Startup funding exercise has continued to carry regular this week, with almost $53.5 million introduced throughout sectors together with agtech, power, AI, well being and fintech. Oh, and Limoncello.
Main the pack is Queensland-based SwarmFarm Robotics, which has banked $30 million to ramp up manufacturing of its autonomous farm robots and broaden abroad.
SwarmFarm Robotics: $30 million
Queensland agtech startup SwarmFarm Robotics has secured $30 million in Sequence B funding to ramp up manufacturing of its autonomous SwarmBots and broaden into North America.
The spherical was led by European agtech investor Edaphon, with participation from the Clear Vitality Finance Company (CEFC), QIC and Artesian Capital. The CEFC contributed $7 million by means of its Powering Australia Expertise Fund.
This follows a $12 million Sequence A in 2023 and $4.5 million in 2020. The corporate additionally secured an $856,000 grant from the Northern Australia Improvement Program in 2022.
SwarmFarm mentioned the contemporary capital might be used to extend manufacturing capability in Toowoomba, broaden its group, and speed up entry into the North American market.
Based in 2012 by Queensland farmers Andrew and Jocie Bate, SwarmFarm builds small, self-driving robots designed to assist growers lower enter prices and environmental affect.
The corporate’s open platform, SwarmConnect, is designed as an “app retailer for agriculture,” permitting builders to construct software program tailor-made to completely different crops and farming practices.
Farmers can use these functions to customize their robots for particular jobs, whereas companions achieve a direct path to market by integrating their expertise with SwarmBots.
Learn extra.
Amber: $10 million
Amber has landed $10 million in new funding because it pushes its house battery and EV automation tech into abroad markets, with equal funding from UK power provider E.ON Subsequent and native local weather investor Virescent Ventures.
The elevate is break up between a £2.5 million (round $5 million) cheque from E.ON Subsequent UK and $5 million from Virescent.
Amber says the capital will speed up licensing its platform to utilities internationally so households can automate once they use, retailer, and promote electrical energy in opposition to real-time wholesale costs.
E.ON is already piloting the software program with as much as 1,000 UK houses underneath its “Subsequent Photo voltaic Max” trial, combining a dynamic tariff with automated photo voltaic and battery optimisation.
“Having each E.ON and Virescent put money into Amber reveals the power of assist for our expertise at house and overseas,” mentioned Chris Thompson, co-CEO of Amber.
“From one among Europe’s largest utilities to a number one Australian local weather expertise investor, this backing demonstrates that our mannequin resonates globally.
“It additionally displays the rising recognition that households can take an lively function within the power market, decreasing prices and supporting a extra versatile system.”
Learn extra on Startup Day by day.
Javln: $6 million
Cloud-based insurance coverage software-as-a-service scaleup Javln has raised A$6 million for its Australian growth.
The spherical was led by boutique fund supervisor Microequities Asset Administration and, alongside crossing The Ditch, might be used for R&D and entry into different markets.
New Zealand entrepreneur Dale Smith based Javln in 2011. It simplifies shoppers, insurance policies, claims, and doc administration in a single cloud platform for brokers, monetary and danger advisers, and underwriting businesses. It has greater than 11,000 contracted customers.
Javln CEO David Leach mentioned the elevate was a pivotal second within the veteran insurtech’s progress trajectory, following a strategic partnership with Envest, Australia’s largest privately-owned insurance coverage and monetary companies distribution group, and can assist cement its place as a number one innovator within the Australian insurance coverage trade.
Learn extra on Startup Day by day.
Improve Labs: $2.3 million
A Brisbane startup hoping to unleash the unrealised productiveness features of office synthetic intelligence has raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding to assist folks refine concepts and inspiration utilizing AI.
The funding spherical for Improve Labs was led by Blackbird Ventures with assist from QIC Ventures.
Improve Labs was co-founded by former Amazon engineer Haziq Nordin, former Google designer Jesse Head, and second-time founder Mike Keating, and was born out of their very own frustration with AI instruments that promised effectivity however delivered generic outputs requiring in depth human revision.
Improve Labs is a voice-first collaboration platform that amplifies human pondering somewhat than changing it.
The startup already has early adopters at Amazon, Canva, Microsoft, and in addition to a number of startups, with customers reporting feeling energised by the liberty to suppose out loud each time inspiration strikes, remodeling these moments into productive pondering time by way of AI prompts.
Customers discuss by means of concepts of their uncooked, unfiltered type whereas the platform asks probing questions that push their pondering additional. These insights grow to be shared artefacts that collaborators can construct upon by means of the identical considerate course of. What emerges is collective reasoning, captured and refined by means of dialog.
Learn extra on Startup Day by day.
Indi: $1.46 million
Indi, an AI-powered co-pilot app serving to dad and mom of kids with complicated care wants, has raised $1.46 million.
The spherical was led by Large Leap and supported by Antler, together with a number of strategic angel buyers.
The contemporary capital might be spent on expertise to speed up platform growth and broaden partnerships with allied well being clinics and households.
Indi was born from the lived expertise of co-founder Orrin Benford, who co-founded the app 5 months in the past with chief expertise officer Jeff Quach.
In December 2021, Benford’s daughter Indi suffered a seizure, leading to 18 months of coping with a posh and infrequently inaccessible system of care.
“In 2021, my life was turned the wrong way up when my daughter Indi had a seizure. That second set us on a journey I didn’t even know existed,” Benford mentioned.
“For 18 months my accomplice and I fought to be heard by the system, till I realised the one means Indi would get the intervention she wanted was if I stepped in and constructed one thing myself.
Benford hacked collectively the primary model of the Indi AI co-pilot, and says “it fully modified the sport for us”.
“Then I partnered with Jeff to refine it, making a instrument that’s now important for households going by means of the identical expertise. I nonetheless use it day-after-day to navigate healthcare, allied well being, training and the NDIS,” he mentioned.
Learn extra on Startup Day by day.
Wych: $1.32 million
New Zealand fintech Wych has raised $1.32 million to speed up open banking supply in New Zealand and Australia.
The spherical was New Zealand FinTech Fund (NZFF) with participation from the NZX-listed Booster Innovation Fund, and different strategic buyers.
Wych offers safe, real-time monetary info and information alternate to energy the following era of open banking and cost options and is accredited underneath Australia’s Client Information Proper (CDR).
The fintech is now working with New Zealand’s largest locally-owned financial institution, Kiwibank, to ship the tech stack for open banking companies from 2026.
The funding might be used to scale supply in Aotearoa, strengthen safety and compliance, construct new partnerships, and drive product innovation, together with belief account reconciliation, lending and broking options, and monetary emissions monitoring. It can additionally prolong accredited CDR companies in Australia, with a pathway to assist New Zealand’s upcoming Client and Product Information Invoice.
Expat Irish tech entrepreneur Dermot Butterfield based Wych in Auckland in 2018 and has bootstrapped the enterprise till now.
“Closing this spherical with assist from NZFF, Booster, and a government-matched fund offers us the momentum to scale quicker,” he mentioned.
“Our mission is to make open information easy, safe, and transformative — and to place New Zealand on the forefront of open banking innovation.”
Learn extra on Startup Day by day.
Raise Girls: $1.3 million
Crowdfunding platform Raise Girls has secured $1.3 million in contemporary funding, with its founder Irene Tsang calling the capital elevate a optimistic signal “the market is able to again girls”.
The spherical was led by Singapore-based enterprise capital agency Braxton Capital Ventures and supported by particular person buyers, together with the previous managing director of Alibaba ANZ, Maggie Zhou, and the previous chair of AXA Asia, Gordon Watson.
Since its founding by Tsang in 2021, Raise Girls has facilitated 363 crowdfunding tasks for women-led startups, together with Ovum, Xylo Methods and Understanding Zoe, and helped founders elevate tens of millions in follow-on funding.
“We’ve got a imaginative and prescient that each lady and lady can have equitable entry to capital and alternative to show the concepts into one thing significant and make a distinction,” the founder advised SmartCompany.
Learn extra.
Ambra Spirits: $1.18 million
South Australian distillery Ambra Spirits has raised $1.18 million by means of an fairness crowdfunding marketing campaign on the OnMarket platform, backed by 716 buyers with a mean funding of $1,648.
The marketing campaign drew assist from Australian cricketer Adam Zampa and gaming entrepreneur Shane Yeend.
Ambra has reported 123% year-on-year progress, with greater than 530,000 limoncello spritzes offered throughout 1,200 venues nationally over the previous 12 months.
The corporate mentioned the contemporary funds might be used to assist growth into New Zealand, Europe, China and the US.
It can additionally go in the direction of launching new merchandise resembling pink limoncello and ready-to-serve spritzes, scaling the nationwide gross sales and advertising and marketing group, and increasing the corporate’s Adelaide venue with a rooftop bar and bigger occasion area.
Ambra managing director Finn Healey mentioned the corporate was inspired by the extent of investor curiosity.
“To see 716 folks share our imaginative and prescient and again Ambra’s future with such enthusiasm is humbling, energising and galvanizing,” Healy mentioned.
- This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You possibly can learn the unique right here.
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