Brisbane drone mapping company Emesent closed $15M in equity from Main Sequence, Orion Resource Partners, QIC, NGS and Hostplus, plus $10M venture debt from the National Reconstruction Fund. First institutional round since $32M Series A in 2022. Headcount at 109, adding 21 roles for Wacol manufacturing facility and Cortex AI development.
Sydney-founded AI data center builder Firmus locked a $43B Nvidia partnership for Indonesia compute infrastructure, but postponed its ASX listing from June to September after investor pushback on valuation. The deal spans 170,000 AI chips through 2028.
Adelaide VC Eastend Ventures secured $5 million from government-backed Funds SA, bringing total raised to $25 million for Fund 1. The firm targets early-stage B2B tech in SA, WA, and QLD, deliberately avoiding Sydney and Melbourne. Worth noting: this is SA's first registered ESVCLP, offering tax-free returns for investors.
Mako Aerospace closed a $28 million Series A led by Virescent Ventures. The Sydney-based drag reduction startup previously raised $700k in pre-seed (May 2022), meaning this round represents a 40x jump. Worth noting: Mako rebranded from MicroTau and has manufacturing partnerships in Australia, but headcount and sales team details remain undisclosed.
Melbourne-founded fintech closes $460M Series H at $16B valuation, doubling from $8B eight months ago. Revenue hit $1.3B ARR (up 74% YoY) as the company pushes AI-driven finance tools. Worth noting: AUSTRAC is still investigating AML/CTF compliance.
Chetan Puttagunta breaks down Benchmark's AI investment thesis and what changed in GTM. The firm's seeing legal AI startups hit $100M ARR in 18 months while taking longer to find product-market fit. Direct sales is back, PLG is not the default, and the moat moved from code to distribution.
DeepMind alumni Adam Liska and Devang Agrawal closed $20M Series A for Airspeed, their AI sales execution platform. DN Capital led the round. The company hit 200 customers across 20 countries two years post-launch, automating CRM updates, follow-ups, and risk flagging for GTM teams.
Former NASA deputy administrator and Space Shuttle commander Pam Melroy joins Gilmour Space's board. The Queensland rocket builder hit unicorn status in January after a $217M Series E led by government fund NRFC and Hostplus. Worth noting: this is governance hire, not go-to-market.
The NSW Budget allocated nearly $80 million for innovation and tech startups through its Innovation Blueprint, but the word 'startups' does not appear in the document. The state leads ANZ startup funding at 41%, yet the budget's focus on payroll tax increases and property revenue decline reveals how government priorities translate to policy language.
David Fairfull, founder of Sydney AI-marketing startup Metigy, sentenced to 9 years for misleading investors and misusing $7.7m in company funds to buy property. The platform raised $39m on AI claims that the ex-CFO says never existed. Worth noting for sales teams: the red flags were visible during the raises.
Federal government revises capital gains tax proposal after founders warned the policy would double exit tax rates and push investment offshore. Small businesses with turnover under $10 million keep the 50% discount. New carve-out coming for innovative firms, details still unclear.
New Side Stage Ventures data shows Australia is the world's fastest-growing venture ecosystem since 2016, up 13.7x. The reality for sales teams: early-stage funding has dropped every year since 2021, and founders now raise 41% of seed capital from overseas, double the US rate. That means fewer SDR and AE roles at the earliest stages.