Welcome to the October edition of Pulse Check! 💗 

A huge welcome to the 37 new subscribers who’ve joined us since last edition! 👯

What is Pulse Check?

Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you an insightful overview of what’s happening across the many corners of the Aussie startup ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️.

Overnight Success

The newsletter that makes you smarter about Australian startups & venture capital.

Subscribe

P.S. If this email gets cut short for you (thanks Gmail!), you can always read the online version here.

💰️ Startup Funding

Written by Leila Oliveira

Australia’s Top 20 Startups (2024)

This year’s LinkedIn list revealed a VERY interesting shift—Melbourne edged out Sydney with more startups featured, reflecting a growing startup scene in Victoria. Surprisingly (or not), only one of the 20 startups had a woman founder, highlighting the ongoing gender disparity in tech leadership.

SafetyCulture

SafetyCulture's new raise opened a debate about transparency in shared data. It turns out that $90M of the reported $124M capital raise came from secondary sales, not participating in the company's growth. If you'd like to understand what secondary sales are and why this has been debated, click here.

Did you know that 1 in 5 large employers offer fertility benefits as an employee perk? 

​​Currently, 1 in 5 employees going through fertility treatment left their jobs due to insufficient support within the last 5 years alone. So to help with that, companies have been investing in offering benefits in order to attract and retain top talent. 

Male fertility has also decreased over 50% in the last decades and Sapyen (AUS-based, backed by Antler) is addressing the issue with an at-home male fertility test, priced at $149 and provides a personalised report within three days. Click here to learn more about it.

To get in touch with Leila Oliveira, send her a message on LinkedIn.

 🤹 The Founder Mindset

Written by Anna Mackenzie

Conventional wisdom says that if you do the same thing over a long time horizon then success is pretty much guaranteed. But founders who falsely believe this often fall into the ‘consistency slump’ - a state of being where you tick a box for the sake of ticking a box. But when you stop critically analysing whether your actions move the needle, the game’s over before it began.

Conventional wisdom says that:

[Consistency] x [Time] = Results

But the reality is more nuanced:

[Consistency of Effort + Inconsistency of Action] x [Time] = Results

Consistent inconsistency involves an experimentation mindset. It involves having one ear to the ground to listen for signals. It involves showing up each day a little differently and is the approach of scientists who hypothesise, artists who dabble, entrepreneurs who pivot, chefs who experiment, musicians who tinker and designers who play.

The best performers in the world are iterators. They’ve learned the secret to working smarter, not blindly working harder.

To get in touch with Anna Mackenzie, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🎸 Entertainment & FanTech

Written by Gav Parry

October Munchies

I’ve spent 13 years in the music industry. Moving into startups four years ago, I was struck by the structured pathways from idea to IPO.

As a founder, you know what to show to move to the next stage and how to communicate with team members, advisors, and investors. The stages of pre-seed, seed, series A, and beyond are the foundation of this ecosystem.

These foundations create predictability and stability, allowing founders and investors to align on development. Without these milestones, attracting resources and maintaining focus would be difficult.

In contrast, artists and musicians lack structured pathways, struggling to sustain momentum and access critical resources. It's unlike athletes in leagues, where development stages are clear.

So what would happen if we created these stages for creatives? Would it bring similar predictability and stability? Could it help artists and musicians access resources and maintain focus throughout their careers?

October MVP

Like Minded The ultimate social, travel & events bucket list.  Facilitating the move from online to offline, LikeMinded offers a real life solution to connecting with people who are "likeMinded".  Connect with people who relate to you, all whilst doing the things you love.

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🌍️ Aussie Founders Going Global 

Written by Lea Rausch

🌍 From Oz to Everywhere 

• East Forged, the nitrogen-infused cold brew tea company (aka “Guinness of the tea world”), is gearing up to go global, armed with a $1.5 million funding round. Secured by Global Mind Agriculture Australia (GMAA) (the VC arm of Vietnam's TTC AgriS), the capital will help scale its production and break into key Asian markets like South Korea and Japan. 

• Restoke.ai, the AI-powered hospitality operations management company, raised $5.1 million in Seed funding round to fuel further expansion into the US. The raise was led by Rampersand, with support form both Australian and US based VCs. Restoke.ai is already used by 2,000 hospitality venues across ANZ, Singapore and the US.  

• Zitcha, the unified retail media platform solution, closed an impressive $15 Series A funding round, to continue and expand their scaling into the US. Their Series A was led by US investment firm, VMG Partners. Already impressively used across the globe, Zitcha looks to use the capital infusion to establish a US team and offices, with Co-Founder and CEO, Troy Townsend, relocating to the states.

My take: What’s exciting about these raises? They’re powered by global capital! By teaming up with investors in their target markets, they aren’t just expanding—they're fast-tracking their global success. It’s smart, strategic, and sets them up to win on the world stage.

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗 

Welcome to the September edition of Pulse Check! 💗 

A huge welcome to the 31 new subscribers who’ve joined us since last edition! 👯 

What is Pulse Check?

Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you an insightful overview of what’s happening across the many corners of the Aussie startup ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️.

Overnight Success

The newsletter that makes you smarter about Australian startups & venture capital.

Subscribe

P.S. If this email gets cut short for you (thanks Gmail!), you can always read the online version here.

🌍️ Aussie Founders Going Global 

Written by Lea Rausch

🌍 How to go global? 

Each month, we cover Aussie Founders and startups expanding internationally. But once an Aussie founder decides their startup is ready to conquer the world, how do they find the tactical resources to build a business entity in another country? 

Today, we’ll share some top open-source gems to fast-track going global. Aussie founders with global ambitions, take note. 

1. Looking for ways to fund your international expansion?  

Check out LUNA's Startup Incentives & Grants Directory, including the Australian  Australian Trade and Investment Commission's Landing Pads and Dealroom, which helps connect Aussie startups with international contacts and opportunities! 

2. Looking to find out what you need to know for your international expansion?  

Review Scalare Partners’ one-stop-shop downloadable free guide How To Take Your Startup Global!

3. Looking for go-to-guides to go global?

Search no further than Australian VC Airtree’s plethora of Open Source Global Expansion guides, including: 

• B2B blueprint for expansion into the US

• What Aussie startups need to know about the Delaware Flip

• How to administer ESOPs across borders 

• How to choose the right US work visa for Australians

• Pros and cons of PEOs for ANZ startups 

My take: Aussie founders and founding teams can set their expansion up for success by utilising these supportive and generous ANZ ecosystem resources.

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌱 Climate & Nature Tech

Written by Andrew Harding

☀️🔌 SunCable Powers Up

Globally, the biggest sources of power are often located far from areas that use it the most. As I’ve written about in a prior edition, this is a problem that startups like Aquila are attempting to solve. But what if a solution was to simply use a massive extension cable?

That’s the idea behind the Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink), developed by SunCable, which received federal government approval last month. With a 17-20GW solar field powering a 42GWh battery complex, the power will be sent via high voltage direct current cables, first on overhead transmission lines ~800km to the Darwin area and then on to Singapore via 4,300km of subsea cables.

By the numbers:

• $30 billion project cost

• Will power the equivalent of 3 million homes

• Could potentially create 1,750 direct jobs, ~350 long term operational jobs, & ~12,000 indirect jobs

SunCable

📖 What I’m Reading

Nature Positive Notes, a newsletter by Bronte McHenry and the team at Wedgetail. Founded by CEO Lisa Miller, Wedgetail is the family office of both her and Canva co-founder Cameron Adams.

By financing nature-positive projects with a mix of loans, grants, and equity investments, Wedgetail is seeking to accelerate the Earth’s regeneration. I particularly like the “learning by doing” approach the team uses on projects such as its 5,000-hectare demonstration landscape in the Tasmanian Midlands, The Quoin.

To get in touch with Andrew Harding, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🤖 Artificial Intelligence

Written by Georgina Healy

Good Luck Zuck

Broccoli haircut, overpriced t-shirt, gold necklace and open source AI platform. Is Zuck in his hot CEO era? 

It's hard to believe that in January, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was at a particularly low point.  Since then, Zuck has dramatically risen in favour, largely due to his approach to Meta’s open source AI. 

Closed AI models are the method of choice of most big tech players, including (confusingly named) OpenAI, Microsoft and Google who (mostly) guard their IP and “protect model accuracy”. 

Meta’s LLaMA 2 launched in April 2023 and users have carte blanche to inspect its components, modify and share results. It's been downloaded more than 180 million times and topped the Hugging Face charts. Zuck claims open source AI is “so important, and the opportunities are so great, that we should make it as widely available as we responsibly can,”

After going all in on the metaverse (an expensive mistake), I was guilty in believing Meta had ‘lost its touch.’ But consider their extraordinary brand power and network effects. With this open source play and if Meta continues to play to their strengths through their social empire, I wouldn’t bet against the Zucknaissance.

To get in touch with Georgina Healy, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🤝 Diversity Champions

Written by Preethi Mohan & Kirstin Hunter

Skalata Leapfrogs the Competition

Skalata is making waves this month, climbing the leaderboard with five key investments in teams that are either mixed or led by women and people from marginalised genders. This puts them just one step behind LaunchVic and more than double the nearest VC rival. The message is clear: it’s anyone’s game.

Bright Spots in a Challenging Landscape

This has been a meaningful month for diverse teams. Out of 24 teams that received funding, 9 were either Mixed Gender or led by Women or People from Marginalised Genders. While we still have a way to go, there have been some big raises from: Rich Data Co., a mixed team (1 women and 3 men), raised an incredible $37 million; Inform Ag, led by a solo woman founder, secured $7 million. These wins are more than just numbers—they’re proof that diverse teams are stepping up and making their mark.

In other related and intriguing news, research by Techboard found that 60% of FinTech deals went unannounced. Interestingly, investments in companies founded solely by women had a significantly higher number of unannounced deals, though these were noted as having a negligible dollar value. Read more here.

To get in touch with Preethi Mohan or Kirstin Hunter, send them a message on LinkedIn.

🚜 AgriTech

Written by Holly Clark

Big News for Data Buffs

Austrade has just dropped a national startup database in partnership with global VC tracker Dealroom.co, and it's a goldmine for data enthusiasts. 

The database reveals that there are now 6,324 Aussie agritech firms and $204 million in VC funding went to the sector last year. Top areas of strength? Synthetic biology for food and agritech—think fertilizers and alternative proteins. The CSIRO sees a $30 billion opportunity in these sectors by 2040.

Goterra Hits Another Milestone

Sydney’s own agritech star, Goterra, is teaming up with the Hyatt Regency Sydney, Australia’s largest hotel, to install its cutting-edge modular food waste management system.

It’s the second version of Goterra’s compact unit, which can also be found at Melbourne Airport, where fly larvae munch through more than two tonnes of food waste a week. (Startup Daily)

Investor Spotlight: Mandalay Venture Partners

Agritech VC Mandalay Venture Partners is on a roll, recently backing South Australian AI startup Cropify’s $2 million round alongside Singapore firm Hatcher+. 

They’ve racked up nearly $27 million in funding commitments, with the Queensland Investment Corporation among the contributors

Plus, they’ve just secured support from LaunchVic’s VC Support Program to boost their Victorian investments. If you’re pitching, make sure Mandalay is on your radar!

To get in touch with Holly Clark, send her a message on LinkedIn.

 🤹 The Founder Mindset

Written by Anna Mackenzie

The Art of Focus

We all know how important it is to pick a lane and stick with one focus until you achieve critical mass, but for us creative, entrepreneurial founders who want to go in a million directions this is easier said than done. Doing less to achieve more is a skill, and here are six steps to help:

1. Set your direction.

Without a vision, it’s easy to get distracted by tasks, requests and invitations that simply don’t matter.

2. Choose one focus area.

Weigh up what to do next by assessing the trade offs between your immediate needs and your longer term goals.

3. Make a could-do list.

Instead of fighting the storm, dance among it. Brainstorm all the things you could do and throw everything up against the wall.

4. Identify the smallest action you can take.

Prioitise what’s important and identify the core action you need to take each day. 

5. The 90 day sprint.

Take the smallest  action you can possibly take, every single day, for 90 days. No excuses. 

6. Check in with yourself.

Action is only productive when it’s paired with a strong feedback loop, so check in constantly and stay honest about what the market is telling you.

7. Change lanes.

There will be a moment when things start to change. Now it’s time to double down and if you’re ready, pick another lane.

Read the full article titled “You can build multiple things but not all at once” here.

To get in touch with Anna Mackenzie, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🎸 Entertainment & FanTech

Written by Gav Parry

September Munchies

A report prepared by Youtube and SmithGeiger ahead of Youtube India's Fantfest has given us an incredible insight into Gen Z's use of the platform and the picture it paints is an incredibly exciting one for creators.  

• 91% of Gen Z (14-24) have participated in fan related experiences over the last 12 months. 

• 87% of them identified themselves as a fan of someone or something on the platform. 

• 93% said that they watch videos of the creator or subject they enjoy almost every week.

What is exciting about the above data and what we've seen over the last few years with the rise of platforms like Youtube, Fanfix, Patreon, Onlyfans and Substack is a willingness of fans to pay for content to support creators they love.  Creators across subsequent generations will be valued from day one which is something more traditional creators (artists, musicians, performers, athletes) have really struggled with, as technology has pulled them into an entirely new world and one they weren't prepared for.

Read On

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗 

Welcome to the August edition of Pulse Check! 💗 

A huge welcome to the 41 new subscribers who’ve joined us since last edition! 👯 

What is Pulse Check?

Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you an insightful overview of what’s happening across the many corners of the Aussie startup ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️.

Overnight Success

The newsletter that makes you smarter about Australian startups & venture capital.

Subscribe

P.S. If this email gets cut short for you (thanks Gmail!), you can always read the online version here.

🎸Entertainment & FanTech

Written by Gav Parry

August Munchies 🍿 

The Parliamentary Inquiry into the Live Music Industry

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to present at the Parliamentary inquiry into the live music industry in Brisbane (CHECK OUT SUBMISSION HERE). 

Over the three days, it was incredible to hear organisations, promoters and people from across the industry share their thoughts.

My biggest takeaway was there are three sides to the challenges faced by the live music industry:

• Rising cost of insurance, security, backline and other foundational expenses that come with putting on events. One example is the cost of a single police person being $350 an hour…The rising cost of expenses was mentioned across the three days a number of times.

• Changing demographics and habits of the next generation of festival goers. Referenced a number of times.

• There isn't any new money coming into the sector.

Around the Grounds

• Entertainment and media industry report 2024 - Advertising will account for 55% of total E&M industry growth over the coming five years.

• COSM - New way to experience major events remotely.  

• Play in Google’s Test Kitchen with MusicFX DJ mode - Have a play with AI music creation without having to be an artist.

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🤝 Diversity Champions

Written by Preethi Mohan & Kirstin Hunter

😱 😱 😱

That’s how I feel after three straight months of a shocking lack of diversity in announced funding. Sigh. OK, let’s get into it.

Funding to men reaches a new high.

Since we’ve been reporting data on disaggregated funding, the amount flowing to men has continued to increase, reaching a new high this month of 92.1% of all funding across the calendar year.

It’s up and to the right in all the worst ways.

*We disaggregate mixed gender teams into their component founder demographics - explanation here.

Diverse teams are funded less often, and in smaller amounts.

The 2024 cumulative results show 27.5% of funding announcements have been from teams with at least one woman or founder from a marginalised gender; yet this represents only 13.2% of the dollars raised.

Investor leaderboard reveals an absence of action.

The only change to the investor leaderboard this month was Launch Vic’s Alice Anderson Fund increasing its lead. With 6 investments into teams with at least one woman or founder from a marginalised gender, Alice Anderson has doubled the number of investments over their nearest rival, Skalata.

By publishing this leaderboard we hoped to create some competition amongst VCs by recognising those who matched actions to their stated intention to increase founder diversity. Now we’re wondering whether this data actually is enabling inaction - by showing how little most funds are doing?

Let us know your thoughts.

To get in touch with Preethi Mohan or Kirstin Hunter, send them a message on LinkedIn.

🚜 AgriTech

Written by Holly Clark

Hear me out: Farmers to... Fundies?

Agriculture is a crucial sector in Australia, but VC investment remains stagnant. The Cut Through Venture Q2 Funding Report reveals that AgTech has fallen out of the top 10 funded sectors, with only three startups securing $18 million during the quarter, while Fintech saw six startups raise $528 million.

AgTech struggles with high manufacturing costs, making it challenging for early stage startups to progress. Angel investors often lack sector-specific knowledge, and startups find it hard to prove their MVPs due to limited access to farmers and unclear market pathways.

An opportunity arises to get high net worth farmers into startup investing, as the group most impacted by new innovation and with the means to afford it. This was the case recently for Bendigo-based startup AgriNous, who closed a raise with the Hugh Victor McKay Fund led by a high-net-worth farmer interested in using the tech on his own operation. 

Hoping to see more success stories like this, VC Catalyst are offering scholarships to their investor education course for budding investors from the Ag sector. 

They hope the scholarships encourage high-net worth farmers to consider startups as an asset class and directly invest in tech that will benefit them.

To get in touch with Holly Clark, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🤖Artificial Intelligence

Written by Georgina Healy

AI is having a brat summer

AI is having a brat summer. What’s a brat summer?

It’s about “being bold, taking risks and embracing the uncomfortable - the core focus of ‘brat’ is edgy, imperfect, and confident, as opposed to polished, poised, and clean cut.” - Fox. 

With increasing use-cases of unlocking business potential, AI technology is no longer questioned on being a fad or business necessity. If it felt hot before…it’s hotter than ever now, with funding globally more than doubling in Q2.

The most brat AI updates:

• Leonardo AI <> Canva acquisition: AFR said it best: “It was called the next Canva, so Canva bought it”.

• For the first time in Olympic history, AI will be incorporated formally through the 'Olympic AI Agenda', utilising AI to provide athletes "personalised training methods, superior sports equipment and more individualised programmes to stay fit and healthy".

• Redactive AI raised a monster Seed round of AU$11.5M from Blackbird and the founders’ previous employer Atlassian.

• A McKinsey alum chasing previous clients with solutions that replace his prior consulting role at TrueState.

• Elon raised US$6B to go up against former mentee Sam Altman to build xAI (backed by Andressen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and a Saudi Prince) bringing its pre-money valuation to $18B.

To get in touch with Georgina Healy, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌍️ Aussie Founders Going Global 

Written by Lea Rausch

🌍 Aussie Founders Go Global 

What do you do after you’ve gone global in a massively successful way as an Australian founder? 

Well, if you’re Sam Kroonenburg, CEO and co-founder of A Cloud Guru, you co-found a new adtech startup, Cuttable, and raise an impressive $5.5 million Seed fundraising round (led by Square Peg, with Rampersand joining the round as well). 

Cuttable, which Kroonenburg co-founded with Sunday Gravy co-founder, Jack White, and Edward Ring, is a first-of-its-kind automated content agency that combines the science of marketing and the craft of advertising with precision technology and AI.

All of this is a mere three years after Kroonenburg sold A Cloud Guru for $2 billion.

In honour of this achievement, I dug up a piece from Airtree (an investor in A Cloud Guru) where Krronenhurg shared his tips for expanding to the US:  A founder's advice for expanding into the US, via A Cloud Guru investor, Airtree.   

1. When assessing where to expand, keep opportunity top of mind.

2. Consider the market you're entering from multiple angles.

3. Figure out if your product works for the market you’re considering expanding into.

4. Be intentional when designing a global team.

5. Consider exchange rates outside of Australia. 

My take: Seeing a success story jump back into co-founding is thrilling and positive for the ecosystem, but I’m most excited for - when and how will this team go global?

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🚀 Accelerator Watch

Written by Berenice Chong

🔥 Spotlight: Ochre Pre-Accelerator and Ochre Ventures - a pipeline for Indigenous entrepreneurship

Pearlii founder and Wiradjuri man Dr Kyle Turner is helping create entrepreneurial pathways for Indigenous Australians. As well as securing LaunchVic funding in July for the new Ochre Pre-Accelerator program, he’s also an Investment Manager for Ochre Ventures, a VC fund that invests in Indigenous startups.

I spoke to Dr Turner about how these initiatives can encourage the growth of Indigenous-led businesses and representation in the startup ecosystem. 

“My thesis is growing the ecosystem, and I want to tackle it at both ends - from the idea phase all the way through to established businesses,” he said. 

The Ochre Pre-Accelerator program is aimed at aspiring entrepreneurs and people who may have a business idea but aren’t sure where to start. It will be delivered online by Dr Turner alongside Kayla Cartledge, Gurrindji woman and co-founder of Our Songlines.

Ochre Ventures is a $30 million sector-agnostic fund, which the fund team is keen to increase to $50 million. The team is planning to announce its first $2 million investment in Indigenous businesses, which Dr Turner is looking forward to: ”We’ll be launching this on October 23, so watch this space.”

To get in touch with Berenice Chong, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌱 Climate & Nature Tech

Written by Andrew Harding

🔥 and 🧊

While Melbourne (where I currently live) has just shivered through it’s coldest July in decades, the northern hemisphere recently endured its highest daily temperature ever recorded. That record was promptly broken the next day.

While undoubtedly concerning, my mind immediately turns to what is being done to address this global issue. Some good news is that against this backdrop of intensifying climate, we continue to see recovery in both sentiment and venture funding for Aussie startups with a six quarter high in funding achieved in Q2. Climate tech investments maintained a strong second place in both capital raised (behind fintech) and deal count (behind AI/Big Data).

Cut Through Venture Report Q2 2024

The looming threat that extreme climate poses to human life and living standards make the continued durability of climate & nature tech venture investment critical in unleashing powerful new technologies that can help turn this fight in our favour.

Because venture funding provides opportunities to so many new and unproven technologies and strategies, this venture data keeps me super optimistic about the potential of Aussie ingenuity to transform Australia from climate laggard (see: CAT & CCPI) into global leader in climate & nature tech investment and startups 💪.

To get in touch with Andrew Harding, send him a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗 

Welcome to the July edition of Pulse Check! 💗 

A huge welcome to the 44 new subscribers who’ve joined us since last edition! 👯 

What is Pulse Check?

Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you a comprehensive overview of what’s happening in many corners of the Aussie ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️.

Overnight Success

The newsletter that makes you smarter about Australian startups & venture capital.

Subscribe

P.S. If this email gets cut short for you (thanks Gmail!), you can always read the online version here.

🚜 AgriTech

Written by Holly Clark

Long Read: The Leaf Protein Co secures $850K to accelerate sustainable protein production

Melbourne AgTech startup Leaf Protein Co has found a way to extract protein from planet earth’s most abundant food source: the humble green leaf. 

Co-founders Fern Ho and Connor Balfanny have just closed an $850,000 raise led by The University of Melbourne’s Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, with co-investment from LaunchVic’s Hugh Victor McKay Fund and Loyal VC. The startup is also supported by Big Idea Ventures – a global VC focused on alternative proteins.

With conventional food systems reducing the biodiversity of our agriculture, Fern says 75% of genetic diversity has been lost since the 1900s. 

“This loss of biodiversity significantly impacts our global food security, as the demand for protein increases with the world’s population growth.”

“Our unique extraction process retains and preserves the functional nutrition held within plants to create sustainable protein sources. All by-products from this process are also marketable as other food ingredients, animal feed and packaging materials, meaning we essentially produce no waste streams from the leafy green input material.” 

The investment will allow Fern and Connor to make their first hires at their pilot plant in Biloela and commence production to service interested customers. Watch this space!

Check out The Leaf Protein Co here.

The Leaf Protein co-founders Connor and Fern showcasing their product

To get in touch with Holly Clark, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🤖Artificial Intelligence

Written by Georgina Healy

🌟 National AI Centre Announces Winner of AI Sprint 

A clear trend amongst the top 10 was founders with deep industry knowledge turning to AI to create solutions: 

• 1st place: Dragonfly Thinking makes it easier for teams to think inclusively about business and policy problems. An ANU spin-out founded by Professors Anthea Roberts and Miranda Forsyth. 

• 2nd place: Kindship utilises AI-powered personal assistant providing 24/7 guidance navigating the NDIS inspired by Summer Petrosius and her journey with autism.

• 3rd place: Empathetic AI provides scenario analysis, ATO ruling updates and automated legislation reference checks developed by CEO and accounting wizard Angela Shi.

✈️ AI Startups off to San Fran

Builders Club have shortlisted 6 AI startups who are off to San Fran!

• ODI-AI: Workplace health and HR

• Operator: Keeping unorganised people organised

• Dory AI: Education workflows

• Unsloth: Fine tuning LLMs 30x faster

• Mary Technology: Legaltech chronologies

• Verve: AI Data analyst

For more accelerator info, check out Berenice’s epic coverage below!

A(I) bit of fun…. 

• Wearable tech might not actually be hideous this time… with a collab between Wayfarer and Meta offering an AI-enabled sunnies. 

• Prince Charles Cinema in London cancelled its world premiere due to public outcry around its screenwriter: ChatGPT. Filmmaker Luisi said the intention of his film had been to “start a conversation” about the impact of AI on the film industry.

To get in touch with Georgina Healy, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🤝 Diversity Champions

Written by Preethi Mohan & Kirstin Hunter

2 solo gender-minority founders from Victoria receive funding

In a month with 34 deal announcements, 82% of the deals and 91% of the capital were directed to all-male teams. However, a bright spot emerged with Grace Brown and Renata Sguario, both solo founders from Victoria, successfully raising their respective Seed and Series A rounds.

Despite these successes, the mid-year data highlights significant funding challenges for gender-diverse and gender-minority teams. Men’s share of funding has increased from 86.1% in April to 89.8% in May, and now to 90.9% in June. This growing disparity underscores the need for continued efforts to bridge the funding gap.

For a detailed breakdown, see our blog here, and to understand how we disaggregate mixed-gender teams, see here.

Skalata makes it to the Leaderboard, knocking out SquarePeg and Airtree

Skalata has climbed to the number 2 spot on the leaderboard with 3 investments in mixed-gender and gender minority teams. Alice Anderson has also solidified its position with 5 investments, despite its mandate being Victoria-only.

This snapshot marks 6 months of data capturing funding announcements. The first two months of the year showed promise for mixed-gender and gender minority teams. However, as the year has progressed, there have been months without any funding for gender minority founders, leading to growing disparities in funding and deal volume across early-stage (pre-Seed & Seed) and growth-stage (Series A and beyond), with 85% of disaggregated funding going to men.

To get in touch with Preethi Mohan or Kirstin Hunter, send them a message on LinkedIn.

 🤹 The Founder Mindset

Written by Anna Mackenzie

A friendly reminder for would-be founders who are scared of risking it all and going out on their own: you don’t necessarily need to go ‘all in’ if you want to exit the traditional 9-5 and start a business successfully.

You can ‘ease in’ instead.

All in:

→ Taking a big risk

→ Quitting your full time job

→ Funnelling all of your resources - time, energy, effort, cash - towards launching your idea

→ Adopting a singular focus and pursuing it with everything you’ve got

Ease in:

→ Dabbling, testing and learning on the side of your full time job

→ Growing your confidence, capability and perspective in a new area without financial stress

→ Generating non-employment income incrementally

→ Scaling down your commitments (eg. a job) and diving in the deep end when you’re financially ready (sustainable income, debt financing, investment)

Going all in is an awesome strategy for some but it can feel out of reach unless you’ve got funding, a financially supportive spouse or a winning lottery ticket. That’s why the ease in method is so great - it gives founders permission to get the ball rolling even if they’re not yet able to give it their all.

Read why an inability to go ‘all in’ doesn’t mean you can’t start building:

To get in touch with Anna Mackenzie, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🎸Entertainment & FanTech

Written by Gav Parry

July Munchies 🍿 

It's been budget month across the country, and we've seen a decent allocation of funds to the entertainment industry, with the music sector receiving much-needed support (see: budget announcements in QLD, NSW, VIC, WA & SA).

However, one glaring omission is the lack of funding earmarked for innovation and technology adoption. Over the past six months, we've clearly seen the pressure on the industry from artists to festivals, and as technological advancements continue to accelerate, the music industry finds itself in a familiar predicament - leaning back into what has worked in the past, rather than creating the future. We are spending too much time protecting existing ways of working, sacrificing potential future advancements.

Let's take a moment to explore one possible path for the industry's evolution from the artist/art worker perspective...

The concept of a new type of arts worker could emerge - one who builds alone or collaborates with others to develop tech products for the entertainment industry. The artprenuer is akin to the next generation of founders, called multipreneurs, who create multiple modest-sized products that can be managed by small teams.

The outcome is arts workers with multiple income streams, potentially more scalable than previous work. With visual programming tools, artprenuers won't need to know how to code; they'll only need to imagine, illustrate, and explain the functionality.

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🏛️ Government Policy, Politics & Economics

Written by Dickie Currer

Is the NSW Government doing enough to support Regional Entrepreneurs?

The NSW Government announced the opening of the second round of its MVP Ventures Program this week. Though according to SmartCompany’s Tegan Jones, there’s regional equity concerns. 

With a reported 80% of first-round recipients identifying as businesses based in metro Sydney, and a staggering number of the overall grant pool of $3 million going to Founders based in affluent suburbs in Sydney’s East and North.

In contrast, on Tuesday I got to see for myself the brilliant impact that the NSW Government backed Western Sydney Startup Hub is having on supporting entrepreneurship outside of Sydney’s CBD. 

As a Judge for the finale of Spacecubed’s Plus Eight Accelerator Program, I witnessed first hand the positive impact that investing in physical infrastructure can have on a region’s startup ecosystem. You can read more about the 10 startups that showcased the best of the West here.

It’s important that publications like SmartCompany bring more transparency where and how Government money is being spent, especially if there’s concerns around the equity of it’s allocation to certain groups.

Though it’s also important to remember that the Government coffers for investing in Innovation are tight and only getting tighter. Resource allocation is going to continue to be an ongoing and evolving challenge.

To get in touch with Dickie Currer, send him a message on LinkedIn.

💰️ Startup Funding

Written by Leila Oliveira

Just back from an incredible month in Europe, I found Overnight Success invaluable for catching up on last month's happenings. June was a standout month for Australian startups, particularly in ClimateTech/EnviroTech ($101M+), Tech ($43.4M), and Logistics ($35M).

One raise I’d love to talk more about is MyPremo which recently raised $1M on Birchal.

Open to content creators of all genres, MyPremo’s offer comes after a recent report from Creative Australia that found close to half of Australia’s professional artists earn less than $10,000 a year from their creative work, while two in five are not meeting basic living costs.

Having personally worked on MyPremo's raise, I saw firsthand how having Ice Cube on the cap table captured investors' attention. Typically, startups begin with smaller artists and investors, hoping to attract a big name later on. However, MyPremo flipped the script by starting with a major artist right from the beginning. 

A few key takeaways from the MyPremo raise:

• Public Relations: PR was essential in spreading the word and generating buzz.

• Credibility: The Perth-based founders added significant credibility to the venture.

• Big Names: Having big artists like Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg relate to the problem they’re solving was a game-changer.

• User Growth: During the couple of months that MyPremo was live on Birchal, their user signups increased by 100%!

We discussed this unique approach in a recent webinar, and you can watch the recording here.

To get in touch with Leila Oliveira, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌍️ Aussie Founders Going Global 

Written by Lea Rausch

🌍 Through the Global Lens

PitchBook has released their first report on the Australian and New Zealand private capital markets. We love seeing the continual expansion of the Australian ecosystem, but it’s also important, especially for ambitious Australian founders looking to expand overseas, to build startups with the knowledge of where we’re at and how we’re viewed in a global context. 

To illustrate the importance of total addressable market (TAM) in driving results, here are two standout quotes from the 30-page report:

“But relative to larger economies, the two countries remain a small market—roughly 20% smaller than the population of California—and their private markets contend with unique challenges for growth…This leads to an expectation that companies in Australia & New Zealand will expand overseas, especially for VC return expectations.”

TL;DR: Remember to consider international markets when calculating your TAM, but also the nuances of international competitors, when pitching to investors. 

“For VC-backed companies in Australia & New Zealand, the ability to drive VC-like returns is challenged by the size of the market. There is a high need for companies to expand abroad to deliver the outsized returns desired.”

My take: If Australian founders want to emulate the successes of Canva and Atlassian, understanding the global opportunity, challenges and expectations should equally be focused on from the inception of the business. 

For another take on this report from an investor-lens, check out friend of Pulse Check, Maxine Minter’s post, to get her take.

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌱 Climate & Nature Tech

Written by Andrew Harding

Rising inflation, and in particular the price of food and energy is top of mind for most people today.

Making matters worse, increasing cases of global food insecurity and energy shortages brought about by supply chain disruptions, war, and the climate crisis are amplifying each other and continuing to feed inflation. These forces are adding urgency to efforts to confront the cost and availability of these staples, while tackling these issues presents massive technical obstacles but also vast opportunities for industry. This month two Aussie startups recently announced milestones that show how our ecosystem is responding to these global challenges.

Goterra

The maker of modular fly larvae-based robotic food recycling systems has secured a deal with the City of Sydney to begin a trial later this year that could see the startup helping convert up to 600 tonnes of food waste into material which can then be used for crop fertiliser and animal feed. “We know food waste represents around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If it were a country, its emissions would be the 3rd largest in the world”, according to Founder Olympia Yarger.

Aquila

Wireless power transmission startup Aquila has raised $2 million follow-on funding led by Alua Group. This follows the development of their first product, called Lightway Sentry, which is able to wirelessly power drones at distances 10 times further than any other tech. The team plans to scale this technology first to aircraft, and then to satellites, on the path to creating a dynamic energy distribution constellation in Earth orbit. This technology is expected to help mitigate current problems like the large distances between where power is generated and where it’s needed.

To get in touch with Andrew Harding, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🚀 Accelerator Watch

Written by Berenice Chong

🔥 Inside Google’s AI First Accelerator: An Exclusive Interview with Program Lead Kristine Song

We’ve scored an exclusive interview with Kristine Song, Program Lead for the Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First program.

“We’re at an exciting time in history in AI innovation and we hope to support potential Aussie startups to advance AI technology through our program”, she said about AI First, which launched in Australia last month.

AI First is a 10-week, equity-free program for AI and ML-focused startups at the Seed and Series A stages. For successful applicants, “Google offers unique AI expertise, tools and resources, which is what sets this accelerator apart.”

As Program Lead, Kristine is involved in selecting, onboarding, and supporting Australia’s first cohort as they navigate the program.

Find out more from Kristine about:

• What she does as an accelerator program lead at Google 

• What really sets AI First apart from other accelerator programs

• What’s involved in the AI First program

And speaking of AI…

In April, I interviewed Stone & Chalk’s Ben Dunn about AI Sprint, which was established by Google, Stone & Chalk, and CSIRO.

Who were the winners of AI Sprint? Check out Georgie Healy’s round up above👆️.

To get in touch with Berenice Chong, send her a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗 

Welcome to the June edition of Pulse Check! 💗 

A huge welcome to the 67 new subscribers who’ve joined us since last edition! 👯 

What is Pulse Check?

Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you a comprehensive overview of what’s happening in many corners of the Aussie ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️.

Overnight Success

The newsletter that makes you smarter about Australian startups & venture capital.

Subscribe

P.S. If this email gets cut short for you (thanks Gmail!), you can always read the online version here.

🤝 Diversity Champions

Written by Preethi Mohan & Kirstin Hunter

A shocker for diversity: 96.6% funding to men

May was a shocker for diversity: 90.4% of dollars announced in May flowed to man-only teams, which increased to 96.6% of dollars attributable to male founders when we disaggregate mixed gender teams. No gender minority only teams announced raises in May.

May saw the announcement of two raises greater than $100M. The fact that both companies were founded by men-only teams is a big driver of this change.

The May results pushed the cumulative amount of funding attributed to male founders in 2024 to 89.8% (up from 86.1% in April).

For more detailed breakdown see our blog here, or to see how we disaggregate mixed gender teams see here.

Alice Anderson increases its lead

LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund has increased its lead in the investor leaderboard, with 4 investments into gender minority or mixed gender teams.

Alice Anderson Fund (AAF) has now made double the number of investments into gender diverse teams than any other VC fund, despite the fact the AAF is limited to investing in Victorian startups. 

Given other VCs have a broader geographic mandate, we’d expect to see a closer competition for the top spot. Let’s see what happens next month.

To get in touch with Preethi Mohan or Kirstin Hunter, send them a message on LinkedIn.

🎸Entertainment & FanTech

Written by Gav Parry

June Munchies 

Over the last couple of months, I’ve learnt that pubs and clubs with pokies get as much as 90% of their revenue from these machines. The truth is, without this revenue, thousands of pubs and clubs would close their doors.

Putting aside what you think about gambling, relying so heavily on a revenue stream that’s subject to legislative change isn’t a great business model.

Pubs and clubs are dealing with the uncertainty of government policy and changing local community sentiments, and this makes it incredibly difficult for them to plan for the future.

This is an opportunity for startups. The market in Australia alone is estimated at $20 billion for 2024 and adding the crossover for many venue products into the broader entertainment industry, it’s a sizeable market for more founders to be building in.

Around the Grounds 

• Entertainment x Ecommerce - Roblox partners with Walmart allowing users to purchase IRL goods and receive free digital twins directly on the platform.

• Rolling Stone cover ‘technology changing the future of entertainment’. ‘The possibilities will be endless as artists and technologists innovate and collaborate’

• Rob McElhenney (Wrexham AFC CO-owner) launches new project Adim with $5 million funding from a16z.  Adim is a new way for creators to collaborate and track ownership of what they create.

June MVP

Edit on the Spot gives hosts the ability to edit footage while events are underway, allowing a turnaround of content in hours rather than days.

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

 🤹 The Founder Mindset

Written by Anna Mackenzie

A startup truth: incredible business opportunities rarely exist in a silo. More often than not they manifest via someone you know, and so who you know matters.

For a founder or solopreneur, building a high-value network isn’t optional, it’s essential. It helps to secure clients, build your profile, generate income, and get access to the right help at the right time — and it opens up doors to unique opportunities you otherwise would never have been able to touch.

To tap into this, here are a few ideas:

1. Setup: Create a personal CRM to track your contacts. Make a hit list of people at different career stages and think about how you can offer value to each.

2. Before the Meeting: Engage with people in the orbit of high-profile individuals. Send thoughtful messages or emails, but never ask to "pick someone’s brain."

3. During the Meeting: Match the other person’s energy, listen more than you speak, give more than you take, and take notes.

4. After the Meeting: Write thank you notes, make relevant and valuable introductions, and send personal follow-ups referencing something you’ve already discussed.

There’s no limit to the people you can meet and the opportunities you can create if you put in the work. All you need is the courage to reach out, the commitment to give more than you get, and a system to help you pull it all together. If you nail these three things you will build high-value relationships.

Want to learn more? Head here.

To get in touch with Anna Mackenzie, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🚜 AgriTech

Written by Holly Clark

JUST LAUNCHED: $10 million for ventures tackling drought resilience

Launching new ventures is hard. Especially in agriculture, with so many different stakeholders, huge distances to travel, and adversity in the climate.

Enter Beanstalk AgTech’s Drought Venture Studio, a world-first venture studio funded by the Federal Government to get innovators collaborating on drought resilience solutions for Australian farmers. 

Under the venture studio model, participants get 12 months of hands-on support from Beanstalk’s specialist team of Venture Builders and are matched with an experienced co-founder for commercialisation and launch. 

Expressions of interest are open to researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs, and corporate innovators. 

Startup to Watch

PHNXX

PHNXX is a Vic-based AgTech decentralising the power grid with modular microgrid systems tailored for remote communities. 

Their technology combines solar, wind, and advanced battery storage to deliver reliable, sustainable energy solutions that empower resilience in rural areas. Big things ahead.

Farm Fumbles

Staying in Victoria, the SproutX crew is hosting a pitch night for their graduating cohort inspired by the legendary FckUp Nights series. 

The evening will begin with a pitch session where agtech entrepreneurs will present their ideas to local farmers for their two cents. 

Then, community mentors will share their "Farm Fumbles” — the ups and downs of entrepreneurial life in the agtech sector — to encourage a more error-friendly culture of innovation.

See you there on Thursday 13 June.

To get in touch with Holly Clark, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🚀 Accelerator Watch

Written by Berenice Chong

🧠 Spotlight: BioTech incubator begins funding round to combat dementia

The Dementia and Cognitive Decline incubator program opened its first funding round last week, offering grants of up to $5 million per project. The $50 million program aims to fast-track the commercialisation of medical innovations to improve the quality of life for people with dementia.

• Why is this important for Australians? Dementia Australia estimates that the number of Australians with dementia will nearly double in thirty years from 412,000 in 2024 to 812,500 by 2054. This will have ripple effects on patients, carers, and the health care system.

• The program will proactively enable medical research, technologies and care models needed for the early diagnosis, treatment and support of dementia.

• Funded by the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund, the program is a partnership between Brandon BioCatalyst, ANDHealth and Dementia Australia and will be delivered over five years. 

• Expressions of interest close on 4 July 2024.

🔔 Other news

• Grant applications for the Critical Technologies Challenge Program are now open to help early stage companies commercialise quantum solutions.

• Have a big idea for cardiovascular health? Learn about the Heart Foundation’s new Catalyst Partnership Grants program at their 13 June webinar.

To get in touch with Berenice Chong, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌱 Climate & Nature Tech

Written by Andrew Harding

One of the biggest challenges I encountered while leading a consumer brand in the US was the sheer volume of packaging that the company both used and produced.

I quickly made it my mission to move our operations and products to utilise as much recyclable and reusable packaging as possible. This experience also opened my eyes to how the global packaging industry was (or in most cases, wasn’t) confronting the problem of unsustainable single-use packaging. That’s why two recent announcements about startups aiming to help solve this issue caught my eye.

RecycleSmart

RecycleSmart secured a $1.15 million CSF round on Birchal. By collecting around 100 items from consumers and businesses that can’t usually be put in yellow recycling bins and working with partners to recycle or repurpose them, founders Giorgio Baracchi and Marco Prayer are filling a significant gap in consumer recycling.

Great Wrap

Great Wrap raised an additional $5 million and signed a deal with Opal to distribute sustainable pallet wrap. Co-founders Julia and Jordy Kay plan to do this with their newly-developed compostable machine pallet wrap which is made with compostable biopolymers and plant-based oils. The exclusive distribution deal will make it the only Australian-made compostable pallet wrap in Opal’s product lineup.

To get in touch with Andrew Harding, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🤖 Web3 & AI

Written by Erin Howell

What’s going on with this Bull Market? 🚀🐂

WTF is a ‘Bull Market’?: This is typically defined as a period of time where the majority of investors are buying, and demand outweighs the supply of an investment. Market confidence is high and prices are rising. Investors are optimistic or ‘bullish’ about further increases.

If you are following the crypto market, you may have seen Bitcoin (BTC) rocket to over $71,000 USD last week, up nearly 8%, following a period of drops since early April. This was paired with Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency, jumping to $3700 USD, up 21%. 

The markets rallied late on Monday, when the SEC requested that all applicants update Form 19-b4 for listing and trading spot Ethereum ETFs, causing markets to react in excitement that the ETF approval could be imminent. Following this, Bloomberg analysts increased the likelihood that the ETH ETF (exchange-traded fund) will be approved in the US to 75%. The markets took the news well, as it indicated that ETH may soon follow Bitcoin’s trajectory. This price rise represented the largest daily candle in Ethereum’s price history.

A big week in the market! Read more on this by Frances Yue, discussing whether ‘Crypto bulls may have gone too far, too quick following the news’.

To get in touch with Erin Howell, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🏛️ Government Policy, Politics & Economics

Written by Dickie Currer

LaunchVic funded for 4 more years 

The recent Victorian State Budget allocated $40 million to the state’s startup agency.

Since its inception 8 years ago, LaunchVic has played a significant role in the ecosystem: startup numbers have more than tripled to 3,400+ companies and the sector’s value has increased from $5.6B in 2016 to $103B in 2023.

CEO Kate Cornick was thrilled with the outcome and as someone who has seen LaunchVic’s positive impact firsthand, as am I.

Federal Budget quiet on startups 

It comes as little surprise that the word “startup” was only mentioned once at the reveal of the 2024-2025 Federal Budget. The tech community was left feeling underwhelmed by a government that still seems focused on pulling things out of the ground, rather than trying to be a world leader in future innovation.

Read my five key budget takeaways here, including details about two new international launchpads and money invested in AI regulation and quantum computing.

Australian delegations underway in Paris, Amsterdam and London

With VivaTech, Money2020 and London Tech Week upon us in the next three weeks, hundreds of Aussie founders are jetting over to Europe on government-funded delegations to help them scale their operations overseas. Watch this space for more updates on their key takeaways.

To get in touch with Dickie Currer, send him a message on LinkedIn.

💰️ Startup Funding

Written by Leila Oliveira

Last month I met with Nextwork founder Amber Joseph, who recently raised $2.5 million in a pre-Seed round. Knowing it or not, she used all the tried-and-tested techniques that have seen companies raise millions.

Let’s dive right into it:

• Build Relationships Early: Amber emphasised the importance of connecting with potential investors well before the actual need for capital. These preliminary, informal meetings can establish a foundation of trust and familiarity, easing later formal investment discussions.

• Adapt Your Pitch to Your Stage: Amber learned to tailor her pitch to reflect her startup's current stage, rather than an idealised version. "Trying to fit my pitch to what I saw as the ideal deck made me feel terrible," she shared. Founders should present their business authentically, focusing on real achievements and growth potential.

• Transforming Doubts into Strengths: Facing scepticism about her age, Amber turned it into a compelling part of her pitch. “It's an advantage because this is my life's work. Telling an investor, 'This will succeed as long as I'm alive,' is powerful. I've got my whole life to do this. Not many can say that so early on. It gives you an edge.”

To get in touch with Leila Oliveira, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌍️ Aussie Founders Going Global 

Written by Lea Rausch

🌍🔑 (Global) Keys to success

I recently listened to TechCrunch's Equity Podcast: “Here's how startups can crack the US market, according to Australian VCs” featuring Australian VC heavyweights Dan Krasnostein, Partner at Square Peg and Gabrielle Munzer, Partner at Main Sequence.

Here are the two key takeaways that stood out to me. Neither are groundbreaking, but they are important. Making the right business decisions early will help you scale faster. 

Key takeaway 1: Build global from day 1

We hear this all the time, but what does it actually mean? Australian founders should consider international expansion when thinking and building all of the below:

• Mentality

• Team 

• Go to market strategy

• Product 

• Operations (does your company have the right structures in place in order to operate in the US?)

Key takeaway 2: Consider what problem you’re solving for the US market.

The US and Australia have more cultural differences than meets the eye. Before landing in the US, consider the core problem you’re solving:

• Does this problem exist in the US?

• Where does this problem exist most pointedly - use that to decide where to market first.

• How can you adjust your current (insert here: strategy, GTM, product or offering)?

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗 

Welcome to the May edition of Pulse Check! 💗 

A huge welcome to the 136 new subscribers who’ve joined us since last edition! 👯 

If you’re new here, you’ve joined for a very special edition, featuring the first ever “Funding the Balance: Investor Leaderboard”, where Kirstin Hunter and Preethi Mohan have crunched the data on which investors are leading the way on allocating funding to gender-diverse founders, based on the raises announced in 2024 so far. 🏆️ 

What is Pulse Check?

Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you a comprehensive overview of what’s happening in many corners of the Aussie ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️.

Overnight Success

The newsletter that makes you smarter about Australian startups & venture capital.

Subscribe

P.S. If this email gets cut short for you (thanks Gmail!), you can always read the online version here.

🤝 Diversity Champions

Written by Preethi Mohan & Kirstin Hunter

🥇Diversity Leaderboard🥇

We are pleased to share the April Funding the Balance: Investor Leaderboard. 🎉

These investors have been leading the way in the first four months of 2024 when it comes to putting their investment dollars where their diversity targets are.

Our methodology considers the overall number of investments into teams with at least one gender-diverse founder. When the number of investments is equal, a tiebreaker is used to rank investors by the proportion of their reported investments that include at least one gender-diverse founder. 

⚖️ Funding disaggregator ⚖️  - Gender Penalty Greatest in Mixed Gender Teams

The cumulative funding results for the first 4 months of the year shows a continuation of the trend that stories published about all-male founder teams report higher fundraising amounts compared to mixed gender and gender minority teams. Interestingly, the gender penalty appears to be impacting mixed-gender teams to a greater extent than gender-minority-only teams, with mixed-gender teams representing 24.7% of published stories yet only 11.9% of dollars.

At Funding the Balance we also disaggregate funding raised by mixed-gender teams, reallocating that funding to either “gender minority” or “man” based on the gender breakdown within that team. 

So far in 2024, 86.1% of funding has been allocated to men.

To get in touch with Preethi Mohan or Kirstin Hunter, send them a message on LinkedIn.

🎸Entertainment & FanTech

Written by Gav Parry

May Munchies

I wrote an article last week on the scalability of the music industry and in it I touched on the revenue I have seen through my own project purely from ‘the product’ (the music) over the last decade. I thought it would be an interesting share to help paint the picture of the music industry from the artists' side.

Currently, we (YesYou) find ourselves in the top 5% of artists worldwide on Spotify with 50k monthly listeners. In terms of publishing, our music has landed one major sync ($60k) and several smaller totally $15k. This again places us in the top percentage of artists who have been fortunate enough to score a sync.

Adding in some APRA royalties, we've made roughly $120k from our music alone over the last 10 years.

My point? If this is an example of an artist's project that lands within the top 5-10% of the industry, is that really a great model?

So, how do we create a better model? The answer lies in new pathways for technology creation and adoption and more investment in scalable solutions. 

Around the grounds

1. Tiktok ban + Tiktok not for sale

2. The market for Gen Ai in media and entertainment is set to rise from 1.9 bil in 2024 —> 16.8 by 2033

3. The Olympics will use AI to improve viewing experience and judging

May MVP

Secondz - changing restaurant recommendations from people you don’t know to people you do.  You may have caught Secondz on socials, if you haven’t they are 100% worth a follow.  You get some wicked recommendations from chefs around the country.

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

 🤹 The Founder Mindset

Written by Anna Mackenzie

Optimising for creativity

As founders or startup operators, we can be obsessed with being productive. We want to be more streamlined, organised, efficient, prepared and capable. We want to do more, more, more. But having such a single-minded focus on productivity can actually lead to less momentum.

When this happens, it’s useful to shift the focus from productivity to prolificacy. Prolificacy is all about creating the space for ideas to burst into our brains, weaving together disparate concepts (songs, books, videos, businesses, history) to create something unique, and doing this on repeat.

Productivity and prolificacy are subtly different; while both are about quantity, productive optimises for efficiency, whereas prolific optimises for creativity.

If you want to become more prolific, test out these two creative practices, and then read Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way.

1. Morning Pages:

“In order to retrieve your creativity, you need to find it. I ask you to do this by an apparently pointless process I call the morning pages. What are morning pages? Put simply, the morning pages are three pages of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness. All that…stuff that you write down in the morning stands between you and your creativity.”

2. The Artist’s Date:

“An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. In its most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you pre-plan and defend against all interlopers. ”

Find the book here or check out my deep dive into prolificacy here.

To get in touch with Anna Mackenzie, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🚜 AgriTech

Written by Holly Clark

Goterra’s Founder on going against the grain

In her keynote address at the April FutureAg Expo, Goterra Founder Olympia Yarger hit on the tribalism holding the industry back from innovation. 

That’s why agritech innovation is so challenging.

You’re not just asking people to adopt a new piece of tech into their workflow; you’re talking about very literal disruption to their homes, their livelihoods, and their constantly changing forecasts of the future. 

Connect with AgTech Investors

Join the Australian Agritech Association for the 2024 Australian Agritech Investor Showcase on Thursday 6 June.

AgTech Startups can book 1:1 meetings with active investors in an engaging, full-day event that promises some seriously unparalleled networking opportunities. Learn more. 

Startup to Watch: Pairtree

Cattle rustling (the act of stealing livestock from private property) might sound like something straight out of a spaghetti western film, but it’s very much a thing.  

Enter Pairtree, a tool connecting on-farm data, so farmers can track their assets in a single source of truth. Check them out here. 

A big thanks to FutureAg Expo for having me as a guest at the conference.

To get in touch with Holly Clark, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🚀 Accelerator Watch

Written by Berenice Chong

Spotlight: Western Australia backs venture studios to fast-track biodiversity, mining tech and clean energy initiatives

In a big win for cross-industry innovation, Western Australia welcomes two venture studios.

☀️ Curtin Venture Studio: clean energy

Curtin Venture Studio is the first venture studio in Australia to be embedded in a university. 

• Launched by Curtin University at the end of April, the $18.6 million studio will fast-track innovative solutions for the critical minerals sector. 

• The studio has already invested in pivotal technologies, such as RapidGraphite, which will potentially disrupt the global graphite shortage by producing synthetic, battery-grade graphite. 

⚒️ Founders Factory: biodiversity and mining tech

Meanwhile, UK venture studio and accelerator Founders Factory has chosen Perth for its first Australian venture. 

• Armed with $7.2 million funding from the Cook Government, Founders Factory will offer a four-month Nature and Biodiversity Tech Accelerator program aimed at local founders and international founders operating in Western Australia.

• The studio has also partnered with mining giant Rio Tinto to deliver a separate accelerator program for mining technology startups, in which Rio Tinto will invest $14.4 million.

The combined funding from both programs will support 72 startups over three years.

To get in touch with Berenice Chong, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌱 Climate & Nature Tech

Written by Andrew Harding

Dyeing for sustainability

With more than 100 billion garments produced each year, the global apparel industry has a massive problem: the dyeing process alone produces an astonishing 20% of the world’s wastewater and 3% of global emissions. During production, chemical dyes and finishing agents are mixed with 150 litres of water to dye just 1 kg of fabric. The resulting wastewater, which usually ends up in natural waterways, severely degrades both biodiversity and fresh water for human consumption.

• Last week it was announced that Xefco, an Aussie deep tech startup, has raised a $10.5 million seed extension led by Main Sequence.

• According to Main Sequence’s investment note, Xefco ‘has developed a novel dye and finishing technology called Ausora that consumes no water, few chemicals, and significantly less energy compared to the incumbent processes.’ ‘The plasma-based deposition technology combines the entire dyeing and finishing process into one sleek [modular] machine compatible with common fabrics and pigments.’

Climate & nature tech roundup

• The Future Made in Australia policy announcement made waves and received some criticism.

• Want a career in climate tech? Applications to Econome’s Climate Stream cohort 2 are open until 30 May.

• Solar power startup Raygen closes $51 million Series D with support from Breakthrough Victoria.

• Former unicorn and EV charging venture Tritium has collapsed into receivership.

To get in touch with Andrew Harding, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🤖 Web3 & AI

Written by Erin Howell

As Australia's interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology continues to grow, the Bitcoin halving presents exciting opportunities for the local startup ecosystem, potentially driving increased adoption and investment in the space.

So WTF is the Bitcoin Halving? 

• The halving event sees the reward for mining Bitcoin transitions cut in half. 

• This ultimately lowers the rate at which new coins are created, creating a crunch in new supply. 

• On the 19th of April, 2024, Bitcoin halved, resulting in a new reward of 3.125 BTC, down from 6.25 BTC in 2020. 

• The halving occurs after 210,000 blocks are mined, roughly every 4 years. The final halving is tipped to occur in 2140, when the number of Bitcoin in circulation will reach the maximum supply of 21 million.  

• We don’t know much more about why this specific formula of halving was chosen, because Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, disappeared roughly two years after the currency’s creation. We are also unaware if Nakamoto is an individual or a team. 

• Within a year of previous halvings, we have seen Bitcoin’s price take a bull run. In July 2017, it rose by 284%, and by 559% in 2020. In saying this, just because previous halvings have resulted in a bull run, does not mean we can expect this from the 2024 halving.

To get in touch with Erin Howell, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🏛️ Government Policy, Politics & Economics

Written by Dickie Currer

Australian Innovation punching way above its weight 

AirTree Partner James Cameron’s recent article, backed by stats from Dealroom, shows that the Australian startup ecosystem is the 2nd most capital-efficient in the world, with 1.7 unicorns per US$1B of VC investment. That’s 2x the UK and 2nd only to Norway. 

Despite making up just 0.6% of the world’s population and receiving a mere 1% of global VC investment, Australian businesses are defying the odds. I personally couldn’t think of a better example of Aussie underdog culture, as discussed in a recent post.

A future made in Australia 

The Albanese government’s $15B National Reconstruction Fund (NRF), announced late last year, is the biggest investment in manufacturing in Australian peacetime history.

Last week, the Labor Government proposed a new fund, as part of the NRF. That will support projects that create secure well-paid jobs, drive regional development, and invest in national sovereign capability, broadening and diversifying Australia’s economy. 

This includes big green subsidies which would be a huge win for the climate sector as we move toward net-zero transformation.

However, the proposition is not short of its critics, most notably the Productivity Commissioner who has doubts that more government intervention is the best pathway to achieve that net-zero future.

To get in touch with Dickie Currer, send him a message on LinkedIn.

💰️ Startup Funding

Written by Leila Oliveira

From early employee to millionaire? Yes, please! 

Canva's recent $1.6 billion share sale is not only a big milestone but also a testament to the potential for early employees to get significant rewards. As the startup’s valuation skyrockets to $3.6 billion, it's clear that investor interest is robust, hinting at a promising IPO ahead. 

Beyond financial gains, this success story shows once more the role of startups in driving Australian innovation and the wealth generated paves the way for the next generation of Australian entrepreneurs and investors.

Bae Juice raises $1M to Tackle Hangovers Abroad

After Bae Juice's recent buzz and seeing it daily on my local Woollies, I had to chat with founder Tim O'Sullivan about how the investment happened and lessons learned along the way:

• Tell EVERYONE you’re raising. Your friends also have friends (hopefully) and they’re all potential investors

• Take the pressure out of the first call and just talk about how unique your product is

• By balancing their eagerness with putting time pressure on investors, the founders had money in the bank just three months after their first conversation

• Key partners including their lawyer and visual merchandiser invested which was seen as a positive signal to potential investors.

• A compelling founder story and a dedicated team can still make or break your startup, even during a downturn.

To get in touch with Leila Oliveira, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌍️ Aussie Founders Going Global 

Written by Lea Rausch

🌍 From Oz to Everywhere

Gecko, the easiest way to run your rental business, is moving to SF! 

I asked Founder & CEO Ben Kennedy about the move:

“We want to impact billions of people so global from day one was very clear.”

Why the Bay: Kennedy saw first hand the power of connections during a 3-month SF stint in early 2022. He knew boots on the ground would increase Gecko’s surface area for luck.  

Takeaway: Don’t go in blind, spend time in your expansion city before your move.  

📣 Global Voices 

Maxine Minter, founder & General Partner of Co Ventures, Australia's first dedicated pre-seed fund (run by a solo female GP) has lived bicontinental, between the US and Australia since 2017.

We chatted about educating Aussie founders on going global (love to see it). 

“My aim with Co Ventures is to propel Australian founders building global companies from day one,” she told me (love to see it). 

A key piece of knowledge: Different markets = different pitches.

My take: Understanding the differences in pitch expectations, funding rounds and risk appetites is paramount when raising capital overseas.

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗 

Welcome to the second edition of Pulse Check! 🎉 

A huge welcome to the 119 new subscribers who’ve joined us since last edition - it’s so great to have you here! 🤯 

Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you a comprehensive overview of what’s happening in many corners of the Aussie ecosystem.

Get to know each of our correspondents by clicking on their name at the top of each section! Throw them a ‘Follow’ on LinkedIn while you’re there 😉 .

Whether you are a long-time OS supporter or new to our community, we hope this newsletter will serve as a valuable monthly resource to help you keep your finger on the pulse of the ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️.

Overnight Success

The newsletter that makes you smarter about Australian startups & venture capital.

Subscribe

P.S. If this email gets cut short for you (thanks Gmail!), you can always read the online version here.

🌍️ Aussie Founders Going Global 

Written by Lea Rausch

🌍 From Oz to Everywhere

Our sister publication, Overnight Success, recently published a piece announcing Sydney-based AI cyber-security startup, Nullify, has raised a $3.4M USD seed round to expand their product offerings into the US.

With US investors like Two Sigma Ventures, Root Ventures, and Conviction Partners this move makes sense.

“That was our priority coming into fundraising, we wanted a US investor as sort of a launchpad with customers,” Nullify Head of Marketing Suzy Ahn told me. “We're really wanting to replicate the community and the awareness that we've built in Sydney, but in New York City and in San Francisco,” she added. 

How will they achieve this? Hosting events, panels and meetups with subject matter experts during Tech Week, iterating on messaging and building online content resources. I’m impressed.

Takeaway: When looking for international investors for expansion, look for a really great founder experience team and lean on them to learn the market. 

San Francisco is not dead

A recent episode of The Economist’s Money Talks: Silicon Rally podcast covers the revival of the Bay. Will AI bring San Francisco back to greatness? Is this a renaissance in name only, or will it change the face of SF for the better? 

My take: Downtown’s a WIP, but emerging tech, AI hacker houses, and the allure of being in person is laying the foundation for SF to be officially “back”.

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

💰️ Startup Funding

Written by Leila Oliveira

My favourite tools to find investors

Building an investor funnel is one of the first steps to raise capital. Besides PitchBook and Crunchbase, use these free tools to discover potential investors:

• LaunchVic Dealroom: Database of 1,013 investors

• Shipshape: Database of 15.5K funds, and the 100K individuals who work with them

• Founder Suite: Database of 216,000 investors

• Open VC: 5,000 investors

Square Peg Hits $1B in Returns

Square Peg, a leader in Australia’s venture capital scene, just hit a major milestone: it's returned over $1 billion to investors in 12 years. Now, navigating a tougher market, they're preparing to raise a significant $US550 million for their next fund in late 2024. With dropping startup valuations and demands for more transparency from super funds, Square Peg's bold and strategic move shows how they're adapting and setting ambitious goals, even in challenging times.

The IPO season is open! 

Alta Global, an Aussie company co-founded by Conor McGregor's trainer John Kavanagh, has debuted on NYSE American at $5/share. The firm offers MMA training programs for gyms via a tech platform and raised funds on Birchal in 2019. Despite revenue of AUD $1.54 million in 2023, Alta faces a net loss of AUD $20.6 million. The IPO indicates growth potential amidst financial challenges.

To get in touch with Leila Oliveira, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🏛️ Government Policy, Politics & Economics

Written by Dickie Currer

Breakthrough Victoria under scrutiny

Recent reports have alleged that Victoria’s state-run $2 billion VC fund has spent $22 million of taxpayers’ money on staff expenses (considerably higher than private sector VC’s standard management fees) to invest $74 million in startups in 2023.

Breakthrough Victoria has hit back in an official media release denying the allegations and reiterating the impact that the fund is having on the Victorian economy, having invested upwards of $300 million to date in 22 direct investments.

My two cents is that in a capital-restrained market we shouldn’t be biting the hand that feeds us. Though, as with any use of taxpayers’ money, there should and hopefully now will be, greater transparency.

Uber in a spin

The rideshare giant will pay Aussie taxi drivers $272 million to settle a class action alleging they didn’t have the necessary licences to operate when they launched back in 2012. This is a prime example of how the disruptor’s mantra of “ask for forgiveness rather than permission” only works until YOU become the market leader. Read my long-form piece about this here.

Sophisticated Investor to be discussed in Parliament

After months of advocacy from the innovation community, a Parliamentary Inquiry into the controversial proposed changes to the wholesale investor test is being undertaken. Add your submissions here before May 15th.

To get in touch with Dickie Currer, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🚀 Accelerator Watch

Written by Berenice Chong

⚡️ Spotlight: UNSW Founders launches new ‘Exits for Entrepreneurs’ program

UNSW Founders launched the Mergers, Acquisitions, IPOs & Secondaries (MAIPOS) Program on 22 March. It’s the first-of-its-kind program from an Australian accelerator. 

Why is an accelerator teaching exit strategies?

 “Almost half of all exits happen by Series A, leaving many founders unprepared for successful exits when the moment arrives,” said Beste Onay, Program Lead and UNSW Founders’ Investments and Portfolio Manager. 

“We want to ensure that founders aren’t missing opportunities or leaving capital on the table”.

Program takeaways:

• Prepare for exits, don’t just focus on building

• Organise legal documents and IP agreements in advance so that you’re ready for future conversations around exiting

• Know how your business looks from a prospective buyer or partner’s perspective to negotiate the best deal 

For the full story on why it pays to plan early for exits, check out my interview with Beste Onay.

🔔 Programs Now Open

• Startupbootcamp FoodTech Tasmania - applications close 14 June

• Techstars Tech Central Sydney - applications close 22 May

• I2N Cleantech Accelerator - seeking expressions of interest from NSW Central Coast & Hunter Valley startups

• UNE Pitch2Grow Moree - apply now to get mentoring and pitch your startup idea

Do you have an accelerator program or event we should know about? Get in touch!

To get in touch with Berenice Chong, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌱 Climate & Nature Tech

Written by Andrew Harding

Solar panel moonshot

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced Solar SunShot: a $1 billion program that will aim to boost the number of solar panels that are manufactured in Australia.

• One in three Australian households have solar panels — the highest rate in the world. But only 1% of them are manufactured locally, with the cost of importing panels adding ~15% to the price tag.

• The program will consist of production subsidies and grants, as well as the transformation of the decommissioned Liddell coal power station site into a solar panel manufacturing hub.

• AGL and SunDrive are both expected to play major roles in developing the hub.

Want to get involved?

Here are some of this month’s climate & nature tech events:

• 22 - 23 April: The third Impact X Sydney Summit, Australia’s largest global summit for climate and nature, will address the urgent need for short-term action. Location: Sydney. Cost: NGOs/Academics/Startups: $1049.00 (+GST), Corporate & Government $1349.00 (+GST).

• 24 April: Going from Startup to Scaleup - Climate Tech Edition, hosted by EnergyLab, hear from 5 experts in the field who have been on this very journey themselves or who support startups in the space. Location: Sydney. Cost: Free.

To get in touch with Andrew Harding, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🤖 Web3 & AI

Written by Erin Howell

• Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly working on a data centre project called ‘Stargate’, which will contain a supercomputer with millions of specialised computer chips to help power OpenAI’s models. The costs could reach up to $100B, expected to launch in 2028. With more chips and resources, the power of AI and the use cases will continue to grow and spark innovation. 

• OpenAI’s Voice Engine creates realistic voice replications using 15-second audio + text input. The model has been in development since late 2022, and is engaging conversations with key industry stakeholders to explore the challenges and opportunities with the technology. 

• The founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after orchestrating one of the largest finance frauds in history. The court found that investors lost $1.7 billion, lenders lost $1.3 billion and customers lost $8 billion. SBF was also ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture.

• Amazon has invested a further $2.75 billion in OpenAI competitor Anthropic. This follows a $1.25 billion investment in September 2023. Last month, Microsoft singled out Google Cloud’s competitive edge in Generative AI. “Today, only one company - Google - is vertically integrated in a manner that provides it with strength and independence at every AI layer, from chips to a thriving mobile app store. Everyone else must rely on partnerships to innovate and compete”, Microsoft said in its report to the EU Commission.

To get in touch with Erin Howell, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🚜 AgriTech

Written by Holly Clark

The State of Aussie AgTech Funding

Agriculture contributes significantly to the Australian economy, with the value of agriculture production set to reach $85 billion by the end of next year.

Investment in the AgriTech sector seems pretty misaligned, though.  

Agritech was the ninth most funded sector last year, with Aussie Ag founders raising $170 million (Cut Through Venture). 

Keep in mind that total includes a $105 million Series B from Loam Bio, leaving $65 million for the rest of the sector to share in—not a lot compared to the $505 million pumped into business and enterprise software. 

Early stage ventures in Ag are often working in hardware and deep tech, where the early stages of growth can be much more capital intensive, making them a riskier bet for generalist angel and seed investors. 

But we do have some great agtech-specific VC firms ready to invest. Here are three to take a look at this month:

• Mandalay VC 

• Tenacious Ventures

• The Hugh Victor McKay Fund

Startup to Watch: Rumin8

Perth-based Rumin8 are building a biomanufacturing platform for bromoform, a substance in red seaweed shown to reduce methane emissions in livestock. Key backers include Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma and Bill Gates, who led their US$12 million ($17.2 million) seed round via his investment firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

To get in touch with Holly Clark, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🤝 Diversity Champions

Written by Preethi Mohan & Kirstin Hunter

Funding the Balance: Q1 Retro

Let’s take a quick look at the capital-raising stories published in the first quarter of 2024 (long-form discussion here).

Overall, there was a good representation of stories about gender minority and mixed gender founders raising capital (37% of stories published in OS). When we look at the reported amounts raised in these stories, we see a familiar trend: men-only teams have larger raises, therefore winning a greater share of the total funding (81.3% of funding reported).

We went one step further and disaggregated the funding to mixed gender teams, reallocating it to either men or gender minority based on the gender breakdown within each mixed gender team. The net result of this analysis was that 85.4% of funding went to men.

Interestingly, while several mixed gender teams this quarter had multiple men founders, there were no mixed gender teams with multiple gender minority founders. The overall founder gender demographics represented in the published stories was 20% gender minority and 80% men.

Note: This analysis considers only published stories and therefore is incomplete, as many founders delay or don’t announce their raises. The State of Australian Startup Funding report for this quarter by Cut Through Venture will provide a more accurate reflection of the total number of deals completed. Read more about why published stories matter here.

To get in touch with Preethi Mohan or Kirstin Hunter, send them a message on LinkedIn.

👢 Bootstrappers

Written by Georgina Healy

Three exciting bootstrapping founders I met this month that you need to know about...

• Edtech Lindsey’s VCE Tutoring is proving that bootstrapping startups can outperform, with 6-figure revenue and YoY growth nearly doubling since founder Lindsey Dang went full time with the business a few months back. She recently won the 7NEWS Young Achiever Award and Strategic Alliance Network Small Business Award and has 20 of the top 1% tutors specialising in VCE English and Literature and partnerships in over 50 schools in Victoria. “Having ownership over how I work has been pivotal to our sustainable growth,” Lindsey said. “We've looked at investment before, but this means reducing our tutors’ pay, replacing some aspects with technology, and expanding to other subjects which don't align with my values.”

• Since launching 24 weeks ago, customers have purchased the equivalent of nearly $6M in gift cards through bootstrapping startup Mentwell. These digital health and wellness gift cards can be redeemed at any health or wellness service provider (think GPs and dentists as well as alternative therapies and yoga studios). Mentwell’s next focus is partnerships with insurance companies and charities. Founder Nikki Williams is jumping from strength to strength; “We have a Birchal crowdfunding campaign going live in May 2024!”.

• Andrew Rowe is the founder of Tuesday Cellar Co, an end-to-end wine-collecting service, which sees industry experts select bottles for customers which are stored at optimal cellar conditions until they wish to have the wine delivered. Customers can grow their wine collection over time and manage their cellar virtually. Tuesday Cellar Co also hosts community meet-ups featuring one of Sydney’s top sommeliers Benjamin Moechtar. “Go after the biggest segment you can find and try and lock in some guaranteed recurring revenue,” said Andrew. 

To get in touch with Georgina Healy, send her a message on LinkedIn.

 🤹 The Founder Mindset

Written by Anna Mackenzie

Promoting yourself and your work is hard, but it’s a mission-critical skill founders have to master. Done well, self-promotion is a superpower, because when you talk about yourself authentically it opens doors, displays confidence and demonstrates competence. But, if you struggle with self-promotion (like so many of us do) here are three fresh ideas you might want to try.

1. Share ideas, not accolades.

This one comes from Organisational Psychologist Adam Grant who makes a distinction between promoting yourself and promoting your ideas. He says:

“So many people limit themselves by saying ‘I don’t want to self-promote’. But there’s a huge difference between self promotion and idea promotion. Promoting yourself is saying ‘look at me, look at how great I am’, promoting your ideas is saying ‘I made something I’m proud of, I hope it’s valuable to you.’”

2. Share stories, not facts.

You can tell people your laundry list of achievements but they’ll likely tune out. Instead, try crafting some stories that demonstrate your capability. For example, rather than telling people your business generated $1M in revenue last year, tell a story full of colour about how you were able to get there.

3. Engage in dual promotion.

New research published in the American Psychological Association shared the secret to bragging: dual promotion. This is where you compliment a colleague or peer while also talking about your own achievements. It was found to:

“Consistently boost overall impressions. Audiences learned about your abilities, and saw you demonstrate concern for others. By talking positively about other people, you signal that you aren’t self-centered — you’re a well-intentioned, warm colleague.”

To learn more about how you can self-promote authentically and graciously, keep reading.

To get in touch with Anna Mackenzie, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🎸Entertainment & FanTech

Written by Gav Parry

April Munchies

Splendour in the Grass 2024 has joined the list of festival casualties, with the cancellation sending shockwaves through the industry.

Festivals have enjoyed a phenomenal run since the golden age of Big Day Out, Stereo Sonic and Future Music. However, how much has the traditional festival experience truly evolved?  The formula of a main stage with massive LED screens, lighting and pyrotechnics, paired with long lines for restrooms and overpriced drinks may not be sufficient anymore.

Around the grounds

1. Music investment platform JKBX launched this month, allowing fans to invest in their favourite songs from some of the biggest artists in the world including Beyonce and Taylor Swift. 

2. Disney’s logo changed to teal. Did you notice?

3. Fred Again's record-breaking Sydney Opera House show drew 135k hopefuls for 2,200 tickets. His tour announcement on Feb 28th sparked a million fans to switch to Ticketek, selling out 100k+ tickets in hours.

April MVP 

Wirely is designed to help the hospitality industry manage their many different transactions and cash movements. Wirely ensures there are tight controls and clear visibility for all transactions processed, streamlining the cash-up process, saving valuable labour costs and minimising the risk of theft and poor practice. This is good news, because streamlined business management means more time to focus on the customer experience.

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗 

Welcome to the first edition of Pulse Check! 🎉 

In case you’re new here…Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you a comprehensive overview of what’s happening in all corners of the Aussie ecosystem.

Get to know each of our correspondents by clicking on their name at the top of each section! Throw them a ‘Follow’ on LinkedIn while you’re there 😉 .

Whether you are a long-time OS supporter or new to our community, we hope this newsletter will serve as a valuable monthly resource to help you keep your finger on the pulse of the ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️ 

Overnight Success

The newsletter that makes you smarter about Australian startups & venture capital.

Subscribe

🌍️ Aussie Founders Going Global 

Written by Lea Rausch

From Oz to everywhere

• Marqo, the AI vector search platform (consider it a tool that helps computers understand and organise information), closed their Series A funding round of $19.4M (led by SF-based Lightspeed). The more impressive piece is this raise comes 6 months after their $8.1M Seed round. The company plans to move their headquarters to (you guessed it), the US.

• FirstWave Cloud Technology, a company that makes cybersecurity and network management software, received $2.5M in funding from Formue Nord A/S (Formue Nord), a Danish asset management firm. They're planning to use this money to keep growing in North and Latin America, which is an exciting signal after they acquired Saisei Networks in 2023.

The 2023 state of play

• Is a 123 page report on startups worth reading? ABSOLUTELY. Cut Through Venture and Folklore Ventures partnered up for “The State of Australian Startup Funding Report”. The behemoth of knowledge provides insights into the challenging past year of fundraising + emerging trends. Two interesting pieces of data:

• 42% of 2023 deals included at least one international investor in the round.

• 70% of local Australian investors expect overseas startup investors to increase activity over the next 12 months.

• My take - we’ll see more capital from international investors and more Aussie startups expand globally at an increasingly rapid pace - with possibly the loss of startup headquarters and talent.

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

💰️ Startup Funding

Written by Leila Oliveira

Exciting times for climate tech entrepreneurs

TRaCE and Virescent Ventures’ groundbreaking $1.6M investment in UNSW’s The Climate 10x program is the largest of its kind in Australian history and comes as climate tech ranks among 2023's top 5 funded sectors.

Blair Pritchard of Virescent Ventures spoke to the sector's vital role in addressing long-term problems, particularly leveraging AI to overcome regulatory barriers: “Grappling with climate change is a global, multi-decadal, multi-industry problem,” he told me.

“Companies that are solving it are in a sector that’s going to be growing at rates faster than economy-wide GDP for the next three to five decades. It’s also clear we’re going to need a lot of new technology than just wind turbines and solar panels. So we’ll see the emergence of new high-tech businesses that have a lot of proprietary tech and can sustain good margins”

Women founders are getting more VC deals, but no more money

According to the “State of Australian Startup Funding Report”, female founding teams have a median check size of $700K, compared to $1M for mixed-gender and all-male teams. I researched why:

• There’s a direct correlation between firms with a female VC partner and the number of investments into female-led startups.

• Venture investor Del Johnson says “male power brokers [are] more likely to select or fund the women VCs who share their own patriarchal biases, and keep out the many women who don’t share those views.”

• Serial entrepreneur Gentry Lane suggested that VCs’s enduring focus on presentations and pitch decks rather than “normal, human conversation” continues to negatively impact underrepresented founders.

To get in touch with Leila Oliveira, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🏛️ Government Policy, Politics & Economics

Written by Dickie Currer

A new community supporting Aussie tech & innovation

Last week, alongside my Co-Lead, Claire Bull, I launched Tech Australia Advocates (TAA). The Australian chapter of an international community of 30k+ members.

The Australian Government has set a target of 1.2 million technology-related jobs by 2030. This is a huge sector of our economy that needs a voice and representation nationally, this is why TAA exists.

TAA will also leverage relationships with the other 34 groups in the network to help uplift the Australian ecosystem internationally.

Join as an advocate for free here.

An Innovation Blueprint for NSW

The NSW Government is reviewing how to best support innovating businesses and is seeking the help of the ecosystem to build out this blueprint.

This comes after a big year of cuts to both personnel within the department and funding programs for startups. Let’s hope consulting key ecosystem stakeholders makes for more stability in their future strategy.

Submissions are open up until 25 March here.

New grants for Victorian startups

LaunchVic, Victoria’s Startup Agency has two juicy new grants for VIC based startups.

The MedTech Market Growth Program will provide $50k matched funding to up to 20 MedTech businesses.

Early stage AgTech Startups can also tap into $50k funding after a grant launch in partnership with Agriculture Victoria.

To get in touch with Dickie Currer, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🚀 Accelerator Watch

Written by Berenice Chong

Queensland accelerators win investment boost

Five accelerators have received initial funding from the Queensland Government’s new Venture Capital Development Fund (VCDF) as part of government plans to grow a VC pipeline of investment-ready startups:

• 🚜 Farmers2Founders

• 🏥 LuminaX

• 🌿 EnergyLab

• 💻 UQ Ventures Momentum Accelerator

• 🤖 77 Venture Challenge

What’s in it for Queensland’s ecosystem?

• These accelerators’ programs were chosen to boost investment in Queensland’s priority industries.

• The VCDF will support over 160 early-stage Queensland startups, including regional founders.

AI Sprint - unlocking Australia’s AI potential

AI Sprint is a new competition from the CSIRO’s National AI Centre, Stone & Chalk, and Google Cloud. The three-month program will challenge innovators to develop AI solutions for national issues. Applications close on 21 March 2024.

Northern Territory Business Innovation Program Winners

The Northern Territory’s Business Innovation Program (BIP) is part of the Territory Government’s mission to develop a $4 billion ecosystem. The winners of BIP’s latest round are:

• 🚧 Civiltech Solutions

• 🏥 Go Locum

• 🎬 CastAway NT

• 🍺 One Mile Brewery

Applications for the next BIP round close 30 April 2024.

Did you know?

The Northern Territory is a strategic location for defence innovation. Darwin hosts:

• Australia’s first military spatial virtual twin, which is used for defence activities and infrastructure optimisation.

• Australia’s only Test Lab for Defence and Aerospace Industry 4.0, which helps manufacturers transition to Industry 4.0.

To get in touch with Berenice Chong, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🌱 Climate & Nature Tech

Written by Andrew Harding

The big trend

With the recent release of the “State of Australian Startup Funding Report”, it was revealed that overall startup funding fell by a staggering 54% in 2023 compared with 2022 (but a 12.9% increase over 2020). Amidst a painful crunch that has seen 80% of investment sectors log a fall in total funding last year, climate and clean tech was the top sector for the first time ever by new deal count at 9.9% (41 of 413 deals), beating out stalwarts fintech and healthtech with shares of 9.7% and 9.2% respectively.

This data reveals the growing number of climate and nature tech startups being founded and their growing importance to accelerators, angels, and VCs. Mirroring this trend, Startmate recently revealed that 24% of their investments since 2020, and 32% in 2023, have been in climate and nature tech startups.

An overnight success?

The accelerating founding and funding of climate and nature tech startups relative to peer sectors is not an overnight occurrence and has been gradually building for years. Startmate’s own climate tech investments only began to rocket after former Startmate CEO James Tynan (and current partner at Square Peg) announced the launch of the Startmate Climate Cohort in late 2019.

To get in touch with Andrew Harding, send him a message on LinkedIn.

🤖 Web3 & AI

Written by Erin Howell

What’s the latest news?

• Google Deepmind releases Gemma, an open source model based on Gemini. Also launching Gemini for Google Workspace. Gemini for Workspace includes a new standalone experience to chat with Gemini, with enterprise-grade data protections. 

• NVIDIA builds powerful computer chips called GPU’s, the supercharged engines that drive many AI advancements. NVIDIA recorded the largest ever 1 day gain in Wall Street’s history, adding $277 Billion in market value (16.4% increase) last week. 

• Stability AI announced Stable Diffusion 3, text-to-image model. Text-to-image models let you generate amazing visuals simply by describing what you want to see. 

• Bitcoin’s recent rally took it to the Top 10 Assets in the World. Prices are rising with increased investor confidence in the technology, assisted by investment inflows, including the new Bitcoin ETF. 

• In late February, Ethereum’s price hit $3000 again. The market is anticipating approval of Ethereum ETFs and Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, expected to lower gas fees and improve scalability. 

How does this impact the ecosystem?

• New AI technologies are inspiring new features and ideas for disruptive startups. Coupled with this, we are continually hearing VCs asking how their PortCo’s can adopt this technology.

• The growth in Web3 demonstrates investor confidence and the surge of retail investors adopting ETFs. This signals wider acceptance of cutting-edge and more understanding for Web3 startups.

To get in touch with Erin Howell, send her a message on LinkedIn.

💼 B2B SaaS

Written by Mia Sturt

2023 was the year that managing risk became sexy. In 2024, these are two of the rising stars to watch in compliance. 

Haast

• Canberra-based martech Haast use AI to tackle digital marketing and brand compliance. It’s goal is to be as mission critical to any marketing, compliance and legal team as Outlook or Slack.

• In 2024, they are launching the first AI-driven end-to-end marketing review and compliance platform, which is timely - experts predict that over 90% of online content will be AI-generated by next year.

• They are looking to grow in highly-regulated industries like insurance, superannuation and banking “with a focus on tackling issues like greenwashing and misleading conduct”, says founder Kunal Vankadara.

FairSupply

• Sydney-based ESG compliance startup Fair Supply was co-founded by a former human rights lawyer and a distinguished supply chain academic. They use data from across billions of supply chains to show companies their risk across modern slavery, carbon emissions and biodiversity.

• Their latest offering, scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reporting, will be critical for big business and financial institutions. They will be an important player this year, with ASIC’s mandatory climate-related financial disclosure obligations to be introduced from July.

To get in touch with Mia Sturt, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🚜 AgriTech

Written by Holly Clark

Wait, what is AgriTech? 

AgriTech is the collection of technologies that provide the agricultural industry with the tools, data and knowledge to make more informed, timely on-farm decisions and improve productivity and sustainability.

With the global population set to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, many see tech-enabled agriculture as the key to feeding our growing population amid the depletion of natural resources. 

It’s the buzzy, high-growth industry that could actually save us all.  

Startup Spotlight: Jane’s Weather 📺

When meteorologist and Channel 7 Weather presenter Jane Bunn does speaking engagements, the number one question people ask is, “What weather app do you use?” 

And when she found there wasn’t a single one she could credibly recommend, the TV personality turned founder teamed up with software engineer David Hemming to launch Jane’s Weather, a one-stop shop for hyper-local weather forecasting for the agriculture sector.

Ecosystem Muster 🤠

• The good folk at AusAgritech run a 1200+ strong Slack group sharing national opportunities and events for farmers and founders alike. Join here. 

• LaunchVic are offering investment support for Vic Ag founders through the Hugh Victor McKay Fund.

• The Feds have announced two $54 million grant rounds to grow the sector. 

• And SVG Thrive offers a range of national programs for founders at every stage of the journey.

To get in touch with Holly Clark, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🤝 Diversity Champions

Written by Preethi Mohan & Kirstin Hunter

Revolutionising Women’s Entrepreneurship: Is This the Most Crucial Report Yet?

Every time we talk about why women get so little funding, the same question pops up: why are things the way they are? While there's been plenty of research showing the numbers and initiatives like Funding the Balance exist to shine consistent light on it, A new report by The Women's Entrepreneurship Industry Reference Group commissioned by Investment NSW presents for the first time a deep dive into the real story behind women's entrepreneurship with comprehensive suggestions for change.

The Women's Entrepreneurship Industry Reference Group, with Nicola Hazell at the helm and backed by Investment NSW, has just dropped a game-changing report. It's not just about the numbers; it's about getting to the heart of what's holding women back in business and innovation in New South Wales. The report looks at the big picture – the whole system, with an emphasis on changing the system, rather than changing the women.

This report isn't just a call to action; it's a roadmap for the government and the startup ecosystem as a whole. It makes a strong case for the Government and the ecosystem to step up and be leaders championing businesses and ideas led by women. By tackling issues at the root level, the report outlines how we can unleash the true potential of women entrepreneurs, making our economy prosperous, more sustainable, socially-conscious and forward-thinking.

To get in touch with Preethi Mohan or Kirstin Hunter, send them a message on LinkedIn.

👢 Bootstrappers

Written by Georgina Healy

Last month, Geelong-based founder and angel investor Leela Cosgrove created some heated conversation by sharing her reasons for not seeking VC funding and questioning the VC institution in general. 

Whether you agree with her perspective or not, there are undoubtedly lessons to be learnt from those who bootstrap their way to success. This is what I’ll be exploring each month in Pulse Check.

But first, let's tackle some common bootstrapping misconceptions…

1.   It’s for founders unable to raise: Many bootstrappers are uninterested in raising until they can demand more favourable terms. Finder did this in 2021, raising $30M after 15 years of bootstrapping.

2.   It’s only for unambitious founders: Mailchimp was founded in 2001 and was built using co-founders Ben and Dan’s own savings. They generated over $700M USD in revenue before being acquired for $12B in 2021. On home turf, a regional maths teacher recently bootstrapped and sold his edtech business for $40M.

3.   Bootstrappers struggle more: Some glorify the ‘started out in a garage’ origin stories bootstrapped startups… but there is no denying that restricted cash flow can lead to personal stress. However, these financial restraints can force founders to be laser-focused on product market fit and sustainable growth.

I am obsessed with meeting the best and brightest bootstrappers in Australia - if you are one, or you know one, get in touch!

To get in touch with Georgina Healy, send her a message on LinkedIn.

 🤹 The Founder Mindset

Written by Anna Mackenzie

Is it possible to achieve more by doing less?

Ah, the age old question that lives rent free in every founder’s mind. As someone who’s used systems to increase my productivity and creativity, decrease stress, and achieve more, I believe the answer is yes.

Author Ryan Holiday describes a system as using templates, workflows, processes and rules as a means of “doing more by doing less”. They’re effective because they help us to prioritise energy, tasks and time. 

Anything that’s repetitive can be systemised:

• If it’s a repeatable task, you can build a workflow for managing it.

• If it’s a repeatable opportunity, you can build a process for vetting it.

• If it’s a repeatable decision, you can build a framework for making it.

• If it operates on a regular cadence, you can build a schedule for running it.

If you want to build a personal operating system, give these questions a go: 

• What actions or tasks do I do every day, week, and month? 

• Is there a template I could create to help optimise each one?

• Is there a system I could create to help make them more efficient? 

• Is there a rule I could implement to help manage my time or energy?

Read on to learn how I’ve used systems to increase my productivity and creativity, decrease stress, and achieve more overall.

To get in touch with Anna Mackenzie, send her a message on LinkedIn.

🎸Entertainment & FanTech

Written by Gav Parry

March Munchies 

The entertainment industry has always struggled to prepare for disruption (Talkies, VHS, DVD, Streaming etc), and when faced with a technological shift tend to meet it with fear rather than viewing it as an opportunity.  Unfortunately we’re seeing this again with AI.

In March, Tyler Perry paused his 800 million studio build after being blown away by how developed Sora is.  "There's got to be some sort of regulations in order to protect us,” he said. ‘Jobs are going to be lost’.

The entertainment industry needs to build deeper connections with startups who are the ones creating the future. It needs to start investing and be part of the future, not fight it.

Around the Grounds

• Tradable Bits has secured a substantial expansion of its long-standing relationship with the AFL. 

• Australian Music Festivals are in Crisis - SMH 

• Beond (AIRLINE) will be the first to offer an ’Immersive Inflight Entertainment Experience’ with Apple Vision from July.

March MVP 

Sunflower AI

• Sunflower are making events more accessible with live captions.  I can see use cases across entertainment.  Trivia, comedy, live music, conferences, festivals, live sport and so much more.  Really excited to see how Chuhoa and the team continue to develop the product. 

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this first edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗