Five Aussie startups that raised $54.4 million this week

Logistics, vaccines, medicinal cannabis and subscription management software all feature in this week’s startup funding round-up.

In total, we counted five local startups that revealed raises of more than $54 million this week.

Australian founded biotech Psylo — which is developing a non-hallucinogenic neuroplastogen with for therapeutic use — announced the “successful first close toward an US$8 million USD series seed financing” this week.

Psylo CEO and co-founder Josh Ismin confirmed with SmartCompany that this first close was for US$5 million — roughly $7.5 million.

The company is hoping to close on the additional US$3 million ($4.5 million) towards the end of next quarter.

This is the company’s second seed round, having closed on $5 million back in 2022. This followed a smaller $1.1 million round in 2021.

We’ll be keeping an eye out for when they close out this latest round later in the year.

Ofload: $31 million

Sydney-based logistics startup Ofload has completed a $31 million capital raise, which it is using to support the roll-out of its newly launched carbon emissions tracking tool.

The former Smart50 finalist is now valued at $350 million, which according to the company, represents a 200% increase in its valuation in under two years.

Ofload was founded in 2019 by Geoffroy Henry as a digital platform focused on helping companies make their supply chains more efficient.

This week it launched its Carbon Analytics Platform (CAP), which it describes as an Australian-first platform to help companies measure carbon emissions within their supply chain.

Around $27 million of the startup’s new funding round was previously reported by The Australian Financial Review in December 2023, as highlighted by Startup Daily on Tuesday.

The round was led by Yarra Capital Management and includes re-investment by King River Capital and Jungle Ventures. It follows a $60 million Series B raise in November 2022 and $20 million in Series A funding in December 2021.

Read more.

GPN Vaccines: $18 million

Vaccine startup GPN Vaccines has raised $18 million (US$12 million) in a funding round that gives it a valuation of $300 million, according to The Australian Financial Review (AFR).

The funding round was led by US-based investors Forepont Capital and Kern Capital, along with Mike Gregg, the founding partner of Australian-based Shearwater Capital.

The startup is working on a vaccine that would act against the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterial pathogen, which can cause a range of illnesses, including pneumonia.

The company was founded in 2017 by CEO Tim Hirst, who is the former deputy vice chancellor for research and innovation at The University of Sydney, and University of Adelaide professors James Paton and Dr Mohammed Alsharifi.

According to the AFR, it was established out of a spinout from the Australian National University and Gamma Vaccines, which was also founded by Hirst.

The startup has reportedly conducted a successful phase-one trial of its vaccine in 50 to 69-year-olds.

YBL.AI: $2.5 million

Raiz Invest founder George Lucas has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding for his latest venture, an AI tool for financial advisors called YBL.AI.

According to Startup Daily, the fintech uses AI to help advisors scan documents, transcribe meeting notes, manage budgets, and use embedded tools such as Monte Carlo simulations.

The startup’s name stands for ‘Your Beautiful Life’ and Lucas says the ultimate goal is to “transform the financial advice industry”.

The investors in the pre-seed round have not been disclosed, and Lucas plans to re-domicile the startup in Delaware as a US company.

Lucas previously launched the micro-investing app Raiz under the name Acorns Australia in 2016 and took the company public in 2018. He left the ASX-listed company in December 2022.

Cannaponics: $1.9 million

Medicinal cannabis company Cannaponics has raised $1.9 million via an equity crowdfunding campaign on Birchal, 12 months after completing a $5 million equity crowdfunding raise via the same platform.

According to the Cannaponics’ Birchal profile, it has also previously received a $2 million grant from the Western Australian government and raised $18 million in private funding.

The company was founded in 2019, and has plans to produce high-quality cannabis products at scale from its WA manufacturing facility, to supply domestically and internationally.

“We are sustainable, green, perpetual cultivators of premium medicinal cannabis,” reads the company’s Birchal profile.

The funds raised will be used to “validate our biotech facility as the gold standard for cultivating, processing and manufacturing right here in Australia, for Australian patients”.

Subble: $1 million

Subscriptions management startup Subble has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding to drive the launch of its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform this week.

Subble is designed to give business leaders better oversight over all of their subscriptions and help them save money by ending licenses they no longer need.

According to research by Gartner, the global SaaS sector is worth around US$195 billion, but a quarter of SaaS expenditure is either underutilised or over-deployed.

“Software is often the second biggest expense after salaries and most business leaders are shocked to see just how much is wasted,” said Subble co-founder and CEO Nathan Mackinnon in a statement.

“By simply shining a light on the unused licences, we can surface significant savings just minutes after setting up their account.”

Mackinnon was previously head of product at proptech startup ActivePipe, where he worked with Subble co-founders Jesse Duffield, creator of open-source engineering tool Lazygit, and operations expert Jaedon Farrugia.

The $1 million in pre-seed funding comes from entrepreneurs Jordan Walsh and Leon Hayes’ Haystack Capital and will be used to support product refinement and customer expansion.

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