Cheque-in: The 2 startups that raised $8.2 million (and the expat Aussie backed by Square Peg)
It has been relatively quiet on the startup funding front this week: we’ve counted only two local startups with fresh capital raises.
But Australian talents are still shining abroad, with one founder raising tens of millions of dollars for a new tool empowering sales teams.
Keep reading to learn more about 2cloudnine and SeaStock, which together have raised $8.2 million in new funding, with an honourable mention for San Francisco-based Sumble.
2cloudnine: $7.5 million
Leading this week’s funding round-up is Melbourne-based tech startup 2cloudnine, which plans to pursue “significant” growth opportunities in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region after securing more than $7.5 million in fresh funding for its workforce management platform.
Most of the funding comes from private equity firm Blackpeak Growth Partners, which now has three investments in its portfolio. The firm has previously backed EdStart, an education fee management platform, and Skutopia, which raised $38 million in August for its warehouse automation system for online retailers.
Founded in 2009 by CEO Adam Edmondson, the 2cloudnine unified workforce platform is built within the Salesforce ecosystem and designed for large enterprises in the staffing and healthcare sectors.
It acts as a central point for assignment management, payroll, billing, onboarding, pay compliance, and analytics for corporate customers, including global staffing firms that run thousands of placements and aged care and disability providers that need to coordinate care for residents.
In turn, this reduces fragmented processes that 2cloudnine says can erode margins and increase compliance risk for companies in these sectors.
The startup already works with the likes of Adecco, Allegis, Alliance Nursing, Cornerstone Medical Recruitment, Epic Staffing Group, New Chapter and PeopleIN.
SeaStock: $740,000
Food tech startup SeaStock has secured $740,000 in matched co-investment funding from the federal government-backed Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) to accelerate the development and certification of clean-label ingredients from algae.
Founded in 2021, SeaStock is one of a growing crop of Australian startups that are working with Asparagopsis algae.
SeaStock is developing what it has called RUBY SEA, a high-purity, naturally derived red pigment that is extracted from sustainably cultivated Asparagopsis algae, among other products.
The Western Australian-based startup plans to use the co-investment from FaBA to progress pigment characterisation, toxicology studies and regulatory application processes.
“This support from FaBA will accelerate our ability to deliver high-purity, naturally derived functional ingredients for the food and beverage sector,” said managing director and co-founder Tom Puddy.
“It validates the scientific and commercial potential of our circular production model and IP-led strategy.”
The FaBA is a $178 million initiative supported by the federal government’s Trailblazers Universities Program, which teams up university researchers and industry experts to advance innovation in the local food and beverage sectors.
FBA director Dr Chris Brown said the accelerator is “proud to invest in SeaStock’s pioneering work in algae-based innovation”.
“By replacing synthetic additives with natural compounds, SeaStock has the potential to help shape a more sustainable and health-conscious future for consumers,” he added.
Honourable mention: Sumble, $59 million
San Francisco-based startup Sumble has burst from stealth mode with $59 million (US$38.5 million) in funding, as Australian co-founder Anthony Goldbloom turns his deep data science expertise to the world of business intelligence.
Sumble is the latest project from Goldbloom and Ben Hamner, who previously launched Kaggle, an online platform allowing data scientists to test machine learning models on thousands of datasets.
The new startup focuses the power of data science on corporate sales.
It promises to consolidate fragmented information, like organisational structure, personal profiles, and even industry trends, into a searchable knowledge graph.
From there, sales teams can use Sumble’s insights to make sharper pitches and close deals more effectively.
The funding comprises an $13 million (US$8.5 million) seed round led by Coatue, and a $46 million (US$30 million) Series A led by Canaan Partners, with contributions from AIX Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Zetta, and angels, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.
Australia’s own Square Peg contributed to the Series A, with its co-founder Paul Bassat citing a decade-long appreciation of Goldbloom’s work.
“I got to know Anthony back in 2012 and have admired him as a founder and even more as a high-integrity person since then, and at a personal level, couldn’t be more excited to be getting involved,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
- This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You can read the original here.
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