The 10 biggest capital raises by Australian startups in 2023

It’s been a quieter year for massive raises in startup land. And this is to be expected with the continued economic uncertainty and the ‘free money’ tap being firmly tightened.

In our wrap list last year every entry was over $100 million, and the largest was a mammoth $692 million in Series B for Scalapay. In 2023, Employment Hero tops the chart, but at just a third of that amount at $263 million. Meanwhile, number ten is sitting at $63 million.

Sure, these numbers are nothing to sneeze at, but they’re certainly a stark contrast to where we were 12 months ago.

There is, however, one way in which our 2023 list echoes that of 2022. Once again just one of these big raises has a co-founder who is a woman. Disappointing? Yes. Surprising? Absolutely not.

We know this isn’t news. If you’ve been around the industry for a while, you know it too. And if colloquialisms aren’t enough, we see similar stats every quarter from the likes of Cut Through Ventures. Even when the numbers are looking good for women founders, there’s usually a caveat in the form of one or two big raises skewing the numbers. And we’ve written some version of that sentence an exhausting amount of times on this site in 2023 alone.

We even see it in what’s happening around the raises — like our exclusive into how Blackbird had 11 public investments into all-male founding teams in a row  — which actually hit 12 before the streak was broken a couple of weeks ago.

Then there’s Equity Clear — the VC supergroup that has formed to try and level the playing field for investment into diverse founders. It’s excellent, but of course most of the labour, so far, is on the backs of women.

Then there’s the ongoing debacle with Boosting Female Founders, which we still don’t have proper clarity on even after our most recent report.

Anyway, here’s our list of the biggest raises this year. Here’s to hoping that in 2024 we’ll see the numbers rise again, and see some different types of faces attached to them.

1. Employment Hero: $263 million

Employment Hero co-founder and CEO Ben Thompson. Source: Supplied

Australian unicorn Employment Hero led the pack with the biggest startup capital raise this year, locking in an enormous $263 million in Series F funding in October, which it said will help it “transcend the traditional confines of HR and payroll” within the next 12 months.

The raise was led by Californian giant Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), which has previously backed the likes of Airbnb and Spotify.

With its recently launched Swag app, and artificial intelligence-powered talent acquisition system SmartMatch, Employment Hero is now preparing for deeper international expansion.

“While we were not actively seeking funding, our growth story has meant that we have received significant inbound investor interest – this has given us incredible confidence in our vision and allowed us to opportunistically boost our balance sheet, even at a time when the funding environment has been tight,” said CEO and co-founder Ben Thompson.

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2. Saluda Medical: $150 million

Source: Saluda Medical

Nipping on Employment Hero’s heels was Saluda Medical with a cool $150 million back in April. The round was led by Wellington Management and supported by Fidelity Management & Research Company and TPG.

This funding was pegged for the launch of its Evoke Spinal Cord Simulation System, a type of neuromodulation technology for treating chronic pain.

“We are very excited to add two elite healthcare investors to our shareholder base while existing investors continue to support our mission to transform patients’ lives with neural sensing technology and revolutionise the field of neuromodulation”, said Jim Schuermann, president and CEO of Saluda Medical said at the time.

“With this financing, which follows the recent presentation of our 36-month data, the decision by CMS to grant Evoke TPT payment, and our initial limited commercial release, we are more prepared than ever to fundamentally transform the neuromodulation space with our clinically proven, technologically unrivaled platform.”

3. Skykraft: $120 million

The Skykraft team in the Canberra manufacturing facility with Block III satellites before shipping to the US. Source: Skykraft

In third position is Canberra-based space technology company Skykraft, which secured $120 million from investors in October to fuel its mission to disrupt air traffic management.

Founded in 2017, Skykraft designs and produces small satellites that can be used to improve the way air traffic control and aircraft communicate with each other.

The tech company has already launched 10 such satellites this year and plans to launch more throughout 2024 to complete in-orbit training. In 2025, it plans to deploy its initial constellation of hundreds of satellites in low-earth orbit.

The significant funding injection comes from Foresight Australia, the local subsidiary of the UK fund manager, Canadian pension fund OPTrust, and CSIRO’s deep tech investment fund, Main Sequence.

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4. Songtradr: $109 million

Songtradr founder and chief Paul Wiltshire. Source: supplied

Also raising more than $100 million this year was Songtradr, the music licensing platform founded by Australian songwriter and entrepreneur Paul Wiltshire, which locked in $109 million in fresh funding in November and is now reportedly valued at $879 million.

The Series E investment came from Epic Games — the same company that sold the D2C music sales platform Bandcamp to Songtradr last month — as well as previous investors including WiseTech’s Richard White, Perennial and Argo.

Songtradr has previously received backing from Australian-based investors, including the St Baker family office, Regal Funds Management, and Aware Super.

Songtradr aims to be an all-in-one music licensing platform for corporates, small businesses, and content creators. Its subscribers can select songs from the Songtradr marketplace or browse from playlists, including ones inspired by popular films and TV shows.

Wiltshire has previously described the platform as a B2B version of Spotify, with songwriters and producers earning fees whenever a Songtradr client licenses their music.

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5. Loam Bio: $105 million

Carbon startup Loam’s co-founders Tegan Nock and Guy Hudson say Orange has been the perfect place to launch the business. Source: Rachael Lenehan Photography

Rounding out the top five biggest startup capital raises this year is carbon startup Loam, which secured $105 million in Series B funding in February, with partial backing from Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Loam was launched in 2019 in Orange, in regional New South Wales, and focuses on carbon capture in cropping soil — something that was previously believed to be nearly impossible.

Loam has been able to apply fungi to seed, which enhances a plant’s ability to store carbon in soil long-term.

During a visit to Loam’s Orange facility in November, the startup revealed to SmartCompany its plans to develop a bespoke production facility in the heart of the regional town over the next 18 months.

“Orange is where we founded the foundations of what Loam is today. We spent six months just renting some space floating around and slowly building out the team,” said co-founder and chief operating officer Tegan Nock at the time.

From Orange, the startup has expanded into a few other countries and developed a global footprint.

“Often Australian farmers are receiving technology from the rest of the world. This is a nice chance for the Aussies to say that we’re exporting our tech,” Nock says.

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6. Roller: $78.5 million

L-R: Roller founders Luke and Mark Finn. Source: Supplied.

In November, Melbourne-based software startup Roller raised $78.5 million (US$50 million) in funding from lead investor Insight Partners.

Founded in 2011 by brothers Luke and Mark Finn, Roller provides a centralised platform for theme parks and other entertainment venues to manage ticketing, point-of-sale, bookings and more.

According to Roller, more than 1500 leisure and attraction venues in 30 countries use the platform, and the startup’s revenue has grown by more than five times in the past three years.

The significant raise followed a $28.2 million funding round in December 2022 and a $7 million Series B round in 2018, and will allow the startup to invest further in its existing global platform.

Rachel Geller, managing director at Insight Partners, joined the Roller board as part of the investment, which will be subject to approval by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.

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7. Pet Circle: $75 million

Mike Frizell, Pet Circle CEO. Source: Supplied

Former Smart50 winner Pet Circle was also among the biggest raisers this year, closing a mammoth $75 million funding round in July, led by prior investor Prysm Capital.

The raise, which was subject to regulatory approvals, meant Pet Circle would hold onto its unicorn status, which it achieved after its Series C round back in December 2021.

Pet Circle said it recorded $308.8 million in sales in 2022 and now offers over 13,500 specialty pet products, as well as Pet Circle Insurance.

In July it said it would use the fresh cash injection to invest in long-term expansion projects, as well as corner an even larger share of the $12 billion pet industry in Australia.

“With this investment, we will be looking to grow our Pet Circle Insurance offering that we recently launched and consider moving into new verticals that solve other problems for pet parents like pet pharmacy,” Mike Frizell, Pet Circle CEO, said in an email to SmartCompany.

8. Secure Code Warrior: $72.6 million

Pieter Danhieux. Source: Supplied

In July, Secure Code Warrior locked in $72.58 million (US$50 million) in Series C funding, led by Paladin Capital Group.

This follows the coding security startup’s almost equally massive $69.2 million Series B that was led by Goldman Sachs and also included ForgePoint Capital. Both investors returned for the Series C round.

The latest funding execution is the company’s highest to date, bringing its total funding to $145 million.

Secure Code Warrior was first launched in 2016 by Pieter Danhieux and Matias Madou, who both have cybersecurity backgrounds.

The SaaS platform educates developers on writing secure code with individual company guidelines, as well as applying software security principles.

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9. Till Payments: $70 million

Till Payments chief executive Shadi Haddad. Source: supplied

Back in March, Till Payments revealed it had raised $70 million in Series D funding. The round was led by Silva Fortune and was joined by Tekkorp.

However, this new funding came only a couple of months after the company laid off 120 staff or roughly 40% of its total headcount. According to the company, it saw a 300% increase in transactions and a 200% increase in its merchant base over the past 12 months.

Till Payments CEO Shadi Haddad said the company will be focusing on sustainable growth and fast-tracking profitability.

He also announced the launch of Till’s new Core Acquiring Platform at the time. This allows the company to directly access payment networks globally, giving Till direct access to the Payment Networks globally.

10. One Model: $64 million

Human resources data analytics startup One Model is not headquartered in Australia, but given it was co-founded by Queenslander Chris Butler and the state-government backed Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) took part in its US$41 million ($64 million) Series B raise, we’ve counted it among the biggest raises by Aussie startups this year.

As reported by Startup Daily, One Model’s funding round in August was led by Riverwood Capital, with participation from the QIC, AV8 and Geekdom.

The funds will go towards bolstering One Model’s presence in Queensland, where CEO Chris Butler grew up, attended university, and even ran a cruising business at the Great Barrier Reef.

One Model, which helps brands use AI to better understand their workplace data, was founded by Butler, David Wilson and Matthew Wilton in the US eight years ago, and it participated in the Techstars program there.

However, the startup has always had engineering and operations staff in Queensland.

“As early as 2015, we invested heavily in our Brisbane-based research, development, and engineering operation and have considerably expanded our investments since then,” Butler said in August.

“That commitment to Queensland-based talent is the reason One Model can offer a world-class technology platform that is winning accolades in the global market.”