch new developer-focused products and expand the company’s existing operations, marketing, and sales teams, led by Australian investors OneVentures and AirTree, with participation from US-based General Catalyst and Dom Pym, founder of digital bank Up.
Four mums raising kids with disabilities crack $1m in funding
Kindship has raised over $1 million for its start-up that would untangle the NDIS complexities. They already have 2,500 families using their app each month, and the $1 million raised through their Birchal equity crowdfunding campaign will be utilised to create and scale the “Kindship Wallet,” an NDIS plan management tool.
World
Ramp Network Raises $70M in Series B Funding
Ramp Network, a London-based payment infrastructure startup for crypto, raised $70M in Series B funding. The round brings the total raised by Ramp to $122.7m over the past 12 months alone. Mubadala Capital’s Frederic Lardieg joins the board as a director.
Symend Raises Over $40M in Growth Funding
Calgary, Canada-based Behavioral Engagement TechnologyTM solutions provider, raised over $40M in Growth funding. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its growth and global market expansion further. Founded in 2016, Symend has global operations across Canada, the United States and Latin America.
Weka Raises $135M in Series D Funding
Weka, a data platform provider for next-generation workloads, raised $135M in Series D funding. The company intends to use the funds to continue to invest in developing the WEKA Data platform. The funds will allow WEKA to reach profitability, accelerate global expansion, and scale its cloud, customer success, sales, marketing, operations, operations and human resources teams.
JPMorgan Chase and 5 other U.S. megabanks behind a third of the global funding expanding coal, oil and gas
The six major U.S. banks are behind more than one-third of the financing for expanding fossil-fuel extraction. Together, the top 60 banks by assets provided $1.3 trillion to the top 100 companies expanding fossil fuels between 2016-2021. The banks have joined global efforts to cut carbon emissions by 2030.
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