The global investment frenzy around AI has seen companies valued at trillions of dollars and eye-watering projections of how it will boost economic productivity. But in recent weeks the mood has begun to shift. Investors and CEOs are now openly questioning whether the enormous costs of building and running AI systems can really be justified… Read more »
Melbourne AI-based education startup Teacher’s Buddy has raised $1.85 million in Seed funding to tackle teacher burnout. The round was led by Giant Leap, supported by Flying Fox Ventures, Co Ventures, Exhort Ventures, Saniel Ventures and Soul Capital. Teacher’s Buddy was founded in 2024 by Matt Abraham and Ben Sze, cofounder of school content and… Read more »
After give years of self-funding, sexual wellness brand Normal has turned to crowd-sourced funding (CSF) platform Birchal for its first external raise. Normal, cofounded by sex coach, author and educator Georgia Grace and ex-McKinsey consultant and social scientist Lucy Wark, is Australia’s top female-founded sexual wellness brand, offering products to help people, especially women, have… Read more »
Show Us the Data, a national initiative led by Equity Clear, kicked off in Sydney last week looking to develop a Australia’s first Common Data Standard for Investor Diversity Reporting. Equity Clear, led by Noga Edelstein, is hosting a series of roundtables in Australia’s capital cities to create an industry-led framework for data standards that… Read more »
Freelancer marketplace Airtasker has completed a $10 million equity capital placement led by US radio and podcast giant iHeartMedia, powering the Australian company’s overseas marketing effort. The deal will help Airtasker — the Sydney-based platform connecting customers to freelance gardeners, bartenders, accountants, and beyond — compete for publicity against global rivals like Upwork and Fiverr. The… Read more »
Solar power startup MetroElectro has raised $1 million from its existing investor, Singapore climate tech VC Wavemaker Impact. The alongside the equity raise, the Melbourne startup, founded in 2024 by Lloyd Heinrich, also secured a $4 million debt facility from Ecotone Partners. Wavemaker previously backed MetroElectro’s $1.03 million pre-Seed round in May 2024. Heinrich will… Read more »
Australia’s startup sector has seen a huge week of dealmaking. Firmus came in clutch on Friday morning with a massive $500 million raise just two months after it raised $330 million, making it one of the largest tech rounds announced this year. In total, eight companies pulled in $572.12 million across AI infrastructure, biotech, renewable… Read more »
Artificial intelligence data centre startup Firmus Technologies has trebled its valuation to $6 billion after raising another $500 million, just two months after banking $330 million in a deal with Nvidia. After setting out to build an AI data centre in Tasmania, the Singapore-based company announced a $73.3 billion plan, Project Southgate, with AI infrastructure also… Read more »
Australian entrepreneur Ned Dwyer has reason to celebrate, after Great Question, the San Francisco-based startup he co-founded in 2020, raised $20 million (US$13 million) in venture capital investment. And the Series A round has also prompted Dwyer to reflect on his experiences as an expat in Silicon Valley, and what has changed since for fellow… Read more »
Victorian agtech startup Drone-Hand has raised $720,000 in a pre-Seed round for its autonomous livestock management platform. The raise was led by US VC Radius Capital, supported by three local agribusiness investors Gippsland-based Edward Barraclough founded Drone-Hand in 2023, having grown up in NSW on a mixed livestock property. The idea was inspired by an… Read more »
Rage Biotech, a therapeutics startup tackling chronic inflammatory disease, has raised $29 million in a Series A. The round was led by IP Group Australia and super fund Hostplus, with support from existing investors including Monash Ventures. The funds will go towards first-in-human clinical trials for Rage’s nasal therapy to treat inflammatory lung diseases The… Read more »
A Sydney AI-powered ecommerce startup focused on customer satisfaction during delivery – known in the trade as WISMO (Where is my order?) – has raised $2.3 million in pre-Seed funding. The round for Keeyu was led by Rampersand, with support from Archangel, Startmate, Empress Capital, Exhort Ventures, Sydney Angels, Southern Angels, and others including Marketplacer’s… Read more »
The government-backed Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has tipped $25.3 million in new funding into Sydney startup SunDrive, which is developing cheaper, copper-based solar panels. It’s the second major funding injection from ARENA, which also tipped $11 million into SunDrive in 2023 and has now supplied nearly $40 million in capital. SunDrive began life in a… Read more »
A Sydney startup looking to reduce methane emissions from livestock has raised $11 million in a Series A. The round for Number 8 Bio was led by Kiwi VC Icehouse Ventures with support from existing backer Main Sequence, as well as Japanese climate VC One Innovators joining the cap table. Japan is Australia’s second largest… 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 »
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