Pollenizer raises another $1.1m for startups

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news Australian startup incubator Pollenizer today revealed it had added a further $1.1 million in investment to its coffers, with the aim of furthering its mission of helping to build innovative technology startups.

The funding round is not the first for the Sydney-based company. It last raised $500,000 in December 2010. At the time, co-founder Mick Liubinskas said he hoped to have invested all the money by June this year, in parcels between $10,000 and $100,000. Since that capital raising, the company has successfully sold its Spreets group buying site to Yahoo7, raised capital for its associated Dealised business and launched several new sites — Wooboard, Pygg and Unrenovated.

This round of capital (Pollenizer’s statement here) has come from a number of new investors, including Tasmania-based Andrew Spykes, Lend Lease chief executive Anthony Pascoe and Hitwise founder Adrian Giles, as well as Adrian Stone from new Melbourne-based startup incubator Angel Cube. In addition, a number of previous investors — listed in detail on Pollenizer’s site — have also allocated extra money to the company. Most — such as the founders of Australian software company Atlassian — are well known in the Australian startup community.

The company is also currently taking applications for its ‘Summer 2011’ intake of startups. The company seeks company founders who could use help building their startup, providing assistance in a range of areas from technology and product development to marketing, revenue generation, capital raising and more. Pollenizer doesn’t just invest in startups — it also works alongside them to aid in the success of their business. Startups who are interested in applying have until next Monday 14 November to do so. The application process starts with a simple online questionnaire.

Pollenizer is not the only early stage investment group to have recently raised capital in Australia with the aim of investing in local technology startups.

Last year, a similar group of Australia’s technology startup elite — featuring many of the same investors as Pollenizer’s list — pitched in to form a new seed fund dubbed Startmate to offer small investment rounds and up-close mentoring to local technology companies. In addition, Carosa’s own Future Capital Development Fund has recently invested in several startups and is very active in the marketplace. In Melbourne, incubators such as Angel Cube and the York Butter Factory have recently commenced operations and are working with their first round of technology startups in Victoria.

opinion/analysis
Pollenizer continues to go from strength to strength, and it’ll be interesting to see what the company comes up with next. There is just so much going on at the moment in Australia’s startup community. Right now, Australia is going through the explosion in technology startups that Silicon Valley went through five years ago. The energy is infectious — it’s a great time to raise capital and get started with your awesome new idea.

Image credit: Delimiter — from Pollenizer’s 2010 Christmas Party