More than $2.5 million in cash and 15,000 Etherium have been poured into two start-up technology businesses by boutique, Perth-based venture capital firm Lateral Capital Ventures (LCV).

Soar, a cloud-based platform for sharing drone footage, images and maps has received the Etherium as well as commitments for A$2 million from sophisticated and institutional investors. While Unocart, the on-demand grocery delivery technology, reaped A$520,000 in seed funding.

Commenting on the twin raisings LCV founder and CEO, Tommy Shin, said:

The second half of 2018 has been very tough to raise any capital. Even for great projects with great teams. LCV had to expand our horizons and handpick certain projects to invest in which also had the opportunity for a global demand as well as outperforming their peers in this tough industry.”

“We are very happy on the progress these two companies have made and look forward to the best investor returns,” he said.

The funding will likely prove pivotal for Soar’s development of its platform, with the enterprise also undertaking a public crowd sale for 20 million Soar SkyMap tokens (SKYM), ensuring the coffers are adequately staked for future growth.

1 SKYM is valued at USD 20 cents, with the crowd sale expected to reach completion on December, 19.

The company has an ambitious goal of developing a global map of drone footage. Users on the platform are expected to be able to buy and sell content using the SKYM tokens.

UnoCart, which launched in Perth approximately six months ago, is also expected to accelerate its business with planned launches in Eastern States markets over the coming months.

The UnoCart system uses technology to determine the cheapest grocery prices across stores and chains for any particular item and then arranges shoppers to collect and deliver direct to a customer’s front door.

The start-up has said it has East Coast shoppers already recruited and initial roll out locations identified.

“LCV saw the determination I had to build a successful technology company, after finding out I was working nights and trying to build my start-up in the day,” UnoCart founder and CEO Tyler Spooner said.

“They helped in any way they could, facilitating introductions and making introductions until they saw the timing was right to take Unocart to the next level.”

LCV has committed to offer continued strategic advice to both companies and remains a proactive investor within the start-up sector.