💌 Aussie Start-up & Venture Capital Summary! 19th of November

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Headlines:

• 🍝 VOLY, the 'instant' grocery start-up announces shutdown after stopping deliveries.

  • The founders pointed towards the economic climate and inflation as key reasons for the closure with minimal new investors (SmartCompany)

• 🦘 Deliveroo hops away from Australian shores. In an email sent to all customers, Deliveroo Australia announced it is entering administration and shut down.

  • Deliveroo, despite its name, is an English-based company.

  • Menulog, a previous competitor, will honour unspent Deliveroo Australia vouchers (up to $75).  

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

2. Notice Board: Signposting key events and opportunities.

3. Accredited Tweeters: Snippets from Twitter.

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

Overnight Success has grown significantly in the last month, as has the team and our ambition. We're looking to plan our summer content and partner with some fantastic businesses that could provide value to our readership. Interested? Check out our partnership opportunities page for more information or get in contact at [email protected].

Start-up Retro 

Logistics

🚚 Ofload loads up with $60M Series B Raise

Ofload, the start-up that allows transport operators to utilise their unused capacity better, has raised $60M. The round was led by a Singapore-based Venture firm, Jungle Ventures. Other investors in the round inclined King River Capital (Sydney), Maersk Growth (Denmark), Bay Grove (San Fran) and Foundamental. The round was a mix of debt and equity, with one-third of the capital being debt. Ofload operates a two-way marketplace with shippers and carriers on either side. The platform gives shippers access to a more extensive fleet network which has now exceeded 15,000 trucks, while carriers can make revenue off unutilised space. A significant tailwind of driver shortages, which have exceeded 200,000, allows Ofload to grow rapidly. The founder and CEO, Geoffroy Henry, said the start-up could become profitable if it consolidates its growth. Interestingly, most of this raised capital will be used for targeted acquisitions, perhaps as valuations have come off recently.

Due Diligence: (AFR)

Recycling / ClimateTech

♻️ ULUU lands $8M to turn seaweed into plastic alternatives

ULUU has secured another $8M led by Main Sequence Ventures to continue their mission of creating a compostable polymer to replace plastic. Also participating in the round were Albert Impact Ventures, Mistletoe, Possible Ventures and Voice Capital (the social impact community associated with MSV). A few notable angels invested, including Tame Impala's frontman, Kevin Parker. Fun fact, Tame Impala is actually just one guy… sorry couldn't resist. ULUU creates a 'carbon negative' replacement for plastic. Carbon negative implies the production process offsets more carbon than it emits. Additionally, their product is biodegradable and can even biodegrade in the ocean. Compared with other plastics made without fossil fuels, like those based on sugar cane or corn, ULUU wins over in being a greater net positive for the environment. ULUU use fermentation and saltwater microbes to reduce the reliance on chemicals and energy-intensive equipment to create their polymer.

Due Diligence: (TechCrunch)

BioTech / Alternative Meat

⛔🥩 Vow wows with a record $73.5M Series A

Vow, a cultured meat start-up based in Sydney, has raised a $73.5M Series A round. The record-breaking round in the alt meat industry was led by Blackbird and Prosperity7 Ventures. Supporting the investment were Toyota Ventures, Square Peg, Grok Ventures, Cavalio, Hostplus Super, Peakbirdge, Tenacious Ventures and Pavilion Capital. The money is earmarked to bring products to market, build a second manufacturing plant and grow the commercialisation team. Vow targets meat eaters and hopes to change their behaviour by making their food better than existing options. The company will operate several brands under Vow, which will run the R&D and distribution. The go-to-market plan is interesting, highlighted by founder George Peppou's Medium post here. Initially, they'll sort out the science. Then sell high-end culinary experiences like Morsel in Singapore. After generating a buzz with restauranters and food lovers, Vow will test its early products in geographies and markets with friendly regulations. Following pilots, Vow will know which products are successful and scale those while investing in new products. Similar, in many ways to how Tesla went about early distribution.

Due Diligence: (SmartCompany)

Robotics

 🧭 Advanced Navigation secures a massive $108M Series B

Advanced Navigation, a company specialising in the development of navigation technologies and robotics powered by AI, has landed a $108M investment. The capital comes from the large private equity (PE) firm KKR. This is the PE group's first Aussie investment from their Next Generation Technology Growth Fund. The tech growth lead for KKR, Louis Casey, will join the Advanced Navigation board. Other investors include Main Sequence Ventures, In-Q-Tel (CIA) and Alpha Intelligence Capital. Malcolm Turnbull, who also invested in the round, allegedly introduced the leadership team to KKR. Advanced Navigation develops navigation systems that can be applied for air, land, sea and space. Often where high performance, reliability and quality are needed; like a recently signed contract with NASA to go to the moon. AV has 1,200 clients and is used by major car manufacturers, including Ford, General Motors and Tesla. The money will be used to expand the global sales and marketing team with hopes of doubling the headcount to 400. Additionally, some of the capital is earmarked for potential acquisitions.

Due Diligence: (Innovation Aus)

Engineering & Design

📐 ClearCalcs lands $2.5M to go global

Melbourne-based ClearCalcs is determined to become the "calculation tool of choice for every engineer, worldwide, every day". Their most recent fundraise was led by existing backers EVP and Shearwater Capital and will put them one step closer to achieving that goal. The software platform offers users access to a streamlined library of engineering calculations and has already been used in tens of thousands of housing and engineering designs worldwide. In the last twelve months, the company has more than doubled its revenue, tripled the size of its team, and opened a North American office responsible for around 70% of users. If you're not from the industry, you might wonder why ClearCalcs has gained so much traction. The answer is threefold. First, the platform allows engineers and designers to make calculations at speed with accuracy and confidence, making projects more affordable. This extra capacity can be used to consider alternative materials, including more sustainable options, which may have otherwise been too time-consuming to consider. And finally, it's clear investors are impressed with the team, led by founders Chris Borzillo and Steven Robinson. It's the trifecta; niche but critical problem solved by scalable tech, clear ESG proposition and a values-first culture.

Due Diligence: (Start-up Daily)

ClimateTech

🍏 Trace extends runway with $1M

Despite only recently closing a $1.5M Seed round in November last year, Trace co-founders Cat Long and Joanna Auburn decided to raise additional funds in light of the economic downturn and Cat falling pregnant with her first child. Signing the documents just days before the baby's arrival, the company raised an additional $1M to provide themselves 18 months of runway to achieve a goal of $1M in annual recurring revenue before raising their Series A. Their newest investors included Giant Leap, Dragonfly Enviro Capital and Euphemia, and angel investors. Trace is a platform that helps small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) measure, manage and offset their carbon emissions, enabling them to become carbon neutral and work towards net zero. The software is an alternative to the expensive and time-consuming traditional carbon footprint measurement methods. Often these are largely inaccessible for SMEs. Trace plans to use the new funds to grow the team and further develop the company's employee engagement tool. This feature helps businesses capture the impact of employees working from home and in the office while acting as a way to educate the team on emission reduction tactics.

Due Diligence: AFR

Developers / SaaS

🛠 Buildkite raises US $21M to fix DevOps

Buildkite, a software company that allows developers to better build, test and deploy their software, has raised US $21M. The Series B was co-led by AirTree and OneVentures, with General Catalyst and prominent angel investor Dom Pym investing in the round. The platform has matured over the last nine years since its founding and allows developers to test their products in production environments. Buildkite is a key tool for teams that want to build CI/CD workflows at scale. CI/CD for the uninitiated means continuous integration and continuous delivery. Continuous integration is having multiple development teams working simultaneously on different features of the same app. Continuous delivery is having those various updates continuously bug-tested and uploaded to a repository like GitHub. Buildkite already counts massive names as customers, including Shopify, Lyft, Intercom and Wix. In a nice Aussie helping Aussie story, Canva was one of Buildkite's earliest customers back in 2015 when they had only 25 engineers. Buildkite has remained remote-only and now employs 80 remote workers. Head here to see the pitch deck that helped close the $21M round.

Due Diligence: (BuildKite)

Fashion

👗 Azura Reborn lands $2M to help the circular fashion economy

Azura Reborn, a global e-commerce company that enables pre-loved fashion items to get distribution via large marketplaces, has raised $2M. The round included investors Utiliti Ventures, Halkin Ventures, Jefferson Capital and Archangel Ventures. Initially, the platform helped luxury fashion brands enter larger marketplaces with distribution worldwide. However, the company has started to pivot to enabling pre-loved clothes to have a second life. The eureka moment was seeing significant returns getting stuck on the balance sheet with minimal ways to liquidate them. Azura has partnered with clothing marketplaces, like The Iconic, to take control of their returns and try to eke out another sale. Soon, the company will buy second-hand goods from customers and handle their sales through more extensive distribution. The business is active in 60 retailers worldwide, with targets set to reach 100 by mid-2023. The capital will be used to boost warehouse capacity, increasing inventory and allowing for more pre-loved stock.

Due Diligence: (Business News Australia)

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

Notice Board

• Run a SaaS business that wants to expand to the USA? Eligible businesses can apply for free support from the NSW Government. Applications close Nov 20th (tomorrow!).

• Climate Salad has announced it 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.

• Cut Through Angels is hosting “Feel Good Fintech” on November 24th in Melbourne. 100% of ticket revenue goes to the Smith Family. $10 bucks get you a ticket for fireside chats with Dom Pym (founder of Up, angel investor), food & bevs. Grab your spot here!.

• My Start-Up Gig: Over 2,838 Australian start-up jobs across 573 Aussie companies are currently listed here.

• 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.

  • Startmate is looking for an Accelerator Lead, AirTree is looking for a Talent Manager and Five V is looking for a VC Associate.

Accredited Tweeters

(KaaS) Knowledge as a Service

• Is AI the new Crypto? By that I mean, is it the new investor and business buzzword? Who knows, but if you are ever testing an AI product, here are five signs to know the product actually may use AI.

• This a piece of (hopefully not needed) advice on how to manage layoffs. Written by David Ulevitch from a16z.

• If you missed it earlier, check out the pitch deck that helped Buildkite secure USD $21M.

• Climate Visuals have created a free database of high-definition images for presentations, websites and other content. Check out the resources here.

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