The future of the annual 3-day _SOUTHSTART gathering in Adelaide has been assured until 2028 with three more years of funding from the South Australian government. The new three-year $2 million commitment supporting the delivery of _SOUTHSTART, starting next year, will take the innovation festival to a decade under its current custodianship, with Craig Swann… Read more »
The recent quarterly figures on the Australian startup scene finally put numbers to what everyone has been feeling in their bones for months: the vibes are off. Venture capital investment plunged to an 18-month low, with Q2 2025 clocking in as one of the weakest funding periods in recent memory. This is a major reversal… Read more »
Brisbane patient experience software provider Five Faces, has raised $1 million in a Series A. The round was led by Utiliti Group, with support from Queensland Government initiative, the Female Founders Co-Investment Fund. It’s the first external round for Alphalitica (trading as Five Faces), which will use the capital to develop new digital health solutions… Read more »
Australia has one of the world’s most capital-efficient startup ecosystems analysis of the local venture investment market reveals, creating bigger and better tech companies for fewer dollars. The Australia Venture & Startup Report 2025, from Sydney VC Side Stage Ventures in collaboration with Dealroom and AWS, set out to benchmark the performance of local venture… Read more »
Not-for-profit medical products investor and accelerator MTPConnect has backed 14 Australian science companies with a combined $12.07 million to develop new devices and drugs. The funding comes from MTPConnect’s Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) Drugs and Devices program, which is backed by the federal government’s $24 billion Medical Research Future Fund. The ideas span cardiovascular disease… Read more »
Contactile, a deep tech startup giving robotics the subtlety of human-like touch, has scored $268,712 from the federal government under its Industry Growth Program The matched funding will go towards the the commercialisation of its tactile sensor-enabled smart robotic gripper. Contactile’s patented tactile sensor array has created a smart gripper measures 3D deflection, force, vibration, torque,… Read more »
There’s still time to get your pitch applications in for the ‘startup Olympics’: the Startup World Cup 2025. Startup World Cup Australia is looking for local startups and scaleups to pitch at their Sydney and Melbourne events, which will give winners a chance to compete for a hefty US$1 million investment prize at the Startup… Read more »
Climate, health and people-related startups are getting an increasing slice of early-stage Australian investment according to new analysis of where venture capital is being deployed. The report, Impact Startups Benchmark Report 2025. draws on data from Melbourne impact investor Giant Leap, and more than 2,800 startup deals over the past three years. While total startup… Read more »
Payments platform Airwallex has finalised a $232 million (US$150m) Series F funding round at an eye-watering $9.6 billion (US$6.2 billion) valuation. The company – which was founded in Melbourne but is now headquartered in Singapore – has already dinged the $1 billion annualised revenue mark and is on the hunt to keep expanding its global… Read more »
Battery materials startup Sicona Battery Technologies has raised AU$15 million from an existing investor, India’s Himadri Speciality Chemical, as part of a deal to commercialise its technology. The Wollongong startup previously raised $22 million in a Series A led by Himadri two years ago, adding to a $3.7 million in a pre-Series A in August… Read more »
The recent call for submissions into the Strategic Examination of Australia’s R&D system has revealed ideas and frustrations that have long been articulated on numerous discussion panels. However, through this recent consultation, it has felt like more practical solutions have surfaced across the ecosystem, and many of the ideas align. So if we could request… Read more »
Four years after it launched, New Zealand VC fund Phase One has fully deployed its NZ$2.1 million (A$1.94m) early stage fund into 14 tech startups, including five (36%) with female founders. The fund, launched in April 2021, following the establishment of its early stage incubator community in 2020, the attracted GD1 as its anchor investor… Read more »
An R&D finance fintech based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has raised $2.3 million towards a $25 million fund to lend as non-dilutive capital to Australian startups. Founder Alex Knight moved home to Coolum three years ago to raise a family, having previously worked at crowdfunding platform VentureCrowd and debt financier Tractor Ventures, having also invested… Read more »
Two Australian startups are among 10 companies to make the cut for global food and beverage giant PepsiCo’s annual Asia-Pacific greenhouse accelerator. The program, now in its third year, is designed to bolster companies in sustainable agriculture, the circular economy, and climate, tackling issues around food, energy and waste. They’ve scored a A$31,542 grant as… Read more »
A Californian healthtech startup cofounded by a 20-something expat Australian has raised US$30 million (A$47m) in a Series A to build a “health super-app”. The raise for San Francisco-based Superpower, founded in 2023 by former Sydneysider Max Marchione, the COO, Jacob Peters, CEO and Kevin Unkrich, CTO, values the startup at US$200m as a long… Read more »
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
