Australia's national science agency is courting philanthropists and businesses after cutting jobs and narrowing focus. Worth noting: 75% of CSIRO revenue still comes from government, not private sector. The pitch for donations follows Australia's R&D spend sitting at 1.6% of GDP versus 5% in comparable nations.
Eight ANZ startups closed $102 million in funding over two weeks, led by automotive software company Partly's $71.5 million raise from DST Global and Blackbird. The NZ company now valued at $715 million is building an Australian team. The cohort spans deep tech, AI, and agtech, with most still in early scaling phases.
Melbourne sports tech startup Superstat closed a $3.5 million pre-seed led by Blackbird and is moving operations to Austin. The AI video analysis platform has 5,000 active users and is hiring a computer vision engineer and GTM partnerships lead. Worth noting: they are calling this pre-seed at $3.5M, which would be Series A territory in most ANZ markets.
Logistics operator Andrew McKenna bought the Sendle brand, trademarks, and domain after the carbon-neutral shipping platform shut down in January 2026. The company raised over $100 million before a failed merger with US logistics firms killed the business. No word yet on sales team rebuild or enterprise customer strategy.
Block released Buzz, a free workplace chat app that puts humans and AI agents in the same conversations. The open-source platform combines chat, code repos, and project management in one interface. No visible sales team yet, this is an engineering-led product launch, not an enterprise play.
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.