FUNDED MARCH 2022

Welcome to the March 2022 edition of FUNDED. This is the ninth edition of FUNDED and the very first that we have published once we have completed our full monthly capture (for paid subscribers only). At Techboard our focus is on completeness of capture, rather than necessarily on zero to sixty or one hundred times. However we have been changing our processes which have enabled us to release our full March 2022 dataset earlier than usual.

All of the funding events we capture go into our Funding Event Search Engine that now enables filtering by ten variables, we have just added in Funding Event Status to address yet to be closed or completed rounds and companies reported to be seeking funding.

The level of funding we have captured in March is slightly down from February levels both in terms of overall funding ($1.69b down from $1.9b in February) and private/VC investment down from $1.2b to just under $1.1b from 69 investments. During the month of March we captured 79 investments but some of those were in earlier periods.

Amongst the investments for March were four megarounds of $50m or more, with three of the four companies raising revealing they had hit a valuation in excess of $AUD1b. Crypto, Medtech and Fintech were leading categories, with Immutable having the largest raise of the month raising $280m (at a $3.5b valuation). Medtech Saluda Medical had the second largest raise at $172m with Social Media enabler Linktree raising $152m and Fintech Zeller raising $100m.

The completed private investments captured in March, take the total investments for the quarter to just shy of $3b, making this quarter the biggest March Quarter ever, almost tripling the March Q result in 2021 ($1.162b) and the second largest quarter ever captured by Techboard, behind the December Q 2021 ($3.494b). In addition to completed investments, during March we captured an extra 29 open and pending investments totalling a prospective $1.2b and announcements by funds of over $3.9b.

Deal Notes

In each edition of FUNDED we now feature deal notes from a selection of Australian Investors, this time we have Investible, Airtree, EVP and OIF. Links to these and other deal notes will be added to the growing Techboard platform.

OIF: Our investment in Mastt: automating and simplifying the most painful aspects of project management & Our Investment in Bridgit: Empowering Australians to buy their dream home before selling

Investible: Investment Notes: Cape and Investment Notes: Language Confidence

Airtree: Transforming the payments landscape – Our investment in Zepto

EVP: Investment Notes: Canibuild

Contact us if you would like your firm’s deal notes included.  

So what happened in March 2022?

Who’s been FUNDED?

The month’s megadeals (>$50m)

Immutable Web3 crypto startup Immutable closes a $280m Series C raise to be valued at $3.5b. Read more...
Saluda Medical Medtech Saluda Medical closes a $171.89m funding round led by Redmile Group. Read more...
Linktree Social media platform Linktree becomes Australia's fifth unicorn for 2022 after raising $152m in a Series C. Read more...
Zeller Fintech Zellar becomes a unicorn after completing a $100m private raise. Read more...

Acquisitions

Premonition.io Logistics tech startup Premonition has been acquired by fellow Aussie startup Shippit for $20.5m. Read more...
Business Fuel Fintech Business Fuel to be acquired by ScotPac. Read more...
Portt Saas contract and supplier platform Portt acquired by UK firm Advanced. Read more...

IPOs

Iris Energy lists on the NASDAQ and raises a massive $317.58m. Read more...

Other Funding Events (VC/Private, Public(ASX), ECF, Debt, Grants/Awards)

(This is just a sample of the deals we captured in March - Commercial Subscribers get a more complete list + full searchable access to all funding data captured by Techboard since 30 July 2017).

Chief Nutrition Nutritional snack food startup Chief Nutrition raises $457k via ECF as part of a larger $1.25m funding round. Read more...
Funding.com.au Short-term property lender Funding.com.au has secured $37m in Debt Funding from Moelis Australia and $2.5m in private funding from EVP. Read more...
Zorali Ecommerce camping brand Zorali's ECF with Birchal is closed and they reached their maximum target of $1.2m from 1062 investors. Read more...
DataMesh: Payment services software fintech DataMesh closes a $12m Seed raise led by NAB Ventures. Read more...
Gilmour Space Technologies Gilmour Space Technologies has been awarded a $52m Modern Manufacturing Initiative Collaboration (MMIC) grant for the development of sovereign space capabilities in Australia. Read more...
Zepto Fintech Zepto closes a $25m Series A led by AirTree Ventures. Read more...
Bunsters Hot selling hotsauce company Bunsters quickly closes a $1.125m via ECF from 689 investors with Birchal. Read more...
Chimeric Therapeutics Chimeric Therapeutics closes a $2.7m Retail Entitlement Offer Shortfall Placement. Read more...
Samsara Eco Cleantech startup Samsara Eco raises $6m to commercialise a new patented carbon neutral recycling process. Read more...
The Sneaker Laundry Online shoe cleaning and product business The Sneaker Laundry successfully raises $900k via ECF from 686 investors. Read more...
Cassava Bags Australia 100% Natural biodegradable bags producer Cassava Bags Australia closes its ECF campaign and raises $596k. Read more...
Vantage Australia Native botanical spirit maker Vantage Australia raises $93k via ECF from 74 investors. Read more...
Cascade Consultancy platform: Cascade closes its $40m Series A round only months after its $5m Seed raise. Read more...
Chimeric Therapeutics Chimeric Therapeutics closes a $4.3m Retail Entitlement Offer, less than its planned $10.5m raise. Read more...
Gathar Celebrity chef Curtis stone invests into Gathar's $1m raise. Read more...
Cape Expense management fintech Cape closes a $3.1m Pre-seed and $30m Debt Facility. Read more...
Plotlogic Mining AI company Plotlogic closes a $25m Series A led by mining giant BHP. Read more...
Next Science Medtech Next Science successfully raises a $4.8m SPP. Read more...
Cape Expense management fintech Cape closes a $3.1m Pre-seed and $30m Debt Facility. Read more...
UpStreet Shopper rewards fintech Upstreet has raised $3m led by Albert Tse of Wattle Hill Capital. Read more...