Seven Aussie startups that raised $45.6 million this fortnight

This week’s funding round-up is a little different, as the SmartCompany editorial team had a few days off the tools for a company-wide off-site last week.

So instead of a weekly funding round-up, we’ve collected the startups that have raised fresh capital over the past two weeks.

Keep reading to learn more about seven startups that collectively raised $45.6 million.

Splend: $20 million

Rideshare fleet operator Splend has secured another $20 million investment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which means it has now received a total of $40 million in funding from the government-backed body.

Splend, which was founded by CEO Chris King in 2015, previously locked in $20 million in funding from the CEFC in June 2023.

Announcing the investment on August 1, the company said the latest funding will allow it to accelerate the electrification of its Australian fleet of cars, which it offers to rideshare and delivery drivers on a subscription basis.

Splend said it plans to grow its overall Australian fleet to more than 5000 vehicles by the end of 2024, and this figure will include more than 2000 zero-emission EVs.

According to the company, the expanded EV fleet is projected to reduce emissions by more than 15,000 tonnes, in comparison to a fleet of conventional, gas-powered vehicles.

“Electrifying transportation is crucial for achieving zero-emission mobility, and rideshare is a key battleground,” he said in a statement provided to SmartCompany. 

“We had under 500 EVs on the roads one year ago in NSW. With CEFC’s $40 million backing, we’ll finish 2024 with over 2,000 EVs nationwide, providing affordable, sustainable transport across Australia.”

Splend has now raised over $500 million in capital from investors since it was established in 2015. The company began its EV rollout in late 2022.

“There are over 100,000 rideshare vehicles in Australia, and less than 3% are EVs with most being petrol ICE,” said King. 

“Over the next five years, Splend aims to transition at least an additional 15,000 rideshare vehicles to EV as more models hit the market and charging infrastructure expands nationwide. This finance allows us to make a massive leap towards that target.”

Rich Data Co: $9 million

Rich Data Co, an AI-based platform that helps business and commercial lenders make better decisions, has raised $9 million from Acorn Capital to add to its Series B round.

The startup’s Series B now totals $37 million, following a $28 million capital raise in late 2023, which was led by Westpac and NASDAQ-listed cloud banking leader nCino.

Rich Data Co was founded in 2016 by Charles Guan, Gordon Campbell, Ada Guan and Michael Coomer. The platform uses AI to give banks better insights into the behaviour of borrowers, which in turn helps them improve the accuracy and efficiency of their lending decisions to businesses.

The company has previously said its Series B funding will be used to accelerate its expansion into North America, and it reiterated these plans this week.

Rich Data Co has been building its team and operations in North America over the past two years and in May, it signed its first US customer, M&T Bank Corporation.

In a statement provided to SmartCompany, Rich Data Co co-founder and CEO Ada Guan said the investment from Acorn Capital will ensure the company has “the runway needed to significantly grow our North American operations”.

“Our recent partnership with nCino and M&T Bank highlights our commitment to expanding our footprint and delivering a cutting-edge AI decisioning platform that enhances risk management, lending strategies, and regulatory compliance for financial institutions,” she added.

Slice: $7.5 million

Travel payments startup Slice has secured $7.5 million in seed funding for its platform that helps travellers pay for future overseas holidays in instalments.

According to Startup Daily, the startup has also locked in a $10 million debt facility from Melbourne-based alternative asset management firm Roadnight Capital.

Slice was founded in 2017 by Farouk Ismail and Yannick Darmalingam, who have bootstrapped the startup for six years before taking on this external capital. The seed funding round was led by Peak XV Partners, which was previously Sequoia India.

The startup’s key product PayLater Travel, was inspired by Ismail’s and Darmalingam’s experience working in the collections and hardship department at Commonwealth Bank.

They spoke to tens of thousands of customers who struggled to pay off credit card debt, which in many cases was the result of families booking overseas travel to attend events like weddings, births or reunions.

“We didn’t want these customers to miss out on core memories, but we didn’t want them to take on unsustainable debt,” said Ismail.

The startup says it has helped more than 70,000 customers pay for airline flights during its six years of operating. Its revenue comes from a combination of commissions from airlines and travel agents, and booking markups.

Slice plans to use the new funding to continue expanding in the US, including by building out its B2B product for travel agents, Slice Pay.

InvestorHub: $4 million

Software startup InvestorHub has raised $4 million in Series A funding, building on its $4 million Series A round in May 2023.

According to The Australian Financial Review (AFR), InvestorHub also intends to raise another $1 million, which will bring its completed Series A round to a total of $9 million.

The startup was founded by Ben Williamson and Rhys Davis in 2017 and was initially called Fresh Equities. At the time, the startup’s profitable business model focused on helping ASX-listed small-cap companies with capital raising from existing shareholders.

However, the founders decided to pivot to a subscription business model in early 2022 and developed software for public companies to use for shareholder communications.

According to the AFR, InvestorHub is now valued at $34 million.

The latest funding round was led by EVP, with participation from Archangel Ventures and Flying Fox Ventures.

Eyeonic: $2.6 million

Melbourne-based AI startup Eyeonic has completed an oversubscribed $2.6 million seed funding round to help it continue building its tech platform that enables glaucoma testing on laptop or tablet screens.

Eyeonic was founded by associate professor Simon Skalicky, an opthalmologist by trade, and is a previous winner of SmartCompany‘s early-stage pitching competition, the Pitch.

The startup aims to eliminate the need for specialised machines and personnel for glaucoma testing to ensure more patients can be screened accurately and conveniently, and therefore, improve the rates of early detection of the eye disease.

“There are 80 million people in the world with glaucoma, and in the developing world, 90% of cases go undetected. In Australia, 50% of glaucoma is undetected,” Skalicky told SmartCompany earlier this week.

“That’s a huge missed opportunity to save sight,” he said.

Skalicky said winning the Pitch in November 2023 was instrumental to the startup’s capital raise.

The founder met investor Paul Kirschner at the Pitch event, and Kirschner went on to introduce him to Martin Goodrich, who led the $2.6 million raise in collaboration with Haines Consulting Group and Kirschner Private Wealth.

Now, Eyeonic has its sights set on expanding in India, Vietnam and other parts of Asia.

“We’ve already got quite a strong presence in Africa, we have more than 100 clinicians registered in Africa, mainly in Ghana and Nigeria. We have a deal going through with the government of Ethiopia after a successful pilot. We have a staff member in Ghana, and contractors in the US and UK,” explained Skalicky.

Read more.

Graceview: $1.5 million

Also raising this week was AI compliance startup Graceview, which has secured $1.5 million in seed funding in a round led by entrepreneur Patrick Linton.

A number of unnamed overseas tech founders and investors also participated in the round, which the startup plans to use to continue building its platform and expand its sales and marketing locally and globally.

Graceview was launched in 2023 to provide real-time insights into compliance threats and opportunities through AI, machine learning and data analytics.

The startup, which recently won an iAward in the startup category under its previous name, Gracenote, was founded by a group of lawyers and a computer scientist who were frustrated with inefficient compliance solutions in former roles in financial services companies.

“We have seen and experienced the stress that the constant state of not knowing whether you are in or out of complaint creates,” Simon Quirk, co-founder and CEO of Graceview, told SmartCompany earlier this week.

“We believe that keeping on top of regulatory change and remaining compliant should and can be effortless by leading on technology, ease of use, and using humans where it’s needed–  and that belief is at the centre of everything that we do and where we will take our solution.”

Read more.

Monty Compost Co: $1 million

Brisbane-based startup Monty Compost Co has raised $1 million in fresh funding for its circular economy smart-tech solution.

According to Business News Australia, the startup is likened to a “Fitbit for your waste” and is applying Internet of Things (IoT) data analytics software to transform how organic waste is recycled.

Monty Compost Co was founded in 2019 by Ashley Baxter and has one other full-time employee, chief technology officer Junior Joyce.

The funding comes from Skalata, with Antler also participating via a newly inked partnership with the Queensland Investments Corporation (QIC). Angel investors also participated, as did early investor Uniquest.

Monty Compost Co has previously been backed by ACAC Innovation, Mandalay Ventures Partners and EnergyLab.