Six Aussie startups that raised $114.5 million this week

Investors and VCs are a little hungrier compared to last week, with six Australian startups landing $114.5 million in capital this week. Let’s dive in.

Till Payments: $70 million

The big winner this week is Till Payments, with a casual $70 million in Series D funding. The round was led by Silva Fortune and was joined by Tekkorp.

However, this new funding comes only a couple of months after the company laid off 120 staff, or roughly 40% of its total headcount. According to the company, it saw a 300% increase in transactions and 200% increase in its merchant base over the past 12 months.

Till CEO Shadi Haddad said the company will be focusing on sustainable growth and fast-tracking profitability. He also announced the launch of Till’s new Core Acquiring Platform. This allows the company to directly access payment networks globally, giving Till direct access to the Payment Networks globally.

Till Payments chief executive Shadi Haddad. Source: supplied.

DroneShield: $40 million

ASX-listed DroneShield has raised $40 million via a share purchase plan. The shares were issued at $0.30, with strong support being shown by shareholders. This resulted in $37 million more capital raised than the accompany was originally seeking.

DroneShield is a counter drone defence service business that uses AI and machine learning for sensor fusion and signal processing. It has its own command-and-control system on offer, but can also be included in third party platforms for government and commercial use.

The fresh cash injection will be used to accelerate DroneShield’s growth plans to scale up its inventory and headcount.

“We are pleased to have received outstanding shareholder support for both the Placement and SPP. The funds will allow us to take advantage of the highly favourable environment for defense and specifically customer demand for counterdrone solutions as witnessed by the Ukraine conflict, as we target 2023 to be a transformative year for DroneShield,” CEO Oleg Vornik said in a statement.

Sumday: $2 million

Software accounting startup Sumday has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding from Blackbird Ventures, Cameron Adams (Canva) and Lisa Miller (Wedgetail Ventures).

The Tasmanian company helps clients to provide non-financial accounting services. First on its radar is carbon accounting, which enables companies to quantify their greenhouse gases emissions. It also aims to tackle natural capital in the future.

Sumday offers its services as a subscription model that can be scaled, depending on the size of the business.

“Very few organisations could tell you how their carbon emissions were calculated, or what impact their purchasing decisions have on their overall footprint, with any real degree of certainty. The data we need to do that largely does not exist and we’re here to change that” Sumday CEO Jessica Richmond said in a statement.

SimConverse: $1.5 million

Sydney simulation startup SimConverse has landed $1.5 million in seed funding for its generative AI platform. The round was led by Folklore Ventures and joined by Artesian.

The company was founded in 2020 for use in the medical space. The platform uses AI for training, allowing it to play the role of patient or medical professional to assist in training. It can be adapted and customised for different training scenarios.

The SimConverse system is currently being used in over 80 organisations, including the University of NSW, Kings College and the Australian Defence Force. Part of the raise will be used to attract more customers across the UK and US.

“Communication is the number one determinant of the quality of care a patient will receive. Without good communication you cannot treat, you cannot diagnose, and you cannot provide care,” co-founder Aiden Roberts said in a statement.

Kali Healthcare $500,000

The University of Melbourne has invested $500,000 in pre-seed funding for Kali Healthcare, which has developed pregnancy monitoring hardware in the form of a wearable and a sensor patch. The goal is to enable monitoring during pregnancy for regional and at-risk patients who don’t have as easy access to clinics.

“At Kali Healthcare we have developed a new fetal monitoring system. It consists of a small wearable device and sensor patch, that accurately picks up the baby’s heart rate,” explained co-founder Associate Professor Fiona Brownfoot in a statement.

“It is simple to apply and opens the possibility of monitoring at home during telehealth consults. Also, it will allow women to be active in labour, without the fetal heart rate dropping out, which is a game changer for our patients, midwives and obstetricians.”

The funding will be used to accelerate clinical trials for the system, which are pegged for 2024.

Torch Recruit: $500,000

The University of Melbourne has also invested a $250,000 into Torch Recruit, founded by Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis. Western Health has also contributed $250,000 in funding, bringing the total new funding for Torch Recruit to $500,000.

The startup was developed within the university’s Department of General Practice. It aims to improve the number and diversity of clinical trial patients. According to the university, recruitment can take months and more than 80% of trials don’t have enough enrolled patients.

“Recruiting for clinical trials is a massive problem, and we saw an opportunity to address it by bringing more trials to the community, including regional and rural Australia. This strategy will address the delays that can result from not being able to translate research into practice if you’re not recruiting patients on time,” Manski-Nankervis said in a statement.

“Australia is an attractive venue for clinical trials and this is a growth area. If we are attracting more trials, then we need to ensure we can deliver on recruitment. We see ourselves as playing a key role in providing infrastructure to support clinical trial recruitment in community settings, which is where the majority of Australians receive their medical care.”