Eight agrifood tech deals this quarter in Australia
Investment in Australian agrifood tech remains relatively robust – even in the face of a global downturn. Meet eight upstream, climate-conscious innovations leading the way.
1. Cauldron
Cauldron operates a 25,000-L demo-scale facility in New South Wales, believes a continuous (rather than a batch) ‘hyper’ fermentation process will be key to unlocking the commercial viability of microbial fermentation for a host of ingredients that have historically been sourced from animals or petrochemicals.
Deal: AUD4.3 million ($2.8 million) from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources Industry Growth Program (IGP) to help scale a manufacturing platform enabling its partners to produce high-value ingredients via precision fermentation more efficiently in a continuous process.
2. Safe Ag Systems
After a near miss on a family farm in Arthurton, South Australia, Caroline Graham and her daughter, Katy Landt, created Safe Ag Systems, launching the agtech software in 2016. Utilising a team of web developers to build the functionality, the product launched as an online Workplace Health and Safety platform as well as a safety audit tool.
Deal: The AgFood Fund has committed $2.5 million over the next 12 months to Safe Ag Systems.
Safe Ag Systems offers work health and safety software specific to agriculture. Image | @safeagsystems
3. Number 8 bio
A scientist-led, Sydney-based startup, Number 8 bio is on a mission to develop methane-reducing livestock feed and lower greenhouse gas emissions from the global agriculture industry. It’s bio-engineering strains of yeast, which can be mass fermented in scalable operations.
Deal: $7 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by Main Sequence, the CSIRO-founded deep tech fund that participated in last year’s $1.8 million pre-seed round. The March Group and Breakthrough Victoria also contributed in the latest raise, with the latter investing $1.7 million.
RELATED: Attention agrifood tech innovators: Applications now open for the evokeAG. 2025 Startup Program
4. Algenie
Sydney-based biotech startup Algenie is creating a platform that will allow algae to be grown affordably and efficiently – at scale. Why? It’s on a mission to switch out fossil fuels as the raw material for fuels and plastics and hugely reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Deal: $1.1 million in funding from UTS, Better Bite Ventures, and strategic investors.
5. Cropify
South Australian AI agtech startup Cropify was founded in 2019 and aims to eliminate subjective testing (grading) from the classification process of pulses and grains. It’s on a mission to develop solutions that inspire confidence in the classification process and drive efficiencies in the global supply chain.
RELATED: ‘I don’t believe that experience is a very good teacher’: Lessons from three decades in agrifood
Deal: $2 million in funding, in a capital raise cornerstoned by Australian VC Mandalay Venture Partners and Singapore-based Hatcher+. Mandalay and Hatche+ contributed a combined $850,000 to the funding round, which represents their first joint investment under a new partnership announced in August 2024.
RELATED: More than just beaches and rainforests: Why Queensland is the perfect host for evokeAG. 2025
6. ExoFlare
ExoFlare was co-founded in 2022 by Adrian Turner, a former chief executive of both CSIRO’s Data61 and Silicon Valley cybersecurity firm Mocana, with strategic risk expert Chris Aitken. The Sydney-based company has two products targeting biosecurity risks associated with people movements and transport journeys.
Deal: $5.3 million capital raise to develop its online platform for tracking threats in the agriculture and food supply chain. The seed raise was led by Sydney-based Salus Ventures and attracted funding from Woolworths’ venture capital fund W23, Orange-based agrifood investor Cultiv8, and In-Q-Tel.
RELATED: Aussie agrifood tech investment holds strong: What to expect from AgFunder’s 2024 report
7. Inform Ag
Inform Ag was founded in 2012 by Jennie Savill in Goondiwindi, Queensland. It has several farm management platforms, addressing irrigation automation, data management and vehicle tracking. Its flagship irrigation control and automation system is used by Rural Funds Management (RFM) on its macadamia orchards to optimise yield and management efficiency.
Deal: $7 million in a series A funding round led by Rural Funds Group. It is Inform Ag’s first funding round and follows 12 years of bootstrapping.
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8. Nbryo
Queensland startup Nbryo was founded by Euan Murdoch, formerly the founder of Herron Pharmaceuticals, and focuses on bovine embryo production. The company’s advanced technology accelerates genetic improvement processes, allowing livestock producers to achieve in seven days what traditionally takes seven years.
Deal: Mandalay Venture Partners used the first tranche of funds from the Queensland Investment Corporation’s (QIC) Venture Capital Development Fund (QVCDF) into Nbryo and Naturo, another Queensland-based startup. Mandalay Venture Partners is one of 10 venture capital firms selected by the Queensland Government to receive a portion of the AUD $130 million QVCDF aimed at supporting state startups. As a Seed to Series-A investor, Mandalay can write cheques ranging from AUD $150,000 to AUD $1.2 million. Their investment into Nbryo and Naturo is at the higher end of this spectrum.
If you’re an agrifood tech startup, applications for the evokeAG. 2025 Startup Program are open from Monday, 16 September 2024, until Sunday, 20 October 2024. For more information on eligibility criteria, the program, and how to apply, visit Startup Program.
Tickets are now on sale for evokeAG. 2025 to be held on 18-19 February 2025 in Brisbane, Queensland. Following a sell-out event in 2024 we are encouraging delegates to secure their tickets, flights and accommodation early.
We look forward to seeing you in Brisbane for evokeAG. 2025. In the meantime, catch up on the other conversations about sustainability, climate resilience and the role of agtech in meeting those challenges from here.