Aussie Startups Pulse Check - September 2024 💓

Welcome to the September edition of Pulse Check! 💗 

A huge welcome to the 31 new subscribers who’ve joined us since last edition! 👯 

What is Pulse Check?

Pulse Check is an initiative of Overnight Success (OS), powered by an amazing team of volunteer writers (“correspondents”) who have each contributed their own insights to bring you an insightful overview of what’s happening across the many corners of the Aussie startup ecosystem.

In case you’re new here, you can get a weekly download of startup news from our OG newsletter 👇️.

P.S. If this email gets cut short for you (thanks Gmail!), you can always read the online version here.

🌍 How to go global? 

Each month, we cover Aussie Founders and startups expanding internationally. But once an Aussie founder decides their startup is ready to conquer the world, how do they find the tactical resources to build a business entity in another country? 

Today, we’ll share some top open-source gems to fast-track going global. Aussie founders with global ambitions, take note. 

1. Looking for ways to fund your international expansion?  

Check out LUNA's Startup Incentives & Grants Directory, including the Australian  Australian Trade and Investment Commission's Landing Pads and Dealroom, which helps connect Aussie startups with international contacts and opportunities! 

2. Looking to find out what you need to know for your international expansion?  

Review Scalare Partners’ one-stop-shop downloadable free guide How To Take Your Startup Global!

3. Looking for go-to-guides to go global?

Search no further than Australian VC Airtree’s plethora of Open Source Global Expansion guides, including: 

• B2B blueprint for expansion into the US

• What Aussie startups need to know about the Delaware Flip

• How to administer ESOPs across borders 

• How to choose the right US work visa for Australians

• Pros and cons of PEOs for ANZ startups 

My take: Aussie founders and founding teams can set their expansion up for success by utilising these supportive and generous ANZ ecosystem resources.

To get in touch with Lea Rausch, send her a message on LinkedIn.

☀️🔌 SunCable Powers Up

Globally, the biggest sources of power are often located far from areas that use it the most. As I’ve written about in a prior edition, this is a problem that startups like Aquila are attempting to solve. But what if a solution was to simply use a massive extension cable?

That’s the idea behind the Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink), developed by SunCable, which received federal government approval last month. With a 17-20GW solar field powering a 42GWh battery complex, the power will be sent via high voltage direct current cables, first on overhead transmission lines ~800km to the Darwin area and then on to Singapore via 4,300km of subsea cables.

By the numbers:

• $30 billion project cost

• Will power the equivalent of 3 million homes

• Could potentially create 1,750 direct jobs, ~350 long term operational jobs, & ~12,000 indirect jobs

📖 What I’m Reading

Nature Positive Notes, a newsletter by Bronte McHenry and the team at Wedgetail. Founded by CEO Lisa Miller, Wedgetail is the family office of both her and Canva co-founder Cameron Adams.

By financing nature-positive projects with a mix of loans, grants, and equity investments, Wedgetail is seeking to accelerate the Earth’s regeneration. I particularly like the “learning by doing” approach the team uses on projects such as its 5,000-hectare demonstration landscape in the Tasmanian Midlands, The Quoin.

To get in touch with Andrew Harding, send him a message on LinkedIn.

Good Luck Zuck

Broccoli haircut, overpriced t-shirt, gold necklace and open source AI platform. Is Zuck in his hot CEO era? 

It's hard to believe that in January, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was at a particularly low point.  Since then, Zuck has dramatically risen in favour, largely due to his approach to Meta’s open source AI. 

Closed AI models are the method of choice of most big tech players, including (confusingly named) OpenAI, Microsoft and Google who (mostly) guard their IP and “protect model accuracy”. 

Meta’s LLaMA 2 launched in April 2023 and users have carte blanche to inspect its components, modify and share results. It's been downloaded more than 180 million times and topped the Hugging Face charts. Zuck claims open source AI is “so important, and the opportunities are so great, that we should make it as widely available as we responsibly can,”

After going all in on the metaverse (an expensive mistake), I was guilty in believing Meta had ‘lost its touch.’ But consider their extraordinary brand power and network effects. With this open source play and if Meta continues to play to their strengths through their social empire, I wouldn’t bet against the Zucknaissance.

To get in touch with Georgina Healy, send her a message on LinkedIn.

Skalata Leapfrogs the Competition

Skalata is making waves this month, climbing the leaderboard with five key investments in teams that are either mixed or led by women and people from marginalised genders. This puts them just one step behind LaunchVic and more than double the nearest VC rival. The message is clear: it’s anyone’s game.

Bright Spots in a Challenging Landscape

This has been a meaningful month for diverse teams. Out of 24 teams that received funding, 9 were either Mixed Gender or led by Women or People from Marginalised Genders. While we still have a way to go, there have been some big raises from: Rich Data Co., a mixed team (1 women and 3 men), raised an incredible $37 million; Inform Ag, led by a solo woman founder, secured $7 million. These wins are more than just numbers—they’re proof that diverse teams are stepping up and making their mark.

In other related and intriguing news, research by Techboard found that 60% of FinTech deals went unannounced. Interestingly, investments in companies founded solely by women had a significantly higher number of unannounced deals, though these were noted as having a negligible dollar value. Read more here.

To get in touch with Preethi Mohan or Kirstin Hunter, send them a message on LinkedIn.

Big News for Data Buffs

Austrade has just dropped a national startup database in partnership with global VC tracker Dealroom.co, and it's a goldmine for data enthusiasts. 

The database reveals that there are now 6,324 Aussie agritech firms and $204 million in VC funding went to the sector last year. Top areas of strength? Synthetic biology for food and agritech—think fertilizers and alternative proteins. The CSIRO sees a $30 billion opportunity in these sectors by 2040.

Goterra Hits Another Milestone

Sydney’s own agritech star, Goterra, is teaming up with the Hyatt Regency Sydney, Australia’s largest hotel, to install its cutting-edge modular food waste management system.

It’s the second version of Goterra’s compact unit, which can also be found at Melbourne Airport, where fly larvae munch through more than two tonnes of food waste a week. (Startup Daily)

Investor Spotlight: Mandalay Venture Partners

Agritech VC Mandalay Venture Partners is on a roll, recently backing South Australian AI startup Cropify’s $2 million round alongside Singapore firm Hatcher+. 

They’ve racked up nearly $27 million in funding commitments, with the Queensland Investment Corporation among the contributors

Plus, they’ve just secured support from LaunchVic’s VC Support Program to boost their Victorian investments. If you’re pitching, make sure Mandalay is on your radar!

To get in touch with Holly Clark, send her a message on LinkedIn.

The Art of Focus

We all know how important it is to pick a lane and stick with one focus until you achieve critical mass, but for us creative, entrepreneurial founders who want to go in a million directions this is easier said than done. Doing less to achieve more is a skill, and here are six steps to help:

1. Set your direction.

Without a vision, it’s easy to get distracted by tasks, requests and invitations that simply don’t matter.

2. Choose one focus area.

Weigh up what to do next by assessing the trade offs between your immediate needs and your longer term goals.

3. Make a could-do list.

Instead of fighting the storm, dance among it. Brainstorm all the things you could do and throw everything up against the wall.

4. Identify the smallest action you can take.

Prioitise what’s important and identify the core action you need to take each day. 

5. The 90 day sprint.

Take the smallest  action you can possibly take, every single day, for 90 days. No excuses. 

6. Check in with yourself.

Action is only productive when it’s paired with a strong feedback loop, so check in constantly and stay honest about what the market is telling you.

7. Change lanes.

There will be a moment when things start to change. Now it’s time to double down and if you’re ready, pick another lane.

Read the full article titled “You can build multiple things but not all at once” here.

To get in touch with Anna Mackenzie, send her a message on LinkedIn.

September Munchies

A report prepared by Youtube and SmithGeiger ahead of Youtube India's Fantfest has given us an incredible insight into Gen Z's use of the platform and the picture it paints is an incredibly exciting one for creators.  

• 91% of Gen Z (14-24) have participated in fan related experiences over the last 12 months. 

• 87% of them identified themselves as a fan of someone or something on the platform. 

• 93% said that they watch videos of the creator or subject they enjoy almost every week.

What is exciting about the above data and what we've seen over the last few years with the rise of platforms like Youtube, Fanfix, Patreon, Onlyfans and Substack is a willingness of fans to pay for content to support creators they love.  Creators across subsequent generations will be valued from day one which is something more traditional creators (artists, musicians, performers, athletes) have really struggled with, as technology has pulled them into an entirely new world and one they weren't prepared for.

Read On

To get in touch with Gav Parry, send him a message on LinkedIn.

If you have feedback on what you liked and didn’t like about this edition of Pulse Check, we’d love to hear from you! Just reply to this email 😃 .

‘Til next time,

The Pulse Check Team 💗