This week’s funding round-up features a rewards platform for small businesses, a New Zealand agritech company that is tackling methane emissions, a medtech startup pioneering a non-invasive bladder-health treatment, and an edtech venture that is helping ease the admin burden for schools and educators.
Keep reading to learn more about Pay.com.au, Ruminant Biotech, Australis Scientific and Paperly.
Pay.com.au: $25 million
Last year’s Smart50 winner Pay.com.au leads the funding round-up this week, after raising $25 million in fresh capital to help it push into the US market.
The company has also completed $28 million in secondary share sales, as part of a broader deal that reportedly values it at $633 million.
The equity investment was led by Morgans Corporate Limited, with participation from Wilson Asset Management, Thorney Group, Ophir, and more.
Launched in 2019, Pay.com.au is a B2B payment platform that allows small businesses to earn reward points on transactions that have not traditionally been included in reward schemes, such as payroll, tax and superannuation payments.
The company partners with reward programs run by other companies, including Qantas, Virgin Airlines, Hilton and Marriott.
Pay.com.au has facilitated $10 billion in business expenses since 2019, and its rapid revenue growth earned it the top position in the 2024 Smart50 Awards.
Ruminant Biotech: $14.8 million
New Zealand agritech startup Ruminant Biotech has completed a $14.8 million (NZ$17m) Series A funding round, which gives the company a post-money valuation of $132 million.
The round was co-led by existing investors Rosrain Investments and Cultivate Ventures, and included participation from NASDAQ-listed commodities broker Marex Group.
AgriZeroNZ, a public-private joint venture dedicated to reducing methane emissions and backed by the New Zealand government, also provided follow-on funding.
Led by CEO Tom Breen, Ruminant Biotech is part of a growing group of Australian and New Zealand companies working on methods to reduce methane emissions from cattle.
The company previously raised NZ$12.3 million in a pre-Series A round in 2023.
The latest funding will reportedly go towards launching Ruminant Biotech’s product in Australia and New Zealand in 2026 and further development of the company’s technology pipeline.
At the same time, investor Marex is preparing to commence methane-based carbon credits trading activities in New Zealand and will act as the exclusive broker and market maker for Ruminant Biotech’s carbon credits.
Australis Scientific: $9.3 million
Australis Scientific founder Nicky Agahari
Australian medtech Australis Scientific has secured $9.3 million (US$6 million) in funding from Japan’s Rohto Pharmaceutical to continue developing its non-invasive bladder-health treatment.
Australis has created the Confidanz smart patch, which is a discreet, band-aid-sized wearable that delivers tibial nerve stimulation near the ankle to calm an overactive bladder.
The new funding will go towards accelerating the company’s first in-human clinical trial, launched in October.
The Confidanz device is designed to offer an alternative to surgery, medication or invasive clinical procedures for the more than 400 million people globally who experience an overactive bladder or urinary incontinence.
The partnership with Rohto means Australis will gain access to the Japanese company’s distribution channels in Japan and in China, where this are accelerated regulatory processes for such technology.
“Not only does it provide the capital we need to scale our clinical program, but it also opens the door to Japan and broader Asia — markets where aging populations mean demand for bladder health solutions is urgent and growing,” said co-founder and CEO Nicky Agahari.
Paperly: $3 million
Perth-based startup Paperly has raised $3 million to continue expanding its edtech platform across Australia and into the UK and Asia.
Paperly is designed to ease the administrative burden of managing extracurricular activities for schools and educators.
Its SaaS platform plugs into existing student information and learning management systems to help schools manage things like excursions, digital forms and parent-teacher interview schedules.
The company was founded in 2018 by CEO Daniel Dawson, with chief operations officer and co-founder Jak Tidman joining the business in 2023.
According to Business News Australia, the funding round was led by new investors Tribe Global Ventures, with contributions from existing investor Purpose Ventures and Skalata.
Paperly, which previously raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding in 2023, says it has more than 250 schools contracted for the 2026 school year. Most of these schools are independent; however, Paperly does work with several government schools.
This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You can read the original here.
