💌 June 25th Weekly Retro of Australian Start-ups & Venture Capital

June 25th

G'day and welcome to Overnight Successes, the weekly newsletter that levels you up on everything Aussie Start-ups.

Headlines:

• Woolies strikes fear in 10min delivery start-ups with the launch of their own rapid delivery app, Metro60. (SMH).

• Gig-conomy riders classified as employees following a tragic accident. Start-up Daily)

There has been a lot of feedback that the name ‘Overnight Successes’ doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Something about a word with 4 S’s, 2 C’s and E’s is a little much. Fine! The only issue is last week I invested $14 in a new domain name… There is only one way to solve this, a LinkedIn poll! Vote here!

Last week there was a tragic case of a worker losing all three of their fully remote jobs at Coinbase. In an effort to help workers find killer jobs, I've started a job board. Wow, so new and revolutionary. These are just roles I’ve seen around that look interesting, reach out if you want to promote a job to a group of very smart and unique individuals.

This week does not include an interview, instead, on Tuesday there will be a deep dive into a start-up that just raised $1.2M in seed capital. They're working on database software for products and featured a few weeks ago. Can you guess who it is?

If you're not subscribed but would like to join a group of legends learning about Aussie start-ups, join here!

1. Headlines: News that's important, but you might have missed.

2. Start-up retro: Summarising the week's start-up raises with a smidge of context and plenty of puns.

3. Notice Board: Signposting key events and opportunities in the ecosystem.

4. Accredited Tweeters: Snippets from Twitter.

5. (KaaS) Knowledge as a Services: 2-3 articles to make you smarter. Or share with co-workers to make them think you’re smart.

Start-up Retro!

DeathTech (again!)

🌱Bare

• News: The “new way to funeral”, Bare, has raised a $10M Series A. The round was led by Perennial Partners, Ord Minnett Private Capital. Previous investors have included OIF Ventures, Athletic Ventures and Andrew Bogut. This raise follows the $6M raise by Willed, a software solution for managing your will. Since its launch, Bare has worked with 15,000 families and will use this capital to improve service and expand into new markets. The MVP focused on cremation but now includes legal support and event planning. Cofounder Cale Donovan said Bare is the “natural evolution of deathcare that places increased choice, personalised support and technology at the forefront.” Investors have said the co-founders urned it.

• Read more about it: Start-up Daily

Internet Infrastructure

🌱GigaComm

• News: The telco hoping to get you Gigabit internet speed, GigaComm, has raised $20.5M from Palisade Impact and Endeavour Asset Management. The start-up was born out of frustration all Australians have felt at slow internet speeds affecting productivity. GigaComm currently operates in 28 metro suburbs across Melbourne and Sydney, delivering speeds of 400mbps. The top-tier home plan costs $169 per month and should deliver 1000mps down and 50ms up. GigaComm will use the capital to expand in Melbourne and Sydney and enter the Brissie and ACT markets. Australians are currently experiencing an evolution of the internet with Gigabit connections becoming more common and Elon Musks Starlink active across the country - providing strong connections in rural areas. Jeremy Wernet of Palisade Impact said, “as part of our investment, we will work with GigaComm to deliver the network to social and affordable housing residents.”

• Read more about it: AFR

• Below, we see an illustration of an Australian founder trying to launch with low internet speeds.

Green Energy

🌱Line Hydrogen

• News: The renewable energy hydrogen-producing start-up, LINE Hydrogen, has secured $1.38M from the crowdfunding platform Birchel. This capital comes from 638 private investors and follows a campaign pledge of $5M from the sitting Albanese government. Hydrogen is produced through a process called electrolysis. The reaction spits out water and pure oxygen as byproducts, which can be also sold. Why hydrogen? Line wants to get a slice of the 80M litres of diesel used by Australians every day. Ideally, hydrogen will replace diesel down the road which is generally used to power heavy vehicles. The hydrogen plant will be based in Tassie and be powered by a 5MW ground-mounted solar farm built by Climate Capital.

• Read more about it: Press Release

Energy Software

🌱Evergen

• News: The renewable energy software company, Evergen, has closed a $15M series B led by FRV-X. Evergen’s software provides a platform to control, monitor and optimise the performance of solar and battery systems. The Evergen software works across all scales including residential, commercial and large-scale utility. The round follows the government’s renewable energy focus giving confidence to investors to back green-tech. The capital will help Evergen grow in Australia and internationally, with the current footprint at 100MW and 7,000 ressie homes. Interestingly, FRV has developed over 9 solar farms in Australia with a total combined capacity of 781MW with more projects in development in the NT, where the sun is easily found.

• Read more about it: reneweconomy

Gaming

🌱Lumi Interactive

• News: The female-led game studio that developed Kinder World, Lumi Interactive, has raised a $9.76M Seed round. The round was led by a16z with 1Up Ventures, Galileo Ventures and Heracles fighting for space in the oversubscribed round. Lumi’s mission is to make the world a kinder place and lets users take care of digital houseplants. The game mechanics have been designed and influenced by the in-house ‘human geographer’ Dr Hannah C.Gunderman. This round marks the largest seed round for Aussie game developers. Lumi will use these funds to grow its remote-friendly team. The app gives millennials a chance to practice house plant ownership in a stress-free environment, similar to how my family only give me succulents now after several dead peace lilies.

• Read more about it: Game Industry

Food Delivery

🌱Providoor

• News: The start-up that brings fine dining into the home, Providoor, has landed $7.5M in seed capital. The round follows appointing ex-eBay top dog, Tim MacKinnon. Importantly, this is not to be confused with the pet food brand, Providore. Founded by Shane Delia, known for the restaurant Maha rejects the label of an entrepreneur "because I'm not a wanker". The capital will be used to grow and improve the service. Currently, customers need to order the meal kits a day in advance. The key differentiator between Providoor and uber eats is the meal isn't fully cooked, home chefs need to crank up the oven if they want to eat. The relationship is great for fine dining restaurants that are no longer restrained by the number of tables they can turn over.

• Read more about it: AFR

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Notice Board

• Dream Venture Masterclasses is equipping Indigenous Australians with the connections, capabilities and access to capital to become investor-ready. The free program will provide up to $150K worth of seed funding. More info!

• Start-up Victoria has launched a new website! Worth a look for some fun community events. Startupvictoira

Hand Curated Jobs

• Folklore Ventures is hiring for an Investment Manager, Investment Associate and Investment Analyst.

• Rampersand is hiring for mulitple Investment Principals & Investment Associates.

• Breakthrough Victoria, the manager of Vic Govs 2Billy fund is looking for an investment analyst.

Accredited Tweeters

(KaaS) Knowledge as a Service

• How storytelling can replace sales figures. When the numbers aren't there, founders need to create urgency and belief to get investors over the line. KnowHow sums up the key points here - great for a seed or pre-seed founder.

• Founders should focus on making their beer taste better. Bezos presents to YC in 2008 about his new product, Amazon Web Services. Why? Bezos argues that founders shouldn't need to worry about racking servers when they're creating a start-up because the time and resources spent here should be spent on the problem they're solving. Founders should instead use off-the-shelf products and focus all energy on their product development, or in his words, making their beer taste better.

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