VC backs cuttable with $5.5m based on people with deep experience who’ve done it before!

Cofounders Sam Kroonenburg, Jack White and Ed Ring have raised $5.5m for their AI-powered adtech startup Cuttable

Seed funding round led by Paul Bassat’s Square Peg and supported by Taryn Pieterse at Rampersand and other strategic angel investors .

Backing people with strong expertise who’ve done it before!

Sam Kroonenburg co-founded A Cloud Guru - an online learning business, and went on to sell it for more than $2 billion in 2021, 

Jack, Sam and Adam all have deep experience in tech and advertising  and a strong track record of creating cutting-edge solutions”.

Paul Bassett of Square Peg has  joined the board 

What Cuttable does

Cuttable is a “first-of-its-kind automated content agency” that aims to support marketers and agencies marry creative advertising with AI to create high-quality digital ads at scale.

Curable enables  the automation of the creative with AI  - enhancing creativity, optimising ad performance and streamlines the production process - enabling more messages, more personalisation and more targeting –

Customers 

Imagine having the ability to translate a marketing brief into a live ad within a few clicks!! 

Cuttable is already working with Woolworths-owned brand Catch.com.au, and OnePass, and counts the likes of Medibank, Nando’s, Penfolds, Powershop, and DiDi among its clients.

Star trek Comment by Kroonenburg

“It’s about doing what was once impossible, - creating a new frontier in advertising, where technology and creativity converge to deliver unparalleled results for marketers and agencies”.

Thanks Eloise Keating from Smartcompany for the heads up

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/news/sam-kroonenburg-a-cloud-guru-raises-5-5-million-ai-startup-cuttable/

From zero to $2.5 billion in 20 years.

It was 20 years ago when Luke Anear started SafetyCulture in his garage  in Townsville and is now stepping down as CEO as it looks to list, after raising $165m in September last year!

What Safetyculture does 

After numerous jobs Luke saw the l impact workplace incidents had on businesses and their employees, and built a simple checklist app for workplace inspections to help reduce hazards and accidents. 

SafetyCulture has since grown into an all-in-one workplace operations platform, serving nearly 2 million customers globally and targeting 100 million users by 2032. 

Its software is predominantly used by frontline workers across construction, manufacturing, hospitality and retail.

Luke will remain  SafetyCulture’s largest shareholder and owns just under a quarter of the company.

Luke’s huge shows will be filled by  Kelly Vohs, who will be based in the USA ahead of a listing! 

Support by the greats 

Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht , Blackbird partner Rick Baker , Atlassian Scott Farquhar and Kell Reilly of Airtree are among Luke’s inner circle.

The Safety Culture Growth Path 

SafetyCulture has doubled in size in the last 2 years - having  85,000 businesses and close to 2 million users around the world using its platform!! Luke believes that Kelly has what it takes to get to 100m users 

Another game changer -  started in Australia 

See more https://bsivc.blogspot.com/2024/09/safetyculture-hits-home-run-with-airtree.html

Mesoblast is looking to get FDA approval for Ryonci!

This is pretty exciting !! 

I have recently  invested in Mesoblast (AsX :MSB) - after listening to a great panel discussion with Sarah Murdoch and 3 panelists talking about how medicine is going to change over the next 5 years with the development and x fertilisation of stem, crispr and  AI .

This is what made me invest:- 

Cell therapy company Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) has entered into a convertible note subscription agreement with its largest shareholder, Gregory George, to issue up to US$50 million convertible notes at its discretion.

The issue of the convertible notes is linked to the US

FDA's approval of Mesoblast's lead product candidate, Ryonci (remestemcel-L), for the treatment of children with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease (SR-aGHD).

The company said the funding will enable it to implement its go-to-market commercial strategy.It said it expects a decision before or on the FDA's Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date of 7 January, 2025.

Mesoblast chief executive Silviu Itescu said: "We appreciate the ongoing support from our major shareholder in ensuring that the Company is well capitalised for commercial product launch and can hit the ground running immediately following approval of RYONCIL by FDA."

Mesoblast chief executive Silviu Itescu said: "We appreciate the ongoing support from our major shareholder in ensuring that the Company is well capitalised for commercial product launch and can hit the ground running immediately following approval of RYONCIL by FDA."

Mesoblast said its go-to-market strategy includes hiring senior executives, market access, medical education, and ongoing engagement with key opinion leaders.

https://biotechdispatch.com.au/news/mesoblast-option-to-issue-up-to-us50-million-convertible-notes-for-product-launch

VCs don’t fund great ideas

Great post by Kayode Odeleye

This is something else I wish I knew when i started 

I hear founders say “we’ve validated the idea and built MVP, we just need money to scale”

Hmm… you’ll be waiting a long time 

VCs fund two things and two things only:

1️⃣ Pedigree: name recognition say by exiting a previous company or leadership team of big tech

2️⃣ Out of this world growth and traction. Ideally, combination of user growth and revenue 

Founders, what did you have to do to finance your scaling process?

Luvin the #referron journey 

A kinde of unicorn in the making!!

Ivan kaye and Tanya Rose Kaye - Chief of Staff at Kinde

Kind  is about being constantly curious, nimble, and experimental - and total focus on servicing both customers and all stakeholders - says Ross Chaldecott from Kinde !

So what does Kinde do? 🤔

Says Tanya Kaye 

We’re a developer tool, on a mission to make SaaS product development as seamless as possible.

SaaS products typically require:

-  authentication - a way for users to sign into their product

- user management - ability to assign roles within the product eg admin versus team member

- feature flagging - gating of features for users on various plans, and 

- billing - ability to charge users for their use of their product. 

Until now, every new SaaS company needs to buy or build their software infrastructure in a fragmented way - taking developer time and resources and resulting in a labyrinth of integrations under the hood.

We believe that software infrastructure underpinning every SaaS product should be seamlessly integrated together - to unlock the powerful analytics that become enabled when you bring these pieces together and to accelerate SaaS development.

Right now, we're providing authentication, as the first pillar of our software infrastructure platform. We have a way to go to achieve our broader product vision (it turns out that building beautiful, stable, secure infrastructure takes time 😜) but we are very excited.

#SaaS #DeveloperTools #authentication

Celebrating Innovation: Congrats to The Australian's 2024 Top 100 Innovators

Congratulations to the brilliant minds behind The Australian's 2024 Top 100 Innovators. 

This year's list showcases an inspiring range of pioneers across medicine, healthcare, energy, technology, e-commerce, art, and more. 

Each of these leaders has pushed the boundaries of innovation, transforming industries and creating real impact in Australia and beyond.

From life-saving advancements in healthcare to groundbreaking developments in AI, energy sustainability, and digital technologies, these innovators represent the bold, ambitious spirit that drives progress. 

They are at the cutting edge of innovation   - solving complex challenges, improving lives, and shaping a better future for all of us.

A few notable mentions from this year’s list include:

• Lydia O'Donnell and Esther Keown, co-founders of Femmi, have created the world’s first running app that tracks menstrual cycles and provides tailored training advice, transforming women's health in sports.
• Farzaneh Ahmadi of Laronix, whose work in voice-cloning technology gives a voice back to those who have lost theirs.
• Mark Waller and Jingjing Guo, co-founders of Pending AI, who are using AI to revolutionize drug discovery and development, significantly speeding up the process.
• Bevan Slattery, founder of NEXTDC, a leader in the data center space, continues to drive digital infrastructure growth both in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Celebrating Pioneers Across Industries -making waves in the tech and social impact spaces:

• Michelle Deaker, founding partner of OneVentures, who has been instrumental in financing transformative healthcare and tech innovations, accelerating their growth and real-world impact.

• Adam McCurdie and Joshua Ross, co-founders of Humanitix, a revolutionary event ticketing platform where 100% of profits go toward educational projects. Their social enterprise model is a shining example of how business can drive positive change in the world.

• Michael Biercuk, founder of Q-CTRL, whose work in quantum computing is improving the stability and functionality of quantum technology. His AI software is helping industries like biotechnology, logistics, and cybersecurity harness the power of quantum.

To all 100 innovators, your work is inspiring the next generation of innovators  focussed on changing the world for the better. 

Thanks for inspiring and helping our world be  brighter, more sustainable, and more equitable for all

#innovation #leadership #technology #entrepreneurship #sustainability #top100innovators #theaustralian #healthcare #AI #startups #australiainnovation #OneVentures #Humanitix #QCTRL

Here is a categorized list of names and their companies from The Australian's 2024 Top 100 Innovators:

Medicine & Healthcare

1. Lydia O’Donnell - Femmi
2. Kavita Nadan - Locumate
3. Farzaneh Ahmadi - Laronix
4. John Fraser, Kristy Short, Arutha Kulasinghe - University of Queensland
5. Mark Waller, Jingjing Guo - Pending AI
6. Daniel Timms - BiVACOR
7. Alison Todd, Elisa Mokany - SpeeDx
8. Doug Ward - Lumos Diagnostics
9. Hugh Paterson, Michael Vallely, Paul Bannon, Ashish Mitra - Sydney Heart Valve
10. Grace Brown - Andromeda
11. Hon Weng Chong - Cortical Labs
12. Paul Ekert, Chelsea Mayoh - Children’s Cancer Institute
13. Tom Oxley, Nicholas Opie - Synchronon
14. Alex Naoumidis, Chris Naoumidis - Mindset Health
15. Kai Van Lieshout, Linus Talacko - Lyrebird Health
16. Aiden Roberts, Will Pamment - SimConverse
17. David Hoey - Vaxxas
18. Peter Vranes, Hitesh Mehta - Nutromics
19. Santosh Verghese, Rhys Parker - SA Health
20. Scott Kirkland, Stuart Crozier - EMVision

Art & Design

1. Jeremiah Siemianow, Brandon Crimmins, Alan Jin - Surreal
2. Ward Williams, Thananjeyan Shanmuganathan - Seminal
3. James Cuda - Procreate

Energy

1. William Jeremijenko, Ruby Jones - Aquila
2. Daniel Danilatos - Neara
3. Dean Spaccavento - Reposit Power
4. Christiaan Jordaan, Drew Minett - Sicona
5. Lewis Dunnigan - Bygen
6. Chris King - Splend
7. Raj Bagri - Kapture
8. Lisa Marsh - Elumina
9. Andrew Birch, Adam Pryor - OpenSolar
10. Dan Adams, Chris Thompson - Amber Electric
11. Paul Sernia, Sarbjit Giddey - Endua
12. Bex Rempel, Neil Mans - ZeroJet
13. Pete Tickler, Fabian Le Gay Brereton - GridCog

Fintech & Finance

1. Ada Guan - Rich Data Co
2. Michelle Deaker - OneVentures
3. Spiro Rokos, Paul Weingarth - Slyp
4. Alex Badran, Mario Hasanakos - Spriggy

Software & Tech

1. Keaton Okkonen - Black.ai
2. Todd Ryall - Tantsissa
3. Geoff Sizer - Genesys Electronics Design
4. Amy Benson - Diolog
5. Marc Washbourne - ReadyTech
6. Prem Naraindas - Katonic.ai
7. Michelle Simmons - Silicon Quantum Computing
8. Thom Mackey - Atticus
9. Numa Bertron, Zac Duff - JigSpace
10. Michael Biercuk - Q-CTRL
11. Aengus Tran - Harrison.ai
12. Dave Elkan, Nick Muldoon - Easy Agile
13. Mark Hartmann - Snapi

Manufacturing

1. Adam Jones - CLT Toolbox
2. Eric Peck, Joshua Tepper - Swoop Aero
3. Charlie McGill, Shaun Oosthuizen, Huanting Wang - ElectraLith
4. Amanda Siqueira, Michelle Aguilar - VAPAR
5. Bevan Slattery - NEXTDC
6. Jekaterina Viktorova, Luke Connal - Syenta
7. Dave Budge - Jaunt Motors
8. Kyle Hardman, Christian Freier, Paul Wigley - Nomad Atomics
9. Heba Khamis - Contactile

Retail & E-commerce

1. Danielle Johansen - Threadicated
2. Adam McCurdie, Joshua Ross - Humanitix
3. Hannon Comazzetto - AirRobe
4. Zac Leigh, Jason Webb, Denis Mysenko - Tixel

Space

1. Chris Shaw - Advanced Navigation
2. Peter Schultz, James Schultz, Patrick Neumann - Neumann Space
3. Michael Smart, David Waterhouse - Hypersonix
4. Matt Ryall, Dominik Daners - Mawson Rovers
5. Will Crowe, Hiranya Jayakody - HEO Robotics

Cybersecurity

1. Rachael Greaves, Gavin McKay - Castlepoint Systems
2. Michelle Price - Consultant (formerly AustCyber)
3. Ashwin Ram - Check Point Software
4. Shantanu Kulkarni, Tim Thacker, Tony Mao - Nullify
5. Dali Kaafar - Apate.ai
6. Casey Ellis - Bugcrowd

Travel

1. Justin Hales - Camplify
2. Marlon Law, Nathan Sampimon - Riparide

Food & Agriculture

1. Remo Carbone - MEQ Solutions
2. Jan Pacas - All G Foods

Impact

1. Barb Hyman - Sapia.ai
2. Sarah Jones - Sydney School of Entrepreneurship
3. Jodi Geddes, Kate Pollard - Circle In
4. Colette Grgic - Amazon Web Services (AWS)

For the full Australian article please click here