Rovers, hypnotherapy and pocket farms: Five Aussie startups that scored $20 million this week

We’ve got some super interesting startups to chat about in this week’s funding round-up — including lunar rovers and hypnotherapy. Let’s take a look at where the cash is being splashed.

Mindset Health $17.8 million

Mindset Health is a digital hypnotherapy startup out of Melbourne that just raised $17.8 million in oversubscribed Series A. This follows a $6.7 million round back in 2021.

The round was led by Kind River Capital Linktree founders Anthony Zaccaria and Nick Humphreys amongst others.

As the name suggests, the company is focused on using the mind to improve people’s health. On its website it talks about the influence of the human brain over the likes of temperature regulation and pain regulation — but how the mind is largely overlooked by the healthcare system.

“We don’t come in a bottle, a pill, or a salve. We don’t have black box labels or long lists of side-effects. What we do have is a strong evidence base. A focus on helping people — wherever they are. And the drive to effectively change the way the world sees hypnosis forever,” the Mindset Health website reads.

“We’re putting world-leading healthcare specialists in your pocket. We’re burning the waitlists. Building new foundations. And showing the world what hypnotherapy can really do.”

Mindset Health utilises app-based audio to offer people with chronic conditions digital hypnotherapy. It already has specific apps to target irritable bowel syndrome, menopause and smoking cessation.

Funding from the round will be used to develop further apps targeting anxiety and depression, sleep, and chronic pain. It will also continue to build out clinical and real-world research.

Moon to Mars Initiative: $8 million

Both the AROSE and EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortiums will receive $4 million each as part of the Trailblazer program under the Moon to Mars initiative.

The consortiums are made up of Australian industries as well as space startups, universities, resource companies and more.

Both consortiums will create prototypes for a semi-autonomous rover to travel to the moon. Its mission is to collect lunar soil to deliver to NASA which will then try to extract oxygen from it.

The Moon to Mars initiative is set to launch in 2026 and aims to work towards a sustainable human presence on the Moon, as well as support future Mars missions.

“Programs like Trailblazer are important to growing our space sector, as well as our know-how in robotics and automation. It also has an important role to play in inspiring more young Australians to consider STEM careers,” Enrico Palermo, head of the Australian Space Agency, said in a statement.

Pivot: $1.4 million

Melbourne ed-tech startup, Pivot, has raised $1.4 million led by Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle as well as DiUS and LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund.

Launched in 2014, the company focuses on transforming teaching practices through student questionnaires that are turned into anonymised data before being delivered and implemented.

The business then also provides resources for goal setting and professional development

“We’ve had a terrific start to the year with hundreds of schools across Australia and internationally using Pivot’s leading data-driven approach to improve teaching practice and student and teacher wellbeing,” Pivot CEO, Tim Watts, said in a statement.

“We know this leads to real impact, with improvements in student learning engagement and learning outcomes, as well as teacher workplace satisfaction and retention.”

Invest Inya Farmer: $1.1 million

Invest Inya Farmer just raised $1.1 million in seed funding for its cooperative that allows for fractional investment into farms from its app.

As a user you can invest in a bottle of wine, perhaps a cow or two, or even a jar of honey from all over Australia. For farmers, your small investments give them immediate access to capital. And all of this is done on your phone.

The round was led by Investible and was joined by AgFunder and others.

“In my farm, I have beehives in the Northern Territory, cattle in Queensland, NSW and Tasmania, and oysters in two states and some in New Zealand,” IIF founder Nathan MacPhee told Business News Australia.

“We effectively invest into production cycles and when those assets are matured and harvested our members share in those profits.”