This week appears to be an extension of last week’s events: lockdowns in Sydney remain in place, cases continue to rise, and businesses continue to suffer financial losses. In response, the NSW Government announced a multibillion-dollar economic aid plan for small businesses.
Furthermore, according to the ELMO Employee Sentiment Index, pandemic-related insecurity continues to dominate people’s minds, and vaccine rollout is considered as vital to economic recovery.
On the startup front, we did witness some interesting action. A Brisbane-founded startup raised a whopping $100 million after a 400% increase in revenues.
In addition to this, Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology announced $5.6 million in grants to two blockchain-focused companies — Everledger and Convergence.tech as part of blockchain Pilot Grants program.
The following are the key startup fundraising rounds from this week:
Workforce management firm, Skedulo bags $100 million
Skedulo has secured a whopping $100.2 million in Series C funding, after seeing its annual revenues increase by 400%. This latest funding round follows a $39 million Series B round, closed back in March 2019.
The raise was led by the Softbank Vision Fund 2 and has secured over $115 million in funding to date, led by Softbank, Microsoft’s venture firm M12, Costanoa Ventures, and Blackbird.
In addition, the company said the appointments booked through the platform topped the 35 million mark. Skedulo creates cloud-based software to allow any company in any industry to schedule, manage, engage, and analyze their deskless workforce.
Founded in 2013, Skedulo is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Australia, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom. Skedulo has enabled hundreds of organizations, including American Red Cross, DHL, and Sunrun.
Telehealth startup Eucalyptus raises $30 million
Telehealth platform Eucalyptus raised a $30 million Series B round of funding to build a digital health portfolio for primary care in Australia.
NewView Capital led the round with participation from existing investors Blackbird Ventures and W23, and new investor AirTree Ventures.
As part of the investment, Ravi Viswanathan, NewView founder and managing partner, will be joining the Eucalyptus board.
Since its launch in 2019 by Tim Doyle, Benny Kleist, Alexey Mitko, and Charlie Gearside, the Sydney-based company has raised a total of $32.8 million.
Eucalyptus presently has four different brands in the fertility, health, and wellness categories.
Indian startup raises US$60 million in new funding round
Inshorts, based in India, has raised US$60 million in funding from Vy Capital and other current investors. The company operates an eponymous news app and a hyperlocal social network called Public.
To date, the business has raised US$140 million from investors including Tiger Global, Tanglin Venture Partners, SIG, A91 Partners, and Addition.
According to the company, the fresh cash will be utilised to expand its digital infrastructure, content offerings, and employment base.
Inshorts, founded in 2013, is a news app that curates news articles from many areas such as sports, politics, business among others.
Singapore’s Tinvio raises US$12 million in series A round
Singapore-based commerce startup Tinvio has raised US$12 million in its series A round led by AppWorks Ventures. To date, the startup has raised US$18.5 million in total.
The round also saw participation from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s corporate VC arm MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP) and existing investors Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Global Founders Capital, and Partech Partners.
Founded by Ajay Gopal, Tinvio plans to use the fresh capital to develop its financial technology.
Storytelling platform, Pratilipi bags $48 million in round led by PUBG creator
Bengaluru-based storytelling platform Pratilipi has raised $48 million in a Series D funding round led by PUBG developer Krafton, as the startup looks to expand into overseas markets.
The latest round of funding will enable Pratilipi to strengthen its intellectual property acquisition and development across a variety of forms, including audio books and games.
Existing investors Omidyar Network and Network India joined the round, as did a slew of entrepreneurs, including Unacademy founders Gaurav Munjal and Hemesh Singh, Locus’ Nishith Rastogi, and Delhivery’s Samir Jain.
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