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 »
Startups are raising capital later. Often with more traction. All of which is lowering the risk to investors, thanks to AI-enabled product development. Welcome to the shifting Australian startup ecosystem. Investments in AI have dominated the headlines of late. Globally record sums are being poured into the space, with forecasts suggesting AI could add $600 billion to… Read more »
Medical technology was a major theme in startup funding this week, with Synchron and Lumonus AI raising hundreds of millions for their forward-thinking solutions. We also counted funding deals from Australian startups that have found new ways to clean ships, improve cattle breeding, provide gifts, and support parents and carers of neurodivergent children. Keep reading… 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 »
This isn’t about shopping. This is about the power you hold and wield every day with your wallet. Every woman-owned purchase you make chips away at a system built to extract and reward exploitation. Women build differently. And when we back them, we are not just buying products. What happens when profit comes first? Lovisa… 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 »
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 »
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 »
Brisbane VC TEN13 has won its first institutional mandate under QIC’s $130 million Queensland VCDF and immediately co-led a $2.5 million seed for preventive MRI startup OneMRI, as new data shows Queensland startup funding jumped 37 percent in FY25 to $417 million.
After some quiet weeks of startup raises, we’ve seen some course correction on the funding front over the past few weeks, and the trend is continuing. The last week of September saw $94.4 million raised across the tech, marketing, robotics and fleet spaces. Leading the charge was Morse Micro with $88 million in Series C. Morse Micro:… 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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