It’s not every week that we see startup funding deals featuring Australian soccer Star Tim Cahill and prominent Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator.
This week, we counted seven Australian and New Zealand startups that raised a combined total of $17 million in new funding. This includes Nardo, which now has Cahill on board as an investor and advisor, and Alloovium and Gutgutgoose, which are headed to San Francisco’s Y Combinator program.
Keep reading to learn more.
QuantX Labs: $7 million
The QuantX Labs team. Image: QuantX Labs
South Australian quantum startup QuantX Labs has raised $7 million (US$5 million) in seed funding, in a round led by global tech investment firm Serendipity Capital.
Founded in 2016, QuantX Labs is a leader in the type of quantum sensing used for navigation, timing and positioning of defence systems, satellite networks and national infrastructure.
The startup is developing atomic clock technology that uses optical frequencies, as opposed to microwave frequencies, for high-precision applications.
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QuantX Labs says its optimal atomic clocks are up to 10 to 100 times more stable than existing systems, while also being smaller and more portable than others. This means greater accuracy and resilience for critical systems like GPS and navigation, advanced radar networks and telecommunications.
In a statement on Wednesday, the startup said it has bootstrapped its way to commercialising its technology, having already sold timing systems to the Australian Department of Defence and deployed its tech on a SpaceX mission.
The investment will see Serendipity Capital partner and co-founder Anton Jerga join QuantX Labs’ board of directors.
“Serendipity Capital brings exactly the kind of partnership we were seeking for the next stage of QuantX Labs’ growth,” said Andre Luiten, CEO and co-founder of QuantX Labs, in a statement.
“Their deep experience in commercialising quantum technologies, combined with their unique access to networks across the public and private sectors, will be invaluable as we scale our optical atomic clock platform, expand manufacturing capability and bring resilient timing solutions to defence, space and critical infrastructure customers globally.”
DataMasque: $5.6 million
DataMasque cofounders Grant de Leeuw and Greg Daniel. Image DataMasque
De-identification startup DataMasque has secured $5.6 million in a fresh funding round, led by Wavemaker Partners, with existing investors OIF Ventures and Icehouse Ventures also participating.
DataMasque says its platform allows organisations to generate synthetic versions of customer data that can be used for AI training, testing and analytics while preserving the characteristics of the original information.
“Using synthetically identical data, where personally identifiable information is masked but relationships and values are maintained, is critical for ensuring models are developed on accurate data,” co-founder and CEO Grant de Leeuw told SmartCompany.
He pointed to one example that changes an individual’s date of birth while preserving their age, allowing organisations to protect sensitive information without affecting the usefulness of the underlying dataset.
Unlike traditional privacy tools that redact sensitive information, DataMasque replaces it with synthetic data designed to maintain consistency across different systems and datasets. De Leeuw said many organisations still rely on custom scripts to manage the process internally.
According to the startup, it has achieved six-fold annual recurring revenue growth and tripled its headcount since its previous $2.3 million seed round back in 2023.
Read more here.
Oscorp Energy: $1.3 million
Oscorp Energy co-founder Ani Goswami. Image: LinkedIn/Ani Goswami
Oscorp Energy, a robotics startup building AI-based machines for the waste and recycling industry, has raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding.
The round was led by European VC Atlas, via its AI VB fund, supported by Antler and Antipodean Capital.
CEO Ani Goswami co-founded Oscorp during the Antler residency program in Australia. Antler backed the Sydney startup at the end of the residency and followed on during its pre-seed raise.
The startup is building AI-powered vision and robotic systems to identify, classify, and remove materials from fast-moving waste streams in real time.
The company’s first focus is on one of the most urgent safety issues facing the sector: detecting and removing lithium-ion batteries before they trigger fires in trucks, material recovery facilities and recycling sites.
The scale of that problem is significant. An Australian Council of Recycling study estimates there are between 10,000 and 12,000 battery-related fires annually in waste and recycling streams in Australia.
The Oscorp system combines AI vision, edge computing, and robotics to detect battery-containing objects and remove them before they become a safety issue.
The startup is collaborating with ASX-listed battery recycler Livium (ASX: LIT) as a design partner for its battery detection and robotic removal system, with plans to deploy the technology at one of Livium’s sites as part of the collaboration.
The funding will support commercial pilots with recycling and waste operators.
Read more here.
Nardo: $1 million
Nardo co-founder Beau Catley and investor Tim Cahill. Image: Supplied
A software platform helping amateur sports clubs design, manage and order team apparel has raised $1 million in a pre-seed round, with former Socceroo Tim Cahill among the investors.
Cahill is also a strategic partner in Nardo as it looks to expand in the US, UK, and Middle East.
Beau Catley, co-founder of streetwear label Geedup Co, co-founded Nardo in Sydney in 2023 after a request from a local sports club made him realise how complex the supply chains were just to get a team kitted out.
So Catley redesigned how grassroots clubs source, customise and manage teamwear, turning a manual process that involves more than 130 separate touchpoints into a single digital workflow for sports organisations.
He worked directly with grassroots and semi-professional soccer and rugby league clubs to map the full end-to-end process, from design and sampling through to production and delivery, then teamed up with co-founders Rhys Adams and Adam Famularo to scale the concept into a global technology business.
Nardo connects clubs directly into a global manufacturing network for greater customisation, faster turnaround times and improved cost efficiency.
“The issue was never just the product; it was the entire operating model,” Catley said.
“Clubs were navigating fragmented suppliers, unclear pricing and manual processes that created friction at every stage. We built Nardo to simplify the entire experience and give clubs one connected system from design through to delivery.”
Read more here.
Alloovium: $700,000
Alloovium co-founder Zander Schweitzer. Image: supplied
Brisbane construction software startup Alloovium has secured $700,000 (US$500,000) in funding, after being selected for the famed Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator.
Alloovium co-founders Zander Schweitzer and Cielo Nicolosi will relocate to San Francisco to complete the program, according to The Australian.
The startup wants to tackle the mountains of manual paperwork that are typically involved in construction projects. Its platform uses artificial intelligence to streamline the many reports and documents involved in compliance, safety, end-of-month reporting, and more.
In Alloovium’s words, it is “building the intelligence layer for the built world”.
The startup previously completed the Startmate Summer 26 Accelerator and has reportedly deployed its technology across active construction projects worth more than $400 million.
Gutgutgoose: $700,000
Gutgutgoose cofounders Anis Mihrshahi and Leon Mojarrabi. Image: University of Southern Queensland
Fellow Queensland startup Gutgutgoose has also been selected for the latest Y Combinator program and, like Alloovium, has secured $700,000 (US$500,000) in funding.
Gutgutgoose was founded by childhood friends Anis Mihrshahi and Leon Mojarrabi, who are students at the University of Southern Queensland and Griffith University, respectively.
The biotech startup has developed a way to provide personalised probiotics that are tailored to an individual’s gut microbiome.
Its subscription-based system involves customers completing an at-home stool test, which is then tested and analysed by Gutgutgoose. The results are then matched with tailored probiotic capsules, which are delivered each month to the customer’s home.
According to a blog post from the University of Southern Queensland, the company combines microbiome sequencing, metabolic modelling, and AI-driven analysis to develop formulations that match a person’s specific needs.
“The gut microbiome is now linked to chronic disease, immune function, and mental health across hundreds of peer-reviewed studies,” Mojarrabi said.
“But the interventions – off-the-shelf probiotics – sold to address it don’t actually engraft in most of the people who buy them. Most strains in a capsule pass straight through the gut.”
Nitrosend: $700,000
L-R: Eastend’s Josh Garratt with Nitrosend co-founders George and Edward Hartley. Image: supplied
Two South Australian siblings who’ve built their second email marketing startup, this time as an AI-native platform, have raised $700,000 (US$500,000) in seed funding.
The round for Nitrosend was led by Eastend Ventures Fund 1, with support from Archangel Ventures and Aussie Angels.
The Adelaide startup was founded by Edward and George Hartley. Their previous startup, SmartrMail, became one of the highest-rated marketing automation tools on Shopify, scaling to six billion emails sent before being acquired by Relay Commerce in 2022.
For Nitrosend, the Hartley brothers have applied the lessons from their first venture to building a new AI marketing platform, rebuilding it from the ground up. It works straight from Claude, ChatGPT, or via the Nitrosend platform.
“Between us, we’ve built two email platforms, sent over six billion emails, and scaled three technology companies. We’ve been on both sides of the email stack,” George said.
“This is a tool we initially started for ourselves. We needed this, and it turns out other people wanted it too.”
Read more here.
This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You can read the original here.
