Sydney legal practice collaboration and CRM platform Nexl has raised US$23 million (A$35m) in a Series B. The round was led by Dave Yuan’s US growth equity firm Tidemark Capital. Philipp Thurner, former head of innovation at Gilbert and Tobin, and now based in New York, founded Nexl in 2018, pivoting in 2021 to help law… Read more »
NSW biotech Cauldron Ferm became the first startup to win two years in a row at the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards, after taking out Best Regional Startup in both 2024 and 2025. The award, supported by Carta, recognises an outstanding startup located outside of the state capitals, which demonstrates strong growth, boldness in… Read more »
ASX-listed defence technology company DroneShield will spend $13 million developing a new R&D facility in Adelaide, South Australia. The investment covers three years of operational and capital expenditure. DroneShield sells protection against threats such as drones and autonomous systems as well as electronic warfare solutions and off-the-shelf counter-measures for terrestrial, maritime or airborne drone attacks,… Read more »
Wellington startup PAM (Personal Administration Manager) has raised NZ$570,000 (A$502k) in the first close of its Seed round to help parents deal with the life admin of raising a family. Initial support was led by Flying Kiwi Angels, with participation from Icehouse Ventures, Even Capital’s Sarah Park, Easy Crypto founder Janine Grainger, Foggy Valley, Wainot… Read more »
British risk management firm Ideagen has acquired WorkSafe Guardian, a smartphone safety app for lone workers. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition delivers an exit for South Australian VC Eastend Ventures just three years after investing in the decade-old Adelaide startup. WorkSafe Guardian was founded by Greg Lindner and Adam… Read more »
Startup funding activity has continued to hold steady this week, with nearly $53.5 million announced across sectors including agtech, energy, AI, health and fintech. Oh, and Limoncello. Leading the pack is Queensland-based SwarmFarm Robotics, which has banked $30 million to ramp up production of its autonomous farm robots and expand overseas. SwarmFarm Robotics: $30 million The… Read more »
Indi, an AI-powered co-pilot app helping parents of children with complex care needs, has raised $1.46 million. The round was led by Giant Leap and supported by Antler, along with several strategic angel investors. The capital will be spent on talent to accelerate platform development and expand partnerships with allied health clinics and families. Indi… Read more »
The NSW government has finally confirmed Stone & Chalk as operator of the relocated and rebranded Sydney Startup Hub at Tech Central with Fishburners as anchor partner. The move provides certainty for Fishburners, one of the city’s original startup coworking spaces, which was left marooned at the Startup Hub’s former Wynyard site after the government… Read more »
One of the rising stars of Australia’s artificial intelligence startups, Relevance AI, was named Startup of the Year at the Startup Daily Best in Tech Awards 2025. The win for the Sydney startup, which is pioneering the future of work through agentic AI, with a platform that lets anyone build a team of AI agents,… Read more »
Robotics data analytics platform Alloy has raised $4.5 million in pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Blackbird Ventures with support from Airtree, US-based robotics VC Xtal Ventures, and Skip Capital as well as strategic angels investors include senior engineering leaders and founders from Waymo, Tesla, Halter, Reach Robotics, and Carbon Robotics. The Eucalyptus cofounders… Read more »
Operating for 20 years, Australia Plays has become a globally influential gaming survey authority. But it now faces new challenges as its data matures. Bond University’s Professor Jeffrey Brand is calm, collected and ready to go. There’s no sense of nervousness or trepidation on a media call discussing his research into Australia’s gaming population. He… Read more »
The start of spring appears to be a fruitful time for startup funding, with 19 blossoming Australian and New Zealand startups sharing in new funding deals this week. Keep reading to learn more about Andromeda, Starboard Maritime Intelligence, Freckle, Marloo, X-Hemp, Harvest B, Wable and Techstars’ latest cohort. Andromeda Robotics: $23 million Robotics startup Andromeda… Read more »
Victorian government-backed venture fund Breakthrough Victoria has lured another NSW startup across the border, investing $2 million in proteins manufacturer Harvest B as part of a $3.5 million pre-Series A. The round was led by Mandalay Venture Partners, supported by Breakthrough Victoria, Alberts Impact Ventures, the Investible Climate Tech Fund, and Investible Club. In January,… Read more »
This week on Startup 360, we talk to two founders who presented at Cicada x Tech23. Engineer Nick Hazell is back with his second climate tech startup, Algenie, having previously raised $120 million for his plant-based meat startup v2food. Also on the couch is Ana Belgun from CSIRO-developed digital twin pioneer Terria. They were among… Read more »
Australians love reminding ourselves we invented Wi-Fi, the black box and the Hills Hoist. But those stories are outdated. The challenges we face today are new. Nostalgia won’t build the systems we need to turn our next breakthrough into something the world buys. No wonder we rank 68 out of 69 countries for entrepreneurship in… Read more »
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