Airtasker (ART) is raising $6.25m to fund the cash component of its deal to acquire the assets of Australia’s third-largest local services platform, Oneflare, for $9.8m.

Airtasker will also undertake a stock purchase plan for $1.2 million.

Co-founder and CEO Tim Fung said the deal will improve Airtasker’s customer experience and deliver platform synergies.

“I am delighted to bring together Airtasker and Oneflare to create Australia’s number one local services market,” he said.

“Together, we can offer our customers access to an even wider range of local services and faster response times, while creating more job opportunities than ever before.

“By acquiring Oneflare, we are also accelerating a push into higher value service categories, including trades, home improvement and professional services, to fulfill our mission: to empower people to realize the full value of their skills. .”

ART is halted trading and has a market capitalization of $212 million. The shares last traded at 51 cents.

Two other companies announced today that they are seeking capital: Black Rock Mining (BKT) and Pearl Global (PG1). Details are yet to come.

Meanwhile, Monger Gold (MMG) saw a huge surge in share price following news of its switch to lithium with a key acquisition.

Monger Gold bought American Consolidated Lithium in a $2 million deal.

The acquisition gives the company direct exposure to a large-scale lithium exploration project in Nevada, 330 kilometers from the Tesla gigafactory.

The seller of the lithium zone has contributed more than $1.7 million to a 25 cents per share offering to allow exploration for the project to begin.

The trading floor spoke with non-executive chairman of Monger Gold, Peretz Schapiro.

The company has a market capitalization of $7.84 million and shares are trading from yesterday’s highs of around 40 cents at 2:44 p.m. AEST.

White Rock Minerals (WRM) announced a placement of new shares to raise $2.4 million.

The fundraising aims to finance the recruitment, pre-production development and gold production of the Morning Star mine in Victoria.

The company has a market capitalization of $31.5 million, but shares are trading down 30% at 14 cents as of 3:30 p.m. AEST.

Meanwhile, Senetas Corporation (SEN) has just completed a $5 million equity offering to back further investment in subsidiary Votiro Cybersec Global.

Senetas has a market cap above $47.5 million, but its stock value fell 9% on the news.

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US cobalt firm Koba Resources (KOB) is on the board after raising $9 million at 20 cents a share.

It is a spin-off from New World Resources (NWC) and owns four assets in the Idaho cobalt belt.

Managing Director and CEO Ben Vallerine said the listing came at an opportune time.

“We have seen a significant spike in cobalt prices over the past 15 months, driven by growing demand,” he said.

“Our portfolio is rich in potential, with cobalt as the primary target, there is tremendous exposure to the high growth cobalt market.”

It traded as high as 24.5 cents before stabilizing around 23 cents this afternoon.