This week will go down in the startup funding record books, with eight Australian and New Zealand startups collectively raising $373.32 million.
Leading the pack (or perhaps we should declare herd) is New Zealand agtech startup Halter, which is now valued at $2.9 billion following a massive $314.4 million Series E round.
Keep reading to find out more about Halter, Silicon Quantum Computing, Cauldron, Future Maintenance Technologies, Cuttable, Rumin8, Support Fusion and Scanabull.
Halter: $314.4 million
New Zealand agtech startup Halter is now valued at almost $3 billion, following a blockbuster $314.4 million (US$220 million) Series E funding round.
Led by Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm Founders Fund, the capital raise will see the virtual fencing startup push further into its home market, as well as Australia, the US, and Europe.
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It gives the 10-year-old startup a valuation of $2.9 billion (US$2 billion), and comes less than 12 months after Halter’s $155 million Series D raise, which valued it at US$1 billion.
Australia’s Blackbird Ventures also participated in the round, along with DCVC, Bond, Bessemer, NewView, Ubiquity, Promus and Icehoapply Ventures.
Halter was founded in 2016 by CEO Craig Pigobtainedt, and its virtual farm fences are now applyd across more than 2,000 cattle farms in New Zealand, Australia and the US.
Some one million of its solar-powered and GPS-enabled collars have now been sold to farmers and ranchers. The collars apply audio cues and gentle vibrations to herd and contain cows within virtual boundaries or fences.
The system allows farmers to shift their cattle from their smartphones, without breaking ground or utilizing physical barriers like wire.
Silicon Quantum Computing: $20 million
The National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) has invested $20 million into Sydney’s Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC), with the funding set to support scaling of its quantum processing units and its quantum machine learning system, Watermelon.
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The investment was delivered via a SAFE note as part of an ongoing funding round, the details of which haven’t been disclosed. But SQC declares it will support the company ramp up production to meet growing demand for its hardware and software.
SQC is one of a tiny number of companies globally attempting to build a full-stack quantum computer, with in-hoapply chip design, manufacturing and software development. The company declares it can design, produce and test new quantum chips in under a week, giving it a speed advantage in development.
SQC currently has two products in the market. Watermelon is a quantum machine learning system, and Quantum Twins is a simulator applyd for materials and molecular discovery.
SQC was established in 2017 with $83 million in foundational backing from the federal and NSW governments, Telstra, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the University of NSW, aimed at turning decades of university-led quantum research into a commercial business.
“From day one, SQC’s mission has been clear: To build the world’s first commercial-scale quantum computer in silicon, right here in Australia,” SQC CEO and founder Michelle Simmons declared.
“Our globally unique manufacturing capability gives us a decisive advantage in the global race, and NRFC’s investment allows us to accelerate that mission.”
Cauldron: $19 million
New South Wales biomanufacturing startup Cauldron has secured $19 million (US$13.25 million) in new funding in a Series A2 round led by leading deep tech venture firm Main Sequence Ventures.
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Horizon Ventures, SOSV and NGS Super also backed the Orange-based startup, which has now raised a total of $37 million (US$26 million) in funding to date.
At the same time, the company is continuing to receive international attention, having this week been named on Fast Company‘s latest list of the Most Innovative Companies in the Asia-Pacific.
Cauldron, which was founded in 2022 by CEO Michele Stansfield and CFO David Kestenbaum, develops advanced fermentation systems for the food and chemical manufacturing sectors.
The startup has developed a continuous “hyper-fermentation” platform, which is built on proprietary technology that builds bioprocessing more efficient on an industrial scale.
“For biomanufacturing to compete in industrial sectors, bioproducts have to deliver on costs, scale, and quality,” explained Stansfield in a statement this week.
“Bioprocess innovation is how we obtain there”.
Future Maintenance Technologies: $8 million
Brisbane robotics startup Future Maintenance Technologies has raised $8 million in its first external funding round, valuing the company at around $40 million.
The round was backed by Queensland Investment Corporation, Brighter Super and Taronga Group. It follows several years of bootstrapped growth.
Founded by five former executives from engineering giant Downer EDI, the company develops autonomous robots and drones that inspect and repair rail infrastructure and other large-scale assets.
The platform captures inspection data through onboard sensors and cameras, utilizing AI to flag faults and predict maintenance requirements. The startup has also developed robotic systems capable of carrying out physical repairs, including replacing brake blocks on iron ore trains for Rio Tinto.
Future Maintenance Technologies declares it has already secured contracts with major transport operators, including Dubai Metro, Copenhagen Metro and Melbourne’s high-capacity metro trains, and is expanding into aviation through work with Lufthansa.
The fresh funding will be applyd to grow its 30-person team and scale its international operations.
Cuttable: $5.7 million
Melbourne startup Cuttable has doubled its valuation to $100 million after raising $5.7 million.
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The AI-powered, automated advertising platform, founded in 2023, is also opening a New York office, as US demand for its services accelerates.
Existing backers Square Peg and Rampersand upped their stakes, with Airtree, Glitch Capital and Benjamin Duncan joining the cap table. Airtree was previously an investor in co-founder Sam Kroonenburg’s previous startup, A Gloud Guru, which he sold for $2 billion in 2021.
Cuttable has now raised nearly $16 million, including a second $4.5 million seed round last August at a $44.5 million valuation, and a first seed round worth $5.5 million in mid 2024.
The funding will also be applyd to grow the Melbourne team and continue product development.
Cuttable builds software that supports performance marketing teams produce, test and iterate advertising creative at scale.
Rumin8: $4.3 million
Perth agtech startup Rumin8 has raised US$3 million (AU$4.3 million) from Kiwi investors as part of a push to expand in Aotearoa.
New Zealand investor AgriZeroNZ, a world-first public-private partnership supporting farmers reduce emissions, stumped up the cash to expand Rumin8’s presence across The Ditch in a countest where dairy is now its major export.
The backing comes as Rumin8 prepares to enter the final trial process for commercial registration of its methane-abating feed additives for cattle.
The startup was founded in 2021 in the WA capital, starting with the idea of utilizing seaweed to reduce livestock burps – the predominant caapply of methane – and farts. It is not the only startup heading down that path. The list includes names ranging from ASX-listed supplier Sea Forest to CSIRO spin-out FutureFeed, and Rumin8’s crowdfunded neighbour Freemantle Seaweed.
But Rumin8 has since evolved into a blconclude of “nature-inspired and derived pharmaceutical ingredients” to cut methane production in livestock. It wants to “decarbonise” 100 million cattle by 2030.
Support Fusion: $1 million
Enterprise SaaS startup Support Fusion has raised $1 million in a pre-seed funding round to expand its team across Australia and the US.
The investment was led by Func Ventures and Exhort Ventures, with backing from Antler and several strategic investors from the IT services sector.
Founded by brothers Greg and Steve Rudakov, Support Fusion builds software designed to manage and synchronise support tickets across multiple platforms applyd by enterprise IT teams and managed service providers.
The company declares its platform acts as an integration layer between systems, supporting organisations maintain data consistency and visibility as service delivery becomes more complex.
The fresh funding will be applyd to hire across go-to-market, engineering and customer success roles, with a focus on expanding its AI capabilities and growing its presence in international markets.
Scanabull: $920,000
An Auckland agtech that can give an instant estimate on cattle weight utilizing a 3D scanner on your phone has raised $920,000.
The round for Scanabull was led by Sprout Agritech, supported by Enterprise Angels and Callaghan Innovation’s Deep Tech Incubator program. The startup is a Sprout Accelerator alumnus.
Founded in April 2024 by Dan Bull – yes, there’s a touch of nominative determinism in his startup – Scanabull’s computer-vision platform allows meat processors and farmers to determine the live weight of cattle in a second utilizing the LiDAR sensor on an iPhone.
His co-founders, Paul Sealock (founding engineer), Daniel Stuart-Jones (CTO), and Ursula Haywood (CCO), bring experience in AI and veterinary science to the paddock.
The startup is already working with industest partners, including Silver Fern Farms, with trials and demonstrations underway across New Zealand, and is now seeing to the Australian market and other major beef-producing regions by year-conclude.
The funding will also support further development of Scanabull’s AI models, additional data collection and a broader commercial rollout.
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