Cheque-in: 19 ANZ startups that raised $69 million this week
The start of spring appears to be a fruitful time for startup funding, with 19 blossoming Australian and New Zealand startups sharing in new funding deals this week.
Keep reading to learn more about Andromeda, Starboard Maritime Intelligence, Freckle, Marloo, X-Hemp, Harvest B, Wable and Techstars’ latest cohort.
Andromeda Robotics: $23 million
Robotics startup Andromeda leads this week’s funding round-up, with a $23 million Series A round that will be used to support the company’s expansion into the US.
The raise is one of the most significant for a woman-led Australian startup this year and reportedly gives Andromeda a valuation of $100 million.
It comes ahead of the latest iteration of Andromeda’s humanoid robot Abi entering a Mecwacare aged care facility this month.
Andromeda, led by founder and CEO Grace Brown, has already introduced Abi into 22 Mecwacare facilities across the country, with the AI-enabled robots specifically designed to reduce loneliness among aged care residents while supplementing human staff.
The startup’s new Series A funding round was led by San Francisco-based VC firm Forerunner Ventures, along with participation from Rethink Impact, Artesian, Main Sequence, Visible Ventures, Trampoline, and Startmate.
Existing investor Purpose Ventures, which led Andromeda’s $3 million seed round in 2024, also contributed.
Earlier this year, Brown revealed Andromeda plans to build Australia’s first humanoid production line to meet the demand for Abi robots.
Starboard Maritime Intelligence: $20.7 million
New Zealand ocean security startup Starboard Maritime Intelligence (SMI) has banked a NZ$23 million (AUD$20.7 million) Series A.
The round was co-led by SMI’s first backer, Kiwi VC Altered Capital, with new investors OIF Ventures and King River Capital, supported by Co:Act Capital, Icehouse Ventures, and Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation.
The funding is for global expansion into North America, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific, to strengthen its capabilities for classified and commercial maritime environments, and scale product innovation to meet rising demand for real-time threat prevention.
The platform is already used by governments, defence agencies, and commercial operators in more than 30 countries, and safeguards more than 840,000km of subsea cable infrastructure as well as monitors a significant share of the world’s commercial fleet traffic.
SMI’s platform analyses more than one billion maritime data points daily, including shipping tracking, satellite imagery, radar, oceanographic, and autonomous sensors, to detect suspicious activity and issue real-time alerts.
Starboard Maritime Intelligence CEO Trent Fulcher said the platform strengthens maritime security by detecting adversarial behaviours, protecting subsea infrastructure, and supporting classified operations with real-time threat intervention, as well as safeguarding supply chains for commercial operators.
“Our mission is clear: to give nations and operators the intelligence edge needed to secure maritime borders, assets, and trade in a rapidly evolving threat environment,” he said.
“This investment enables us to extend that reach globally, set the benchmark for real-time maritime intelligence, and help our partners make faster, better-informed, and more secure decisions.”
Freckle: $6.1 million
Melbourne-founded startup Freckle has secured $6.1 million (US$4 million) in seed funding to continue building its data enrichment platform for SMEs.
As reported by Capital Brief, the funding largely comes from international investors, including Google’s artificial intelligence investment fund Gradient.
Also participating in the round were San Francisco-based VC 1984 Ventures, CoVentures, Liquid2 Ventures and Mintaka.
The latest funding follows the startup’s $2.9 pre-seed round in December 2024.
Founded by CEO Nathan Merzvinskis, Freckle is seeking to offer a more effective solution for SMEs looking to clean up and maintain their data, without the technical complexity of a more enterprise-focused platform like Clay.
Freckle is designed to connect directly into a company’s customer relationship management systems and the platform provides access to more than 40 data providers.
On LinkedIn, Merzvinskis said Freckle has worked with more than 2,500 companies in the space of 10 months.
“We are winning new customers from platforms like Clay every day,” he said on Tuesday.
The founder said the seed funding will “accelerate our mission to make data enrichment effortless for RevOps teams”.
“We’re building more CRM integrations, deeper workflow automations, and more powerful enrichment agents,” he added.
Marloo: $4.2 million
An AI assistant designed for financial advisers, developed by New Zealand fintech Marloo, has raised $4.2 million in pre-seed funding.
This round was led by Blackbird Ventures, with support from CoVentures, Brand Fund and who’s who of angel investors, including Xero co-founder Philip Fierlinger, Stake’s Matt Leibowitz, Halter’s Craig Piggott, Heidi Health’s Tom Kelly, Revolut’s chief legal officer Tom Hambrett, and Sharesies’ Leighton Roberts.
Marloo set out to tackle the housekeeping challenge faced by financial advisers, with data suggesting that up to 60% of the total cost of advice goes to administration and compliance, which means people seeking help spend more on paperwork than actual advice.
Marloo was founded in June 2024 by Shakeel Lala, Hardy Michel, and Ben Robertson in Auckland, New Zealand.
Sydney-based Lala, the CEO and a former product lead at Sharesies, said too many financial advisers are stuck with tools that lock their clients’ data across different systems.
“Our goal at Marloo is to empower advisers by building the number one product for them, loved for its design, simplicity, and ease of use,” he said.
“We are committed to building the AI assistant that the market is clearly asking for.”
X-Hemp: $3.4 million
Sustainable building materials startup X-Hemp has raised $3.4 million in seed funding after banking a final $1 million from strategic investment partner Danehill Group.
The Central Tasmanian construction tech business, based in Cressy, 30 minutes south of Launceston, was founded in 2020 by Andi Lucas, and will use the cash for critical infrastructure, R&D and more hires to the existing eight-person, all-women team.
X-Hemp‘s fibre processing factory makes a product called hempcrete, made from hemp fibres, lime, and water, as a concrete replacement. Used for walls, it’s non-combustible, termite-proof and mould-resistant, with construction costs comparable to a double-brick property.
The product featured in an episode of the ABC home-building show Grand Designs Australia, where a Tasmanian couple built an off-grid house made from hempcrete and rendered with a horse manure mix.
Lucas said that unlike concrete and conventional building materials, hempcrete stores carbon instead of producing it, making it a healthier, eco-friendly way to build.
“Finalising this capital raise reflects the enthusiasm of our investors to join us as we work to transform the construction industry in Australia,” she said.
“Most importantly, it enables us to fast-track our ambitious business plan to meet the growing demand for sustainable building and industrial fibre products into Aussie markets”.
Harvest B: $5.7 million
Food tech startup Harvest B has secured $5.7 million million in funding led by Mandalay Venture Partners with participation from Breakthrough Victoria, Alberts Impact Ventures and more. That includes a $2.2 million grant from the federal government’s Industry Growth Program.
The company is developing a flexible protein platform that can be used across a range of applications, from blended meats and high-protein meal components to ingredient solutions for food manufacturers.
According to Harvest V, its approach is designed to make protein more affordable, nutritious, and sustainable. It says it’s tapping into Victoria’s strengths in pulse production, including the use of locally grown faba beans.
Breakthrough Victoria CEO Rod Bristow said the investment highlights the state’s role in building resilient and sustainable food systems.
“Harvest B’s innovation is a recipe for success — delivering a nutrient-enriched, healthier and more cost-effective product, adding value to Victorian-grown produce and driving growth in our food manufacturing sector,” he said.
Harvest B co-founder and CEO Kristi Riordan added that the funding will help strengthen Australia’s food sovereignty.
“This investment from Breakthrough Victoria accelerates our ability to provide more affordable, nutritious options for food service providers and manufacturers,” Riordan said.
The raise will support scaling operations, local supply chain development, and collaborations with Victorian research institutions.
Wable: $1.5 million
Melbourne-based startup Wable has raised $1.5 million in Series A funding to help drive the UK and US expansion of its social networking app for neurodivergent people
Paul Sharbanee, executive director of Perth-based boutique corporate advisory and stockbroking firm Taurus Capital, led the investment round, which was first flagged in July 2024.
Launched in February last year by founder and CEO Holly Fowler, Wable is designed for the 20% of the global population who are neurodivergent.
Inspired by Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum star Michael Theo, who is now a brand ambassador for the app, Wable aims to foster meaningful conversations and connections within the neurodivergent community.
Wable officially launched in the UK and US in late July 2025, and the new funding is earmarked to help the company grow its team, invest in targeted marketing campaigns, and roll out new product features to its expanding community.
More than 11,000 people have signed up to use Wable in Australia and New Zealand since its launch.
Techstars: 12 startups share $2.2 million
The Techstars Sydney Accelerator has invested US$1.44 million (AUD$2.2 million) in 12 early-stage startups, announcing its class of 2025.
From surfing to strata management, music, marketing, finance and biotech, it’s a wide range of ideas and solutions to big problems.
The founders include a former concert violinist, an early Airbnb employee, a PhD researcher in the top 2% of scientists globally, the person who launched Canva’s legal team, a globally recognised crypto lawyer, and several second-time founders, including one who did the US Techstars program for her first company and is back to build her second one in Australia.
The 12 startups each received US$120,000 (A$180,000) investment, and for seven of the 12 teams, it’s their first funding. Techstars Sydney is backed by Investment NSW, a state government body.
This week, they begin a three-month accelerator program in Tech Central in Sydney. Everyone’s there in person, with half the founders moving from interstate or internationally.
The 12 startups are:
- Briefcase, founded by Kirk Simmons;
- CorFin.AI, co-founded by David Stephen Sta.Maria and Silven Victor D. Epistola;
- Crystal aOS, founded by Joni Pirovich;
- Juxtabyte, founded by Hugh Le;
- MuseAI, founded by Jad al Masri;
- OncoRevive, co-founded by Samira Sadeghi and Mohammad Tavakkoli Yaraki;
- Onsite, founded by Nathan Croxton;
- Our Leg Up, founded by Michael Ragavan;
- Slice, founded by Amy Stevens;
- SurfLab, co-founded by Antony Arena and Jesse Morse;
- VetNotes, founded by Mitch Sigley; and
- Zipline AI, founded by Michelle Reeves.
- This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You can read the original here.
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