Nvidia guided to 70% revenue growth for fiscal 2028, crushing street expectations of 44%. Clay raised at a $7B valuation, cementing its position as the AI sales stack breakout. Meanwhile, hundreds of AI agents ran undetected inside OpenAI for weeks, exposing platform security gaps.
Sydney startups dominated this week's funding, with Gridsight pulling $36 million Series B for AI grid management, Pearler and Apate.AI securing capital, and Auckland's Drumbeat joining the round. Total: $67.2 million across 15 companies. Here is what that means for sales hiring and expansion budgets.
Melbourne-founded Airwallex pulled $970 million of Australia's $1.73 billion in fintech funding last financial year. The headline boom masks a reality: deal count hit a seven-year low at 53 rounds. One company's Series H skewed the entire market.
Drumbeat, an Auckland-founded AI PR platform, raised NZ$2 million seed led by Icehouse Ventures. The company has 50+ customers across NZ, AU, UK, and US with an 8-person team. Capital targets expansion into Australia and the United States, signalling sales-led growth beyond the home market.
Sydney talent marketplace Expert360 is selling to SwipeJobs for $16 million. Founder Bridget Loudon and early-stage investors will receive zero payout. The deal favours late-stage preference shareholders while wiping out seed and Series A backers who put in roughly $30 million since 2013.
Melbourne lolly brand Funday is launching in Target US this month after hitting $100 million in retail sales over 12 months. The company has grown from 3 full-time staff in 2023 to 11-50 employees while scaling distribution from 1,000 to 5,000 stores domestically. Worth noting: no public funding round despite international expansion.
Sydney fraud-intelligence startup Apate.AI closed $11.4m Seed (Lobby Capital led) and is now US-incorporated. CCO Brad Joffe is building the commercial function from scratch. CPO Peter Eckermann moves to the US to lead expansion. Tech and research teams stay in Sydney.
Fintech giant Airwallex backed 10 Australian AI startups with $100k each through its Latitude 37 program. Equity-free funding, plus network access to a company doing $1.3bn in annualized revenue. Worth watching: what happens when fintech infrastructure players start acting like VCs.
Melbourne analytics startup Diversity Atlas ($6m), NSW clean energy player MGA Thermal ($5.7m), and NZ comms startup VXT (NZ$1.8m) led a mixed-stage funding week. Different sectors mean different GTM motions: enterprise analytics, deep-tech partner sales, and early SaaS distribution.
Intercom rebranded as Fin, rebuilt pricing and product around AI agents, and landed a $3.6B Salesforce acquisition. The catch: it took four years, earned a sub-9x multiple, and most B2B companies are maybe 40% through similar rebuilds. Public SaaS growth sits at 10-30%, and shipping AI features has not moved the number.
Melbourne fintech Pay.com.au closed a US$28 million Series E to fund its US expansion as PayRewards. Total capital raised hits US$70 million. The company runs a business payments platform that turns supplier bills and tax payments into loyalty points, claiming A$10 billion in processed payments over the past 12 months across 30,000 Australian businesses.
Blackbird Ventures closed its sixth fund at $1.05 billion, matching its 2022 record. The Sydney VC is betting earlier than ever: pre-revenue, pre-product, sometimes pre-idea. Portfolio includes Canva, Airwallex, and 190 companies worth $12.5 billion combined.