Only three Australian and New Zealand startup funding deals caught our eyes this week, but the cheque sizes themselves are nothing to be sneezed at.
Keep reading to learn more about Syenta, Ideally, and Renewable Metals, which together raised more than $61 million.
Syenta: $36 million
Australia’s AI data centre push could be bolstered by computer chip maker Syenta, which has raised $36 million (US$26 million) in a Series A round.
The round was led by Silicon Valley VC Playground Global and the National Reconstruction Fund, which chipped in $10.1 million. Existing investors Investible, Salus Ventures, Jelix Ventures, and Wollemi Capital once again backed the six-year-old Australian National University spin-out, now based in Sydney.
Playground Global general partner Pat Gelsinger, a former Intel CEO, will join the board
Syenta previously raised $2.2 million in late 2022 and $8.8 million in pre-Series A in August last year. Other investors include Blackbird, Jelix Ventures, Brindabella Capital, CIA-backed In-Q-Tel, SGInnovate and OIF.
The startup, which began life focused on developing multi-material 3D printers, is now developing Localised Electrochemical Manufacturing (LEM) — a lithography-free process that enables scalable, high-density interconnects for advanced chip packaging — and hopes to begin semiconductor production in 2027.
Ideally: $13.4 million
New Zealand startup Ideally has raised $13.4 million in a Series A round that values the consumer insights platform at $83 million.
The round was led by Shearwater Capital, with support from Altered Capital and Icehouse Ventures.
Founded by James Donald, Brendan Cervin and Joshua Nu’u-Steele and emerging out of venture studio TRA Labs in August 2023, the AI-powered market research platform, which counts DoorDash, Telstra, Google, Burger King and Asahi among its clients, is now used by more than 250 brands across APAC and the US and recently opened an office in New York.
The startup previously raised $2.15 million in November 2023 and then $5.5 million in August 2024.
Ideally lets brands test and validate ideas, and make faster decisions across the product and marketing lifecycle, for a fraction of the cost of a traditional research project.
Lithium-ion battery recycling technology startup Renewable Metals has raised $12 million in a Series A round.
The investment was led by existing investor Clean Energy Finance Corporation, supported by the Neglected Climate Opportunities, European Metal Recycling (the UK’s largest end-of-life recycler), and impact VC Investible, as well as Climate Tech Partners.
Renewable Metals previously raised $16.1 million in a seed round in two tranches – $8.1 million in September 2024, less than 12 months after previously raising $8 million.
The new capital will support a demonstration plant in Kewdale, Western Australia, that’s about to come online, and recycle up to 2,000 tonnes of batteries (about 4,000 EVs) annually. Another commercial plant is also on the drawing board for the Hunter region, north of Sydney.
Renewable Metals has developed a patented hydro-metallurgical process that can achieve over 95% recovery of lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese from Li-ion batteries. It also works for Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries. The process, in modular plants, has the ability to extract critical minerals in the same process line, combined at up to half the cost of existing processes.
