Melbourne-based edtech startup Vivi raises $20M to accelerate overseas expansion in race to reach 1M classrooms

Australian edtech startup Vivi has raised $20 million from education investor Quad Partners, funds that it intends to use to improve its platform, upgrade its operational infrastructure and hire more sales and marketing teams in the Americas, Europe and Asia. This latest round sees Vivi reach $24.3 in total capital over five years, after it […]

India’s Cars24, a used-vehicle sales platform, raises $400M, now at a $3.3B valuation, to double down on growth

With supply chains in the automotive industry continuing to be disrupted due to Covid-19, demand has surged in the used-car market. Today, one of the startups that’s seeing a lot of growth as a result of that is announcing a big round of funding to further tap the opportunity. Cars24, a startup out of India […]

Spotify acquires podcast tech company Whooshkaa which turns radio broadcasts into on-demand audio

Spotify is continuing its investments in podcasts with today’s news that’s it’s acquired another podcast technology company, Whooshkaa, an Australia-based all-in-one platform for hosting, managing, distributing, promoting, monetizing and measuring podcasts. The deal follows Spotify’s earlier acquisitions in the podcast technology market, including last year’s deal for hosting and ad company Megaphone, and, more recently, […]

Voly raises $13M led by Sequoia to deliver instant groceries in Australia

The trend that is instant grocery delivery — online ordering of essentials with your purchases being delivered to you in under an hour — continues to proliferate across multiple markets, and in the latest development, Sequoia is leading an investment in one out of Australia. Voly, a five-month-old Sydney-based startup that offers thousands of SKUs […]

Google offers behavioral pledges on news payments in France to try to end costly antitrust litigation

In its latest move to placate European competition regulators, Google has offered a set of commitments to France’s antitrust watchdog — in the hopes of settling a costly (for it) intervention over legally mandated payments for displaying snippets of news publishers’ content. Back in July, France’s Autorité de la Concurrence slapped the tech giant with […]

Sydney-based medtech startup Harrison.ai gets $129M AUD led by Horizons Ventures

Harrison.ai, a Sydney-based company that creates medical devices with AI technology, announced today it has raised $129 million AUD (about $92.3 million USD) in what it says is one of the largest Series B rounds ever for an Australian startup. The funding was led by returning investor Horizons Ventures, and included participation from new investors […]

Sydney-based quantum sensing startup Q-CTRL raises $25M Series B led by Airbus Ventures

Q-CTRL, a Sydney-based startup that provides quantum control engineering solutions, announced today it has raised a $25 million Series B led by Airbus Ventures with participation from Ridgeline Partners, Main Sequence Ventures, Horizons Ventures, SquarePeg Capital, Sierra Ventures, DCVC, Sequoia Capital China and InQTel.  The latest funding will support hiring staff and enable new data-as-a-service […]