G’day, and welcome to this week’s edition of Overnight Success! Your weekly download on all the important things that happened in the Aussie startup ecosystem. 🇦🇺 🚀 A special welcome to our new subscribers - it’s great to have you here! 👋 

👀 Headlines 👀 

🙅‍♀️ Grapevine's latest report reveals that sexual harassment and discrimination remain widespread in Australian tech startups, causing many women to leave the industry. (SMH)

• A new report from women-led collective Grapevine reveals that sexual harassment and discrimination remain widespread in Australian tech startups, causing many women to leave the industry.

• The key stats: 72% of those who experienced discrimination, bullying, or harassment chose to leave their company altogether, and only 70% of incidents were escalated formally or informally. 96% of those who raised issues informally had negative experiences with senior leaders, HR, or managers.

• The report acknowledges that startups often lack proper HR structures, but the “move fast and break things" mentality often leads to necessary employment protections being overlooked, leading to unsafe environments for women. 

• Paloma Newton, one of Grapevine's leaders, was interviewed about the report by ABC Business here.

• You can read the full report here.

👋 Richard White, the founder of WiseTech, has stepped away from his role as CEO and his position on the board of the Tech Council of Australia. (Startup Daily)

Here is the timeline of how we got here:

• The controversy began with a Federal Court case involving wellness entrepreneur Linda Rogan. Rogan alleged that White had issued her a bankruptcy notice over a $90,000 furniture bill and claimed he expected a sexual relationship in exchange for investment in her business. This case was settled out of court earlier this week. (Capital Brief)

• Following the settlement, further allegations against White surfaced in media reports. These included claims about inappropriate behaviour with female employees and other women outside the company, as well as accusations of intimidation and bullying by an outgoing WiseTech director. (SMH)

• The negative publicity led to a significant drop in WiseTech's share price, which fell by more than 20% over the past week. This financial impact added pressure on White to step down from his leadership roles. (AFR)

  • It's important to note how big the WiseTech Global business is. As of June 2024, the company has 3,500 employees and FY24 revenue of $1.041B, up 28% from the previous year. On the 25th of October, the business's market capitalisation was $37.8B.

• On the 24th of October, 2024, Richard White announced his resignation as CEO of WiseTech Global. He will transition to a consulting role focused on product and business development, maintaining his salary at $1 million per year. WiseTech's CFO, Andrew Cartledge, will serve as interim CEO. (Capital Brief)

• Jessy Wu wrote an opinion piece in the AFR calling for the TechCouncil of Australia to remove Richard White from the board of directors. He resigned from the board on October 25th.

🛰️ Optus has partnered with Starlink to offer "Satellite Internet for Business," providing fast, uncapped, low-latency internet to enterprises and small businesses across Australia. (Optus Media Release)

• The service includes full Optus support for installation, billing, and troubleshooting and prioritised help-desk access from both Optus and Starlink.

• Customers will benefit from prioritised data, improved extreme weather performance, and resilient connectivity, offering backup during natural disasters or outages.

• This opens up more opportunities for rural business owners and founders who can now access fast internet.

🥗 Climate Salad will pivot to a streamlined online-only model of newsletters, an online community and webinars (Startup Daily)

• Climate Salad has grown to support over 600 climate tech companies, with a network of 1,000 members and 10,000 supporters.

• The organisation will continue fostering connections and innovation through its "convergent cumulative exponential improvement" model, focusing on incremental progress and collaboration. Mick Liubinskas will continue to manage it part-time. 

⚡️ Startup Retro ⚡️

BuildPass secures $7.5M Seed for better construction site productivity and safety

Founders: Matt Perrott and Aaron Vanston 

Construction tech startup BuildPass has raised $7.5 million in a Seed round led by Carthona Capital, with support from Saniel Ventures, GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner, Recursive Ventures, Horizon VC, and Massive Tech Ventures. The funds will fuel BuildPass' AI product development, focusing on improving construction site productivity, safety, and quality assurance, especially for small- to mid-market businesses in Australia, which comprise 98% of the sector. BuildPass previously raised a $1 million pre-Seed in 2021.

Founded in 2021, BuildPass combines AI-driven safety, quality, and site management tools into a user-friendly platform. The startup recently rolled out five new AI modules to address productivity bottlenecks and bridge digital literacy gaps among construction workers. BuildPass leverages OpenAI and Anthropic technologies to enhance its platform's capabilities. 

Co-founders Matt Perrott and Aaron Vanston are targeting the Australian market and a future expansion into the US. With over 400 companies already using the platform, BuildPass has grown to 22 full-time staff and was recognised as ‘Best Newcomer’ at the Governor of Victoria Startup Awards. The average induction utilising the platform is down to 5.5 minutes, with 44,000 subbies utilising the platform.

Due Diligence: Press Release, Startup Daily, AFR

Conflux Technology raises $11M Series B for better heat exchanges for aerospace and electric vehicles

Founder: Michael Fuller

Conflux Technology, an additive manufacturing startup, has raised $11 million in a Series B round led by Breakthrough Victoria, with contributions from AM Ventures and Acorn Capital. Based in Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Conflux specialises in advanced heat exchangers that utilise additive manufacturing to manage thermal energy in sectors such as aerospace, electric vehicles, and space technology.

A heat exchanger transfers thermal energy between fluids to heat or cool them. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a 3D printing process that builds objects layer-by-layer, enabling complex designs. The $6 billion heat exchanger market is critical to sustainability efforts, and Conflux aims to enhance efficiency and reduce weight in global devices. 

The funds will accelerate product development, expand hiring, and meet growing customer demand in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Conflux has also partnered with Odys Aviation to advance regional VTOL aircraft, which have the potential to reduce fuel consumption by over 40%. Odys co-founder James Dorris praised Conflux's technology for overcoming design limitations, allowing for optimised recuperator (waste heat transfer) designs that enhance aircraft performance. Breakthrough Victoria is invested in Conflux, citing motorsports, e-mobility, and defence opportunities.

Due Diligence: Startup Daily, Metal AM, FinSMEs

Scaleup Mediafund adds Naked Life Sprits and Settle Easy to its media-for-equity portfolio

Naked Life Founder: David Andrew | Settle Easy CEO: Sam Almaliki

Scaleup MediaFund has added two new companies, Naked Life Spirits and Settle Easy, to its media-for-equity portfolio. Naked Life, a non-alcoholic cocktail brand, and Settle Easy, a property conveyancing platform, will exchange equity for advertising inventory to boost brand visibility and growth.

Naked Life, which raised $3 million through crowdfunding in 2023, aims to use the investment to expand its reach across Australia and internationally. The company recently partnered with brewing giant Molson Coors to enter the US market. Founder David Andrew sees the media-for-equity deal as a key opportunity to promote both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drink choices.

Settle Easy, launched in 2020, has rapidly grown as a national conveyancing provider. CEO Sam Almaliki believes this investment will help further establish the company as a leader in settlement services for property transactions.

Scaleup Mediafund is aligned with News Corp Australia and has access to media entities like Foxtel, Kayo, Binge, REA, Nova Radio and oOh!media. The fund provides consumer-facing businesses with out-of-home, TV, streamed video, radio, podcast, print and digital advertising at discounted rates. Since its inception, the fund has committed $45 million (in media) to the startup sector, having backed 19 businesses and helping founders accelerate growth through strategic marketing initiatives.

Due Diligence: Business News Australia, Settle Easy Announcement

The Medical Research Future Fund deploys $3.25M from the accelerator program, ANDHealth+

The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) is an Australian Government initiative established to support transformative research that improves health outcomes while stimulating economic growth within Australia's medical and health sectors. 

Since its inception, the MRFF has focused on providing sustainable funding for high-priority health and medical research projects, especially those addressing critical health challenges and advancing new medical technologies. It plays a crucial role in translating scientific research into real-world healthcare solutions, aiming to bridge gaps between research, clinical application, and policy. 

The startups sharing in this funding include: 

• Atmo Biosciences who are developing an ingestible gas-sensing capsule for gut health diagnostics. The funding supports product launches for motility disorder diagnosis and potential applications in IBS, IBD, and liver disease.

• Eugene is building an at-home genomics platform addressing genetic testing and patient counselling bottlenecks for reproductive and preventive health. The funding will support efficiency studies and platform scaling to broaden genetic testing in Australia.

• Humanetix is an AI-powered care management platform aimed at improving clinical workflows in aged care. The funding will enhance impact assessment and deepen sector engagement.

• Immunosis is building diagnostic solutions for immune deficiencies, targeting faster diagnoses for Primary Immunodeficiency. The funding backs further studies to reduce diagnosis time and improve patient outcomes.

• Metabolic Health Solutions (MHS) provides tech for measuring metabolic health and managing weight. The funding will support IP development, clinical impact studies, and device usability improvements.

🥳 Wins 🥳

🤑 Commonwealth Bank's x15 Ventures celebrates its first major "exit" as Unloan, an online home loan platform, becomes a full CBA division. (Capital Brief)

• Under Managing Director Toby Norton-Smith, x15 Ventures’ revenue surged by 400% in 2023, and it's on track for a 250% increase this year. The goal is to reach break-even in a few years.

• Unlike typical CVCs, x15 Ventures rarely invests directly in startups; instead, it creates or acquires fintech companies that give CBA a competitive advantage, operating more like an incubator.

• The venture scaler has grown its team to over 300 employees and shifted its focus from building a portfolio of 25 companies by 2025 to doubling down on high-potential ventures.

  • x15’s model targets a unique type of entrepreneur: experienced executives willing to take calculated risks within the structure of Commonwealth Bank, which recently added three new entrepreneurs-in-residence.

📍 Notice Board 📍 

LaunchVic has announced two new grant rounds to boost Victoria’s startup ecosystem, offering up to $1.5 million for proven accelerator programs and up to $1 million for an investor education initiative.

• The grants aim to help scale more startups and increase early-stage funding, with a focus on long-term growth and supporting critical startup infrastructure in Victoria.

  • Information sessions for the grants will be held on 29 October, and applications will close on 19 November 2024. More information is available here.

The Elevating Female Founders program, backed by Advance Queensland and ACS Labs, supports Queensland’s female entrepreneurs with a fee-free, fully online model.

• Participants receive bi-monthly cohort sessions, monthly 1:1 mentoring, and group workshops on business models, pricing, and global markets.

• The program includes a 12-month complimentary Labs membership (valued at $3,300), which includes access to mentorship, workshops, networking, and free tickets to Something Tech 2025.

• Designed for tech startups, the program initially requires 10 hours per week but scales down to 10 hours every two weeks after four months.

• You can apply now; applications will close at the end of December. The founder must be a female, and the business must be registered in Queensland.

🧠 KaaS (Knowledge as a Service)

Gem’s Pick 💁‍♀️ 2024 Women for Media Report, Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (WLIA)

• WLIA - a not-for-profit organisation Chaired by highly-respected business woman and investor, Carol Schwartz AO - has just released it’s sixth instalment of this report which highlights the gender bias that exists in Australian newsrooms and, in turn, the nature of Australian news coverage.

• While the concept of gender bias in the media will likely come as no surprise to most of our readers, I’d encourage you to take a look at some of the specific findings - they were certainly eye-opening for me - and consider whether you are in a position of power to help shift these stats in a more positive direction. For example:

  • Women account for less than a third (29%) of opinion article bylines, and

  • Men’s stories are not only more common, but are more often tagged “exclusive” and typically contain more words.

Will’s Pick 💁‍♂️ Systems of scale by Kinde, founder Ross Chaldecott

• Ross Chaldecott reflects on "systems of scale" and their importance in scalings businesses. These systems automate repetitive tasks that once took time and energy, allowing businesses to focus on more critical goals.

  Key takeaways:

  • Systems of scale should address pain points that occur repeatedly.

  • Introduce these systems in response to a problem, but avoid adding complexity too early.

  • SaaS businesses exemplify systems of scale, where products are built once but sold infinitely, leading to significant growth potential and hence why VC’s love them.

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‘Til next time,

👋 Will & Gem

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