Meliora has announced new investments in five generative AI startups across several countries, including the UK, Ireland, France, and Australia, through its venture arm Meliora Ventures.
The advisory, venture, and creative business, founded by Clive Dickens, a former Shazam advisor and executive at Seven West Media and Optus, aims to strengthen its role in supporting the AI ecosystem by investing in startups that are already developing generative AI products active in the market.
Backing active ventures
Meliora Ventures has targeted startups delivering GenAI solutions with immediate practical applications in entertainment media, telecommunications and digital marketplaces. The investments are focused on companies providing products such as brand-safe AI-generated creative, enterprise-grade AI agents, AI-powered procurement for small and medium businesses, and automated workflow solutions.
Clive Dickens, Managing Partner at Meliora, emphasised the strategic importance of supporting a diverse range of AI startups alongside major technology companies. He said:
"The Gen AI race is not just between OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, Meta or DeepSeek. It's also being driven by a huge range of AI startups who are now unlocking the potential of the large language models and turning them into tangible new products that are transformative for business and consumers."
Dickens further emphasised the innovation occurring at the startup level:
"These are focused, entrepreneurial teams solving real problems in highly innovative ways and are more important to the AI ecosystem and the future of business than ever before. This is where the creative intelligence of AI lives, and Meliora is backing it."
Portfolio and geographic reach
The five startups securing backing from Meliora Ventures include Relevance AI in Sydney, which offers no-code vector-based workflows to enable non-technical teams to use advanced AI tools, such as customer feedback analysis and automated tagging. Quickfind AI, based in Dublin and Paris, focuses on providing intelligent procurement support for SMEs through conversational AI. Alludium AI, with operations in London and Dublin, is developing infrastructure for large language model (LLM)-based agents that can automate workflows and support decision-making for businesses.
In Australia, Meliora Ventures also supports Fluency AI in Melbourne, which converts fragmented standard operating procedures into generative workflows to help enterprises reduce compliance risk and improve operational efficiency. Another backed company, Blunge AI in Brisbane, offers brand-safe, AI-generated visual content tools for creative teams, media organisations and marketers.
Collaboration with NextGen Ventures
Meliora's commitment to the AI ecosystem extends to supporting emerging talent through a partnership with NextGen Ventures, regarded as Australia's first student-focused venture capital fund. NextGen Ventures, started by Mitchell Hughes and Jerry X'Lingson, has raised USD $2 million of its targeted USD $2.5 million to invest in Australian startups led by students.
Mitchell Hughes, Co-founder of NextGen Ventures, acknowledged Meliora's involvement:
"We're deeply grateful for the hands-on support from Meliora Ventures, who were one of our first believers in the fund."
Dickens commented on the value of engaging with new talent:
"Big ideas don't wait for decades of corporate experience. They come from wherever there's ambition, urgency and the freedom to think differently. NextGen Ventures is tapping into a raw pipeline of student talent, and we're excited to be backing them not just through capital, but with strategic thinking and the right introductions."
Support structure for growth
Meliora Ventures offers its portfolio companies more than financial investment. The support includes technical insight, strategic product advice and commercial introductions aimed at accelerating each startup's growth. With operations across APAC, EMEA and the Americas, Meliora states that it can assist founders who are seeking to expand or scale their businesses internationally.
The investments mark Meliora's ongoing commitment to developing generative AI solutions and fostering collaboration among early-stage ventures and emerging founders in the AI space.
