Two startups raised more in the past 24 hours than entire weeks last quarter

In some good news for the Australian startup scene, the last 24 hours have clocked two capital raises that are larger than many of the weeks on record so far this year.

At the top of the cash list, we have Novalith at $23 million in Series A — a tidy jump from the $2.5 million it raised back in 2021. The company has a focus on lithium extraction from ore for batteries. It will be using the fresh funds to build a new processing plant that utilises soda water to sustainably remove the lithium.

Nipping at its heels is drone tech startup Propeller with $22 million. Another price bump from the $4 million it raised back in 2016. Propeller has a created 3D mapping software that utilises drone images that are then employed by civil industries in particular. It has also recently launched a mobile app.

This is exciting because it’s been an incredibly slow start to the venture capital year. While there have been a handful of medium to large raises, most have been on the smaller side. In fact, only two weeks in Q1 of 2023 saw collective capital raises crack the $100 million mark.

Most weeks here at SmartCompany we do funding roundups — so we’ve seen how low the numbers have been. The outlier strong weeks — which are usually thanks to one large raise thrown into the mix — are far outweighed by the slower ones.

Back in March there was even one week that only saw $19 million shared amongst six startups. Some weeks there aren’t enough raises to even warrant a round-up.

Cut Through Venture’s first quarterly report for 2023 backs this up. It confirmed that it was the lowest Q1 since 2021. Australia saw $661 million in total funding, which was 50% lower than Q1 2021 and 20% lower than Q1 2022.

It also confirmed a reduction in median and average-size deals, as well as mega deals. And we’ve certainly seen that each week in our reporting.

Based on the past four months, the current VC climate, and general economic turmoil, it’s entirely likely that the past 24 hours are yet another outlier. But it does offer some hope, particularly after a week that was largely dominated by the news of Milkrun’s demise.