ASX-listed venture fund Bailador Technology Investments has increased the valuations on stakes in two key portfolio companies, Updoc and PropHero, with the latter rising 45.6% in just 10 months. Bailador (ASX:BTI) tipped $12.5 million into real estate investment proptech PropHero in February as part of a $25 million Series A. The investor told the market… Read more »
The arc of a tech company’s success is often sprinkled with near death experiences. And according to Airwallex cofounder Jack Zhang, the business, which raised $498 million in a Series G this week, had so many lives in its first 10 years, it should probably be nicknamed “Catwallex”. London-based Zhang took to social media overnight… Read more »
If the $467 million Airwallex raise and secondary share sale told us anything, it is that Australian venture capitalists are increasingly less venture and a lot more capital with a spreadsheet. When Blackbird and Airtree, two of the country’s flagship VC firms, finally joined a Series F round for a company they had previously passed… Read more »
Ochre Ventures, the first Australian VC solely focused on First Nations entrepreneurship, has reached a $30 million first close on the $100m target for its first fund. The VC has already made its first five investments, including veteran First Nations-owned construction and facilities management business PSG Holdings; video games maker MicroProse, which generated $5m in… Read more »
Blackbird’s come-to-Jesus moment six months ago, when it tipped $60 million from its 2022 follow-on fund into Airwallex, is now being pitched to the VC’s investors as its rising star. Details from the annual Blackbird Ventures investor day were leaked to Capital Brief’s Bronwen Clune, and included details of Canva’s performance, with the VC flagging… Read more »
The Victorian government’s flagship tech investment fund, Breakthrough Victoria, ended up in the red for a second year in a row after just four years in operation. The fund, which cut costs while ramping up investment, and increasing returns on cash deposits, posted a $5.7 million loss, according to its 2025 annual report, attributing it… Read more »
Canberra’s startup community has a new local venture capital fund, with ACTivate Capital securing an initial close of $23 million towards a $50m target. The Early-Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) fund will have a dedicated investment pipeline to commercialise local research and help Canberra-grown businesses scale into global markets. ACTivate Capital will invest at… Read more »
For decades, Silicon Valley has been the default destination for ambitious founders. It is still the centre of gravity for venture capital – but that monopoly is quietly eroding. A growing number of global founders, particularly from the US, are now looking beyond the Valley for their next funding partner. And increasingly, that includes Australia.… Read more »
Uniseed CEO Dr Peter Devine as called time on two decades leading the university-backed research commercialisation fund, staging his own exit at the end of 2025. Taking the helm in January 2026 is Dr Alistair Hick from Monash University, where he’s been its inaugural chief commercialisation officer, with responsibility for overseeing its IP commercialisation program,… Read more »
Auckland-based NZVC is planning to invest in 50-60 Australia and New Zealand early-stage founders with its new NZ $50 million Fund II. Fund II invests from Pre-Seed to Series A, with smaller initial cheques and significant follow-on reserves. General partner Mark Pavlyukovskyy founded NZVC in 2021 as Aotearoa’s first operator-led venture fund, having relocated to… Read more »
The Victorian government is investing $75 million across five specialist venture capital firms. The funding, via Breakthrough Victoria, will go to VCs backing climate-tech, life sciences, and female founders, as well as a cornerstone investment in an unnamed US specialist healthcare fund manager as they launch their first Australian fund. All five have committed to… Read more »
Startup funding topped $1 billion in the third quarter of 2025, with investors eager to back data centres and AI with enthusiasm that recalls the mid-pandemic valuation bubble of 2021-2022 Investors threw money at AI startups like fans tossing underwear on stage at a Tom Jones concert in Q3, according to the latest Cut Through… Read more »
Federal treasurer Jim Chalmers has abandoned plans to tax the unrealised gains of large superannuation balances, a controversial move that raised alarm bells for investors in early-stage startups. The change ends fears that angel investors, who often back startups from self-managed super funds (SMSFs) would vanish had the government implemented the new rule as part… Read more »
Embattled bank ANZ has shut down its venture capital arm, 1835i, just three weeks after cashing in its chips in Airwallex – US$44 million ($A67m) stake sold to the fintech’s founders and executives. The writing was on the wall for the business, which still had 10 companies in its portfolio, when ANZ, under new CEO… Read more »
Fintech entrepreneur and investor Dom Pym and his fintech-focused venture fund Triple Bubble have forged a strategic partnership Commonwealth Bank’s venture-scaling arm x15ventures to support and scale Australia’s financial technology ecosystem. The partnership includes an investment, exploration of new fintech opportunities using x15’s bank-safe venture stack, and the development of a mutual mentorship and talent exchange program… Read more »
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