Six Aussie startups that collectively raised $196 million this week

Six Aussie startups secured themselves $196 million in combined funding this week. Let’s take a closer look.

Banksia Academy: $170,000

Not-for-profit Banksia Academy has received $170,000 in seed funding to help women who have been subjected to domestic violence.

Started by the founder of Scriibed, Melanie Grebelo, Banksia Academy will provide women with support programs, personal development and education opportunities, as well as employment pathways.

Of the funding, $100,000 has come from Tanya Nelson Carnegie’s Vasudhara WildWomen Fund.

“I know first-hand the challenges women survivors can face. Research suggests that yearly in Australia, over 1 million women have or will experience violence, emotional abuse and stalking, with 90% of these women also experiencing financial abuse,” Grebelo told Startup Daily.

“For women wanting to leave abusive relationships, their choice is often either violence or poverty, and many women return to abusive relationships for primarily financial reasons – it’s just not good enough. Banksia Academy is here to help break the cycle and support the long-term financial independence of women survivors.”

Airwallex: $159.6 million

Fintech unicorn Airwallex has landed a massive US$100 million ($159.6 million) in series E funding. The round has been led by existing  investors Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Tencent, Hermitage Capital and 1835i Ventures.

The plan for the cash injection is to push its international growth.

Read the full story here.

T-Shirt Ventures: $11 million

Health tech startup T-Shirt Ventures has booked $11 million in Series A funding with HEAL Partners. The startup will use the funds to scale two separate company arms, Provider Choice and HeyHubbl, to help improve the lives and connectivity of people living with disabilities and long-term health needs. They will be placing a particular focus on tech and products that give NDIS users choice and control.

“When you have a family member with a disability, you realise how far we are from being an equal society,” said Jonathan Salgo, co-founder and director of NDIS Innovation at T-shirt Ventures.

“Tomorrow your child could be diagnosed with autism, you could suffer a spinal cord injury or be diagnosed with Parkinson’s. In all these cases, the NDIS is there to turn to and we’re there to offer you choice and control with our tech solutions.”

SunDrive: $21 million

Solar panel startup SunDrive has received $21 million in Series B funding from a group of high-profile investors, including Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes, the CSIRO’s Main Sequence innovation fund and Canva’s co-founder Cameron Adams. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull also invested in the solar disruptor.

You can read the full story right here.

Iluminr: $4.2 million

Iluminr has secured $4.2 million led by QBE Ventures. It was also joined by Flying Foxm Jelix Ventures, Investible and Rebellion Ventures. The capital will be used to push into the US market.

The startup offers an Software-as-a-Service platform for company crisis resilience. It helps businesses to identify and manage crisis scenarios and threats through the likes of micro simulations, response tools and notifications. It also offers compliance training to help organisations manage potential online threats.

“Organisations have undergone significant change and how they prepare for and respond to critical events is now vastly different to what it was say 18-24 months ago,” co-founder Marcus Vaughan said.

“Traditional training in crisis and resilience has not kept pace with today‘s demands, the changing workforce dynamics or the hybrid working environment, resulting in disengaged audiences from executive down. Combine that with growing compliance burdens and compounding threats, and organisations simply can’t keep up with the effects of disruptions and change.”

Foodini: $700,000

Dietary requirements app Foodini has closed an oversubscribed pre-seeding raise of $700,00. The round was led by early-stage VC firm Antler, with participation from 10 other investors.

The app allows users to match with restaurants that can cater to their dietary needs. The idea is to provide a safe and stress-free experience for both diners and establishments. Dietitians review the restaurants and breakdown what users can each at each place.

The app first launched in Sydney in 2021 and is in the process of launching in Melbourne. There are plans to roll it out across Brisbane and other parts of Australia by the end of the year.

“As the number of individuals with specific dietary requirements and preferences swells globally, so too does the opportunity for the industry that supports them. Foodini is uniquely positioned to capture this growing market having demonstrated strong early-mover supply-side traction and user engagement on their platform,” said Antler partner Cath Rogers.