Sydney-founded insurtech Cover Genius closed a $143 million funding round backed by Vista Credit Partners, valuing the company at $2 billion. The 2017 Smart50 winner now serves major clients including Booking.com and eBay, with plans to expand AI capabilities and make acquisitions.
Carta data shows the Bay Area took $51.3 billion of $124 billion in US startup funding from July 2025 to June 2026. In AI and B2B specifically, one metro captures more than half of all venture capital. That concentration means hiring is following the money: if you are chasing AI or B2B sales roles, the Bay Area and New York account for 67% to 72% of the market.
Sydney's BlueNexus landed $2M seed for its no-code AI agent builder. Auckland's Hyades raised $910K for geospatial AI models. ESGAgent also closed a round this week, amount not disclosed. All three are pre-revenue, so do not expect sales headcount yet.
NSW Government's MVP Ventures Program handed out $1.04M across 22 early-stage startups in Round 1 of 2025-26. Grants ranged from $24k to $75k. Worth noting: this is commercialisation funding, not VC. It matters because these companies will be hiring SDRs and AEs once they hit market.
AI pricing is artificially low, and ANZ startups are about to feel it. Median planned spend is $15M (versus $12.5M globally), but token costs could jump 10x when subsidies end. If your sales stack runs on AI APIs, those unit economics might not hold.
Former Startmate-backed energy software company Gridcog raised $14M Series A from ABB and energy giants. Now London-based but maintaining Perth and Melbourne offices. Worth watching: they are scaling into enterprise sales for renewable project modelling.
ESGAgent.ai raised $450k in a seed round led by DNX Ventures, bringing total funding to $1.7M. The Brisbane startup automates ESG compliance for heavy industry, turning months of reporting into hours. Client base includes tier one miners and food manufacturers.
Queensland skincare brand Frasé Skin closed $1.2 million in equity crowdfunding from 535 investors to fund US expansion. The tradie-focused e-commerce company hit $3 million ARR and 40,000 customers in three years, now launching on Amazon Prime with retail partnerships including Coles.
Auckland-based Hyades closed a $910k pre-seed to build spatial AI for enterprise teams. The startup turns satellite, drone, and radar data into AI-ready models for insurance, agriculture, and climate risk. Early stage, lean team, worth tracking as enterprise geospatial tooling heats up.
Canberra agtech startup Goterra has entered liquidation after administrators found no viable buyers. The insect farming company raised $36.5M over a decade, burned through its runway scaling autonomous waste processing tech, and recorded $1.43M revenue against ongoing losses. No details on what happens to the team.
The vertical SaaS leader posted $268.8M quarterly revenue with 110% NRR and 15.2% operating margin. Fintech now represents 22% of platform revenue and is outpacing core subscriptions. Trading at 6x-7x ARR despite strong fundamentals.
Vanessa Larco and Mercedes Bent are launching Premise, a consumer-focused early-stage fund. Worth noting: they are running it with startup discipline, formal investment memos, KPIs, and internal R&D. The thesis? Back technical founding teams building category-defining companies OpenAI will not kill.