💌 Aussie Start-up & Venture Capital Summary! 26th of November

G'day and welcome to Overnight Success, the newsletter that quenches your Australian start-up thirst. A warm welcome to the 16 new subscribers that have joined since last week! You've just joined 806 other legends learning about Aussie start-ups.

Headlines:

• 🙅‍♀️ UK software startup TrueLayer has “paused” Australian operations (Startup Daily)

  • The decision comes after the business’ growth in Australia paled in comparison to its overseas counterparts.

• 🌶 Julia Spicer starts as the new Chief Entrepreneur for QLD in December and is set to champion regional startups (Business News Australia)

  • Spicer is based in the regional QLD town of Goondiwindi and also received an OAM this year for her entrepreneurial contribution to her community.

• Around 30,000 Australian Entities have lost 'significant property' in the FTX collapse.

  • KordaMentha have started sifting through the records of FTX Australia and has already received 280 emails from stressed customers. (SMH)

1. Start-up Retro: Australia's start-up raises with a smidge of context.

2. Aussie Raisins: Start-ups looking to raise some money.

3. Notice Board: Signposting key events and opportunities.

4. Accredited Tweeters: Snippets from Twitter.

5. (KaaS) Knowledge as a Service: Articles to make you smarter. Or to share with co-workers to make them think you’re smart.

Thanks to this week's sponsor...Talent Avenue 👏. You know you've hit the big-time when you can cover the cost of an annual Canva Pro subscription - you helped us get there. Read more about how Talent Avenue is supporting the Aussie startup ecosystem below.

Start-up Retro 

AI / Recruitment

💻 Sapia.ai lands $17M Series A to power recruitment via AI 

Sapia.ai, a Melbourne-based start-up that has built an AI recruitment platform, has landed a $17M Series A round. The round was led by Macquarie Capital and W23 (Woolies VC) and came pretty quickly after the team raised a $7M round. Originally founded in 2013 under a different name (PreductiveHire), the company takes typical interview questions that measure an interviewee's background, success, learnings and ambition and gives hiring managers better insight. The start-up reduces the critical person-hours required in the process from reviewing questions before progressing further with company personnel or the hiring manager. It does this by compounding the data it collects to understand interviewees' personality traits and competencies. Importantly, businesses like Woolworths have seen recruitment times reduced by ten days which can increase the likelihood of landing top talent. Importantly, successful and non-successful candidates are given feedback on their application to improve for next time. The start-up is a big win for large corporations that are often continuously recruiting for graduate, management and senior positions.

Due Diligence: (Business News Australia)

Human Resources / B2B

🧑‍🤝‍🧑eQ8 secures $5.5M to help large organisations manage their workforce

eQ8, a business that positions itself as the touchpoint between business strategy, finance and HR, has raised $5.5M. The round was led by Go1 and OIF Ventures and lists ex-Qantas and NBN leaders in its founding team. eQ8 is a SaaS that helps large companies plan their workforce resources better and was born out of a successful consultancy business. Interestingly, the company survived lockdowns with a small but credible list of customers, including ExxonMobil and Metlife. However, the current funding climate meant extra capital took time to secure. Leveraging workforce shortages throughout the peak of COVID-19 impacts, plus existing customer relationships, helped get the deal over the line. Significantly, eQ8 goes past generic advice and understands a client's business model and growth ambition. From here, the strategic direction that predicts workforce demand is provided to management to better prepare for the future.

Due Diligence: (AFR)

Data / Aqua-FarmTech

🦪Oceanfarmr raises $1.45M to build an Operations Management Dashboard for marine farmers

Oceanfarmr, an ocean farm operation system for the modern-day aqua farmer, has raised $1.45M from Katapult VC. Katapult is a global impact investor with a strong focus on ocean start-ups. Oceanfarmer, which was formally known as SmartOysters, came from humble beginnings. Initially, the application would allow a farmer to geolocate oyster bags. OceanFarmr now offers a full suite of products for farmers, including a monitoring system and mapping tools. Aqua farmers could include seaweed, oyster and mussel operations. Impressively, the tool can make farmers more efficient, with some users spending up to 50% less time in the water checking their stock. In addition to its technology stack, Oceanfarmr is also looking to provide financing to its customers. Since launching its financing options, the start-up has already received $60M in funding applications. Aqua farmers are generally considered a positive for the climate, if operating appropriately. Sustainable aquaculture can do wonders for capturing carbon and filtering water as mussels, oysters and seaweed grow.

Due Diligence: (Smart Company)

Infrastructure / Data Analytics

⚒️Abyss Technologies raises $15M and 8x's valuation in 2 years

Abyss Technologies, a machine learning start-up that helps critical infrastructure better understand their engineering assessments, has raised $15M. AirTree Ventures and the Australian Retirement Trust led the round. The company currently works with ExxonMobil, BAE Systems, BP and LA Sanitation. The start-up allows engineering teams to autonomously inspect their equipment across land, sea, air and even space. The software will build photo-realistic models with millimetre accuracy, which engineers can then use to detect the deterioration of their assets. Since 2020, the company has increased revenues from $2.7M to $15.2M and has expanded past pure oil and gas clients into agriculture. Interestingly, 100% of clients who pilot the program sign up, which is not a bad sales process! Oil and gas companies see extreme value in implementing Abyss Technologies into their stack, as minor breakdowns can lead to cost blowouts from plant shutdowns. Abyss Technologies acts more as an insurance policy that can pre-detect potential equipment breakdowns and allow engineering teams to replace and repair equipment before massive cost blow outs.

Due Diligence: (Smart Company)

Compost / Crowdfunding

🪱Subpod secures $800K to tackle food waste

Subpod, a modular composting bin start-up based in Byron Bay, has raised $800K from crowdfunding. The SubPod system is a three-in-one box with a worm farm, compost, and garden. They launched in 2019 and have gained a large and loyal following of over 60,000 customers. The company has also utilised their momentum to expand its range into garden beds and planters. The raise is an excellent example of crowdfunding at its best, with 697 customers becoming shareholders of the business. Importantly for many customers, using a Subpod system is carbon negative and can remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Additionally, the systems place the compost box underground, eliminating nasty smells that often arise with compost systems. The capital will be used to grow product lines further and invest in a digital platform, GrowHub, which teaches users about composting and sustainable growing. This platform already has 20,000 users online.

Due Diligence: (Smart Company)

If you're a founder or investor who has just closed a round, please reach out!

Notice Board: Companies Looking To Raise

• 🏘 Unyoked, the short-stay cabin group, is looking to raise $7M. The capital will be used to fulfil 114 qualified sites in Australia, 72 in the UK and 74 in NZ. Generally, they target area's within 1-3 hours of metro cities that offer customers a break from the hustle and bustle. The deck forecasts $76.7M in revenue with $35.6M of EBITDA for 2027. (AFR)

  • Each cabin costs $95K to build and fit out, with payback periods within two years.

  • Unyoked places cabins on properties and splits the income with landlords 65/35.

  • The cabins have an impressive occupancy rate, with estimates of at least 80-90%.

• 🤓 Ethics Advisor, a sustainability-focused investing solution for financial advisors, is shaking the tin for a $1M seed round.

  • The SaaS company gives advisors better sustainable investing tools and information to provide their clients with better sustainable investing advice.

  • The start-up cuts through the noise of sustainability investing for clientele who may have particular requirements, giving advisors better optionality suitable for their customers.. Think of someone who's big on solar energy but not interested in nuclear.

Talent Avenue partners with the founders, leadership teams and investment teams of VC-backed start-ups and scale-ups, working in the climate tech and clean tech ecosystems.

They help their clients appoint commercially-oriented leaders who’ve successfully scaled organisations utilising their world-class functional expertise across Sales, Marketing, Product, Strategy, Operations, People & Culture and Finance.

Notice Board

• Climate Salad will host its inaugural Climate Tech Festival and second Climate Tech Awards on December 7th (Sydney). Vote in the awards and get tickets to the event here.

• Looking for a grad job for 2023 (or know someone is?). Here are three places to find one with an awesome Aussie or NZ startup:

  • Earlywork: join this community for young people interested in tech, startups & social impact to get access to free events & career resources, and build relationships with other Earlyworkers!

  • Startmate Talent Engine: recently launched and is absolutely free to create a profile and start searching!

  • My Start-Up Gig: Over 2,615 Australian start-up jobs across 573 Aussie companies are currently listed.

• Venture Capital Careers lists all the Australian Venture Capital Jobs available here. There are currently 17 opportunities. For the New Zealand VC Jobs, head here.

Accredited Tweeters

(KaaS) Knowledge as a Service

• A Beginners Guide to Learning Artificial Intelligence by T.Ferguson.

  • I was having a quiet knock-off beer with an investor and an EdTech start-up lately and we discussed how the opportunity around utilising AI is pretty apparent, it'll just rely on execution. Wondering how can one better execute with AI? This blog is a pretty good introduction.

• Lemons ripen early by Mark Suster on why founders shouldn't lose their "swagger".

  • It's also applicable for operators interviewing for new roles. Remember: don't let a few no's get in the way of a good fit!

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