Dynamic Business brings you the key start-up fundraising rounds from this week:
SiteMinder announced a pre-IPO funding round of over AU$100m
SiteMinder, the world’s leading open hotel commerce platform, has raised more than AU$100 million in pre-IPO fundraising.
Existing shareholders AustralianSuper, BlackRock equity funds, Ellerston Capital, Pendal Group, and Washington H. Soul Pattinson also joined in this pre-IPO funding round, increasing their interest in SiteMinder prior to the COVID-19 launch.
SiteMinder’s early investors, including Bailador Technology Investments, Les Szekely of Equity Venture Partners, and TCV, remain supporters and shareholders.
Canva announces $40 billion valuation fuelled by $200 million raise
Canva, the global visual communications platform, announced a $40 billion valuation after raising $200 million.
T. Rowe Price led the fundraise. Franklin Templeton, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer Investments, Blackbird, Felicis, and AirTree Ventures are among the new and current strategic investors in the round.
Canva’s current value cements its position as one of the fastest-growing software companies to date. The new round of capital will be used to accelerate Canva’s ongoing expansion, including expanding the company’s staff of over 2,000 people, which the company aims to double in the coming year.
Ellerston Capital’s Prospection raises $45 million in Series B
Ellerston Capital’s growth-stage investment fund has taken a cornerstone stake in Prospection’s $45 million Series B fundraise, as it seeks to capitalise on the expanding trend of personalised medicine.
Ellerston’s JAADE invested $30 million, and existing Prospection backers Main Sequence Ventures, CSIRO’s venture fund, and Horizons Ventures also contributed.
Shouta announces $1 million seed round
Shouta, a Sydney-based fintech startup, has announced the completion of its seed funding round, which received $1 million in funding from a number of notable investors.
Mike Bird and George Glover, co-founders of Carsales and Pentana Solutions, Steve Kloss, Co-Founders of Untitled Group, Michael Christidis and Tom Caw, Rob Phillpot, Co-Founder of Aconex and CEO of Gravel Road Ventures, and Amanda Coombs, ex-GM of Commonwealth Bank Private, plan to use the funding to accelerate growth.
Gaming startup Immutable raises $82 million series B
Immutable, a Sydney-based gaming business, has raised A$82 million to expand its Ethereum-based trading platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The round was co-led by BITKRAFT Ventures in California and King River Capital in Sydney.
AirTree Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Fabric Ventures, FTX, Reinventure, Apex Capital, and VaynerFund are among the other investors. The round follows a US$15 million series A from Naspers Ventures, blockchain-focused merchant bank Galaxy Digital’s EOS VC Fund, and Apex Capital Partners two years ago.
The funds will be used to develop the startup’s global engineering and sales teams, as well as to improve its partnerships with gaming companies.
Healthcare data analytics startup raises $45 million series B
Prospection, a Sydney-based health analytics business that utilises AI and machine learning to assist patients with insights into potentially life-threatening conditions, has raised $45 million in a series B round.
The round was led by Ellerston Capital’s JAADE fund, which contributed $30 million, with the remaining funds coming from existing investors, the CSIRO VC firm Main Sequence Ventures, and Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures.
Prospection previously raised $10 million in its first external fundraising round from MSV and Horizon in late 2019. Two engineers, Eric Chung and Ricky Chen, as well as Dr Peter Cronin, formed the company in 2012 at the deep tech incubator Cicada Innovations.
Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
