Aussie start-ups Alii and Bloom raise funds
Alii and Bloom Impact Investing, two start-ups based in Brisbane, Australia, have reported cash injections.
Alii raises $2.5m
Alii, which claims to provide “world first Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) software to protect and streamline accounts payable and procurement functions for education institutions, law firms, non-profit organisations, and enterprise organisations”, has raised $2.5 million in a pre-series A capital round.
The round, backed by Maranello Capital, comes one year after a funding round backed by SeventyTwo Capital, which raised $1.6 million.
The company’s latest valuation stands at over $10.2 million.
Alii says it will use the latest funds to grow its sales, marketing, product development, and customer engagement teams. Alii currently employs 18 people.
“The company’s recent funding package will serve to catapult our growth throughout Australian and New Zealand markets and then into other regions and sectors,” comments Alii chairman Gordon Tan.
Founded in 2018, Alii offers an end-to-end accounts payable solution with invoice fraud detection. To date, it claims to have processed 900,000+ invoices annually for customers in Australia and New Zealand.
CEO Chamil Fernando says the start-up was signing around eight to ten schools monthly in 2022 for its hosted platform.
It claims a 300% growth in revenue and estimates a 60% penetration of the independent and private school market in three to five years.
Bloom raises $525,000
Bloom Impact Investing has raised $525,000 in a seed round co-led by entrepreneur Dom Pym (co-founder of Up, a new digital banking brand backed by Bendigo & Adelaide Bank) and Collis and Cyan Ta’eed (founders of Envato, an online marketplace for creative digital tools).
In October last year, Bloom raised $675,000 in pre-seed funding from the aforementioned Ta’eeds, climate tech start-up accelerator EnergyLab, ACAC Innovation, Palm Beach Ventures, and NOAB Ventures.
“Use your money power to combat climate change,” Bloom calls on its users.
Founded in 2019, the start-up offers an app “enabling Australians to invest in climate impact projects such as solar farms, cleantech stocks, green bonds, and greentech companies making a real impact, in one simple fund”.
It claims to have $1.6 million in funds under management.
The latest funds will be invested in operational development and sales hires.
