Australia’s startup sector has seen an enormous week of dealmaking.
Firmus got here in clutch on Friday morning with a large $500 million increase simply two months after it raised $330 million, making it one of many largest tech rounds introduced this 12 months.
In complete, eight firms pulled in $572.12 million throughout AI infrastructure, biotech, renewable power and extra. This marks a pointy upswing in late-year exercise, which we’ve seen grow to be a little bit of a pattern in recent times.
Firmus: $500 million
Firmus has raised an additional $500 million to speed up the nationwide rollout of Challenge Southgate, following a $330 million spherical in September. The brand new capital lifts the corporate’s valuation to round $6 billion and cements its place on the centre of Australia’s fast-moving AI infrastructure build-out.
Based in Australia and now headquartered in Singapore, Firmus is growing a nationwide community of “AI factories” designed to deal with the ability and cooling calls for of large-scale AI workloads.
The funding will assist website growth, infrastructure deployment and power partnerships throughout Tasmania, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Perth, as Firmus works towards its goal of 1.6GW of capability by 2028.
The corporate lately signed a strategic alliance with Nvidia and CDC Knowledge Centres to roll out an estimated $73.3 billion price of AI services throughout the nation, anchored by a flagship inexperienced AI campus in Tasmania, with extra websites deliberate throughout the mainland.
Co-CEOs Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfeld mentioned the increase will speed up the subsequent section of Challenge Southgate, enabling the corporate to fabricate and deploy its subsequent technology of AI infrastructure extra shortly and on a nationwide scale.
RAGE Biotech: $29 million
Melbourne-based therapeutics startup RAGE Biotech has raised $29 million in Sequence A funding and put in new executives because it prepares to take its therapy for continual lung illness into first-in-human trials.
The spherical was led by IP Group Australia and Hostplus, with current backers together with Monash Ventures additionally collaborating.
The capital will assist scientific growth of RB042, an inhaled splice-switching oligonucleotide (SSO) remedy designed to deal with continual obstructive pulmonary illness (COPD) and different inflammatory lung situations.
Alongside the increase, the corporate has appointed former IP Group life sciences lead Dr Siro Perez as CEO and Dr Edwin Tucker as chief medical and growth officer.
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SunDrive: $25.3 million
The SunDrive crew. Supply: SunDrive
The federal government-backed Australian Renewable Vitality Company (ARENA) has tipped $25.3 million in new funding into Sydney startup SunDrive, which is growing cheaper, copper-based photo voltaic panels.
It’s the second main funding injection from ARENA, which additionally tipped $11 million into SunDrive in 2023 and has now equipped almost $40 million in capital.
SunDrive started life in a Wollongong storage in 2015, co-founded by Vince Allen and uni mate David Hu. Allen developed the concept of utilizing copper as a less expensive various to silver in photo voltaic panels, which might make the brand new cells as much as 30% cheaper.
Blackbird backed SunDrive’s seed spherical in 2018, then a $5 million Sequence A in 2020. The corporate went on to increase $21 million in a Sequence B in 2022, however final 12 months was compelled to trim its sails and shed jobs.
SunDrive’s backers additionally embody Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, the Clear Vitality Finance Company, Canva founder Cameron Adams, former PM Malcolm Turnbull and Tesla chair Robyn Denholm.
It has an R&D manufacturing facility in Kurnell in southern Sydney, and the brand new money will ship an improve for know-how growth, in addition to assist undertake price modelling. Modules made there shall be used for in-field testing and early market acceptance to generate new licensing income streams for SunDrive.
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Quantity 8 Bio: $11 million
A Sydney startup seeking to scale back methane emissions from livestock has raised $11 million in a Sequence A funding spherical.
The spherical for Quantity 8 Bio was led by Kiwi VC Icehouse Ventures, with assist from current backer Primary Sequence, in addition to Japanese local weather VC One Innovators becoming a member of the cap desk.
Japan is Australia’s second-largest beef export market.
In September 2024, CSIRO-backed Primary Sequence led a $7 million seed spherical with assist from Breakthrough Victoria and The March Group.
Quantity 8 Bio was based in 2022 by Dr Tom Williams and Dr Alex Carpenter, and it took half within the UNSW SynBio 10X Accelerator that 12 months, successful the Optimistic Influence Award.
Quantity 8 Bio is utilizing artificial biology to create an economical resolution to coping with enteric fermentation (burping) by livestock, a serious supply of agricultural methane, which accounts for round 70% of agricultural greenhouse fuel emissions in NSW. One estimate suggests ruminant burps are answerable for round 10% of Australia’s complete reportable greenhouse fuel emissions.
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Fabra: $2.8 million
Australian 3D product design startup Fabra has launched its public beta, alongside a $2.8 million pre-seed spherical backed by January Capital, Aspect Stage Ventures, Idea Ventures and Li & Fung.
Based in 2023 by Luke Grana, Gloria Yu and former Canva engineer Nick Manks, Fabra is positioning itself as an accessible various to specialist product design software program. In line with the corporate, that is usually costly, complicated and geared towards skilled industrial designers.
As an alternative, Fabra permits customers to create 3D designs instantly of their browser, together with mechanically generated tech packs for manufacturing.
Keeyu: $2.3 million
A Sydney AI-powered e-commerce startup targeted on buyer satisfaction throughout supply — identified within the commerce as WISMO (the place is my order?) — has raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding.
The spherical for Keeyu was led by Rampersand, with assist from Archangel, Startmate, Empress Capital, Exhort Ventures, Sydney Angels, Southern Angels, and others, together with Marketplacer’s Jason Wyatt, Alexey Mitko from Eucalyptus, Paul Greenberg and Luigi Iacullo.
The spherical is greater than double the $1 million the startup was looking for final 12 months when it was a part of the Startmate program and was accomplished in July, however solely introduced this week with the rollout of Keeyu’s AI agent from beta testing to deal with automated challenge decision.
Learn extra at Startup Every day.
MyGig: $1 million
MyGig founder Angus Vidor (Picture: MyGig)
MyGig has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to scale its “workforce-as-a-service” (WaaS) platform, which goals to tackle payroll, award compliance and onboarding for companies using informal and shift staff.
The spherical was led by Artesian (through Hostplus), with participation from Co Ventures, Aussie Angels and a bunch of trade operators.
MyGig positions itself as an “Employer of Report” for informal staff, taking over compliance obligations and payroll features on behalf of companies. The corporate says this permits employers to outsource the administration and danger related to fashionable award interpretation, right-to-work checks, WHS necessities and employee onboarding.
Drone-Hand: $720,000
Drone-Hand founder Edward Barraclough
Victorian agtech startup Drone-Hand has raised $720,000 in a pre-Seed spherical for its autonomous livestock administration platform.
The increase was led by US VC Radius Capital, supported by three native agribusiness traders
