Welcome to the final Cut Through Venture for 2022, where we'll slice and dice November startup funding.

Good Morning ,

The State of Australian Startup Funding 2022 report launches in less than two months. 

The team is assembled, drafting is underway, and engagement with the funding community starts this week. 

Plus, we've got a punchy new logo 👇

Like last year, the report will take a comprehensive look into the key insights, trends, and issues shaping Australia’s funding landscape. The report will celebrate the progress made by the funding ecosystem, as well as areas for improvement.

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We're teaming up with Folklore Ventures again, and we're thrilled to have corporate support from JP Morgan, Silicon Valley Bank, Deloitte, and Google. Over 70 startup investment firms and ecosystem participants have signed up to be involved too!

As we tipped (we don't predict) last month, November delivered a flurry of early-stage deals and a handful of good-ole-fashioned mega-deal announcements. It was the strongest month since Q1, but was nothing compared to November 2021, which remains the biggest funding month on record.

The top funding trend since Q2 remains the stoppage in huge later stage deals. Series B+ deal announcements are few and far between -- we counted just six in November. 

Almost 100 startups that raised Series A rounds in 2020 & 21 have not announced another funding round since. Some have failed, some exited, and some have reached profitability nirvana... but most will need need to tap capital providers for funding again. 

We tip the flood to begin in Q2 2023. 

The seven largest deals accounted for about half of November's total deal volume.

Advanced Navigation, a provider of industry-leading navigation and robotic technologies, welcomed global private equity big hitter KKR to it's cap table. The deal is the ninth largest of 2022 and brings the total capital raised by the startup to ~$135M. Advanced Navigation has Malcolm Turnbull on it's Board, and it just so happens that Malcolm is a Senior Advisor to KKR. Beautiful when coincidences like that happen. The deal is a departure from KKR's usual PE form, and it marks a forward step in the fund's Aussie tech-growth strategy.

Embedded insurance provider Cover Genius banked its Series D from a bevvy of foreign investors to grow its insurance distribution services. Born in Sydney but now a truly global scaleup, Cover Genius turned covid into lemonade, dramatically broadening its product offering beyond the severely impacted travel segment. They're now a heavy-hitter in the event ticketing and ecommerce markets. This is Cover Genius' third raised in three years.

Logistics startup Ofload raised its Series B amid increasing demand for empty truck space. It was led by Singaporean mega-fund Jungle Ventures, with several other local and international funds getting on Board too. Reportedly, the round came together in just a few weeks – faster than it currently takes to have a new iPhone delivered and considerably faster than a new couch. The Ofload team seem to have finessed the fundraising process, raising a bigger and bigger round in each of the last three years.

With its huge Series A round banked, Samsara Eco will build its first plastic recycling facility by Christmas. Taking a unique approach to plastic wastage, Samsara's technology allows like-new plastic products to be produced entirely from used plastic. Using fewer additives reduces wastage and reduces the quantum of fossil fuels released into the atmosphere during the process. Samsara partnered with Woolworths to launch its first recycled packaging, which should hit supermarket checkouts in 2023. The founders hope that ramped production will see Samsara recycle 1.5M tonnes of plastic annually by 2030.

Athlete monitoring hardware and software pros VALD raised a Series B. Following a shelved 2021IPO, the Brissy-based sports tech is now used by more than 1200 pro sports teams, including 16 NRL teams, 20 English Premier League teams, 26 NBA teams, and 20 major league baseball teams. Now, flush with cash, the team are planting roots in the US and kicking off an acquisition spree.

Previous "CTV Startup Spotlight" star and current leader in Australian cell-based meat Vow pulled in a huge Series A round. The raise gives Vow the firepower to launch its first product, a cultured umami quail, across multiple markets (hitting Singaporean plates by the end of the year). The funding will also expedite new product development, manufacturing expansion and recruitment.

And because $140M is not as good as $170M, semiconductor startup Morse Micro added an additional $30M to the $140M Series B we covered last month. Among the investors was the aforementioned ex-PM Turnbull. After three years of development, they are ready to begin production.

With so many deals to cover in a month, does it make more sense for us to shift to a list format? Cast your vote here.

Agriculture / AgTech

Oceanfarmr raised $1.5M

DataFarming raised a $500K Series A

AI / Big Data

Abyss Solutions raised a $15M Series A

Orkestra raised a $1.1M Seed 

BioTech / MedTech

Vexev raised a $8.5M Series A

Celosia raised a $2M Seed 

VeinTech raised a $1.5M Seed round

Crypto / Web3

Arkon Energy raised a $28M Series A

Climate / CleanTech

ULUU raised a $8M Series A

Trace raised a $1.5M Seed round

Subpod crowdfunded $787K

Diaper Recycle crowdfunded $335K

Consumer Product

quokkabeds crowdfunded $203K

Cyber / Privacy / ID

FrankieOne raised a $23M Series A

Darwinium raised a $10M Seed 

DevTech 

Buildkite raised a $21M Series B

Sauce raised a $2.3M Seed

EComm

Urban Plant Growers crowdfunded $1M

EdTech

HMC GROUP raised a $15M

Saasguru raised a $4M Seed 

Enterprise / Business Software

Sapia.ai raised a $17M Series A

eQ8 raised $5.5M

Fintech

Ordermentum raised a $6.2M Series A

publicsquare crowdfunded $1.8M

Food / Beverage

Vow raised a $49.2M Series A

Monday Distillery crowdfunded $1M

Valhalla Brewing crowdfunded $422K

Mrs Clucks crowdfunded $231K

Hardware / Robotics / IOT

Tiny Bright Things raised a $1.5M Seed 

HealthTech

Picaluna crowdfunded $389K

LegalTech

Josef raised a $5.2M Seed round

Marketplace

AutoGrab raised a $5M Series A

Azura Reborn raised a $2M Seed

MarTech / AdTech / SalesTech

Zitcha raised a $4.7M Seed round

Upflowy raised a $250K Seed round

PropTech / RealTech / Construction

ClearCalcs raised a $2.5M Series A

Social Networking / Media

Kindship crowdfunded $1M

Space / Aviation / Defence

Skyportz crowdfunded $401K

Hardware/IoT hit the top of the sector chart for the second time this year -- and, aside from Fintech, deal volume was widely spread across a diverse sector set.

The five mainland states funded deals, with just the territories and Tassy sitting out the month. Funding to the smaller three states and two territories is down in 2022 by 15% compared with 2021.

November delivered somewhat of a 2021 throwback, with a handful of large deal announcements. 

Of course, there's large and there's large... last November SImPro, Airwallex, and Deputy all raised $115M+ rounds from global and local investors. Simpro, which raised north of $470M, raised more than the total deal volume announced by all Australian startups in April, May, June, July, August and October.

Female founders did not participate in any of November's mega funding rounds, resulting in a wide cap between total funding and overall deal participation. 

One of the strongest funding trends of 2022 is the simultaneous strengthening of female founder representation in early-stage deals, and slippage of representation in later-stage deals. 

That's it. We'll see you again, on this side or the other.

– Chris + Sharon.