PsiQuantum, the US startup with Australian cofounders, has raised a gobsmacking US$1 billion (A$1.5bn) in a round that’s more than doubled its valuation in four years to US$7bn (A$10.5bn). The California startup, founded in Palo Alto in 2015 by expat Australian professors Jeremy O’Brien, Terry Rudolph, Mark Thompson and Dr Pete Shadbolt, hopes to build… Read more »
The Techstars Sydney Accelerator has invested US$1.44 million (A$2.2m) in 12 early stage startups announcing its class of 2025 today. From surfing to strata management, music, marketing, finance and biotech, it’s a wide range of ideas and solutions to big problems. The founders include a former concert violinist, an early AirBnb employee, a PHD researcher… Read more »
Wable, a social networking app for neurodivergent people, inspired by the ABC TV series Love on the Spectrum, has raised $1.5 million to expand in the US and UK. The round was led by Paul Sharbanee from Taurus Capital. The app is designed to connect neurodivergent people for friendship, dating, jobs, and support, filling a… Read more »
Sustainable building materials startup X-Hemp has raised $3.4 million in Seed funding after banking a final $1 million from strategic investment partner Danehill Group. The Central Tasmanian construction tech business, based at Cressy, 30 minutes south of Launceston, was founded in 2020 by Andi Lucas, and will use the cash for critical infrastructure, R&D and… Read more »
An AI assistant designed for financial advisers, developed by New Zealand fintech Marloo has trousered A$4.2 million in pre-Seed funding. This round was led by Blackbird Ventures, with support from CoVentures, Brand Fund and a Who’s Who of angel investors, including Xero cofounder Philip Fierlinger, Stake’s Matt Leibowitz, Halter’s Craig Piggott, Heidi Health’s Tom Kelly,… Read more »
ANZ-backed online shopping cashback platform Cashrewards has shut down. The company announced its demise on Monday afternoon with a notice saying “From 12pm AEST, Monday, 8 September 2025, Cashrewards ceased making offers available on its Website, App and Notifier.” Customers received an email around two hours after the shutdown, with the headline “URGENT: Cashrewards is… Read more »
It took almost eight years for the downloadable content turned into a fully-fledged title to go from idea to release. A determined fandom and a vacuum of information created its own brand of gaming community conspiracy theories around the title. With less than a few breadcrumbs of information, the game remarkably sustained a full near-decade… Read more »
The venture arm of embattled Big Four bank ANZ has offloaded its stake in international payments fintech Airwallex for $67 million, just five years after first investing, 1835i sold its US$44 million stake to Airwallex founders and executives in a deal that adds nothing to the company’s cash balance. All up they nabbed US$70m (A$106m)… Read more »
New Zealand ocean security startup Starboard Maritime Intelligence (SMI) has banked a NZ$23 million (A$20.7m) Series A. The round was co-led by SMI’s first backer, Kiwi VC Altered Capital, with new investors OIF Ventures and King River Capital, supported by Co:Act Capital, Icehouse Ventures, and Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation. The funding is for global expansion into… Read more »
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) will get one more crack at cryptocurrency fintech, Block Earner, in a long-running dispute over one of its investment products after the High Court granted the regular special leave to appeal a Full Federal Court decision it lost. It will be the fourth case in a two-year legal battle… Read more »
Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM) is acquiring a US AI-powered browser startup in a deal worth US$610 million (A$935m) in cash. Atlassian cofounder Mike Cannon-Brookes has been a fan of The Browser Company (TBC), and its product Dia, which he calls “the knowledge worker’s browser”, since it was released in mid-2025 in beta mode, sending bug feedback… Read more »
Former Finder boss Chris Ellis has a new startup to lead as CEO of back-office automation engine Collabra.ai. Ellis is also cofounder of the Sydney-based enterprise artificial intelligence startup, which is now moving into full commercialisation following two years of product build. Collabra has developed AI agents for mid-market enterprises combine the reliability of robotic process… Read more »
Financial crime prevention small cap Identitii (ASX:ID8) has sold its remaining stake in joint-venture fintech Payble to existing investor OIF Ventures for $1.6 million. Payble, founded in 2020 by CEO Elliott Donazzan, is a payments platform for local government payments using QR codes and now has 50 customers, including four New Zealand councils after launching… Read more »
Payments fintech Airwallex has acquired a US billing platform for an undisclosed sum as it looks to expand its product offering to take on the likes of Stripe Billing and Recurly. The terms of the deal to add San Francisco-based OpenPay – not to be confused with the failed former ASX-listed BNPL of the same… Read more »
An all-women founding team has as little as a 1-in-5000 chance of being funded in Australia according to the latest analysis of investment data from Blackbird. The VC fund released details on its efforts to close the gender investment gap for the 2025 financial year (FY25), with head of impact, Kate Glazebrook, saying “the last… Read more »
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