Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
SaaStr tested AI SDRs across sales, marketing, and customer success. The reality: even with vendor support, expect 2 weeks for domain warmup, deliverability setup, and copy testing. And despite all the voice AI hype, most buyers still prefer chat.
Andrew and Nicola Forrest's Minderoo Foundation is backing Startmate with $2 million per year over four years to support women founders. The accelerator already invests in women-led startups at nearly double the industry rate: 43% versus 24%.
Australian capital gains tax changes are pushing tech founders and sales talent to the US, where equity is taxed at 15% versus Australia's 30% minimum. The policy shift hits hardest for startups using equity to compete with enterprise employers for top AEs and sales leaders. For ANZ sales professionals, the math is stark: US offers now include currency premium plus better equity treatment.
Ben Lerer, managing partner at New York early-stage fund Lerer Hippeau, explains why his firm deliberately passes on sensible businesses to chase power-law outcomes. His thesis: every dollar in a safe company is a dollar not chasing a fund-returner. The firm runs on conviction, not consensus, and Lerer aims to be the worst investor at his own fund.
OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO, valued at $852 billion but burning $10 billion a year. If your sales tech stack runs on ChatGPT or OpenAI models, you are betting on a landlord who has not shown profit yet. Public market pressure will change how they price, prioritise enterprise customers, and manage margin.
Canberra waste-tech startup Goterra entered administration after burning through $20M+ in funding. The collapse highlights a structural problem: climate tech companies outgrow venture capital before they are bankable for infrastructure finance. For sales professionals, this funding gap means unstable comp, sudden layoffs, and territory shutdowns at late-stage climate startups.
Startmate landed $8 million from Minderoo Foundation to back more women founders through its accelerator. The program puts in $120k at seed for 10% equity, runs 12 weeks of programming, then supports until the next round. Track record: 52% of founders raise $1M to $4M post-program. Female founders get 2% of VC funding in ANZ despite better returns.
Six vertical SaaS companies at SaaStr AI 2026 landed on the same thesis: the moat is not the model. Commerce platform Shoplazza, rev ops tools Nue and Reevo, payroll compliance vendor Papaya Global, and fintech players Fisent and Launchpad all said the same thing: data, workflows, and guardrails are the competitive advantage. The AI layer itself is commodity.
Silicon Quantum Computing landed $40m from the National Reconstruction Fund, bringing its government backing to $60m in three months. Dentroid, Earlytrade, and ReSmart closed the remaining $47.3m. The week sits within Australia's $5.1b funding year, third-largest on record.
The CSM role flatlined after four years of growth while forward deployed engineering roles climbed 1,000%. AI-native companies are replacing traditional customer success metrics with workflow-specific correctness checks and embedded product delivery. Here is what that means for sales teams handing off enterprise deals.
Richard White-backed Vinyl Group (ASX:VNL) closed Time Out Australia for nominal consideration, 24 hours after picking up Pedestrian.TV from Nine. Raised $2.4m at $0.054 per share to fund integration. Time Out Australia is profitable, expected to be earnings accretive in FY27.
Most 20-year-old software companies coast on installed base. Shopify just posted 34% growth, its fastest in four years, on $3.17B quarterly revenue. The model: payments and merchant solutions now drive 76% of revenue, subscriptions just 24%. Worth noting for B2B sales teams: success-based revenue is growing 2x faster than recurring.