Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
ASX-listed Scalare secured $5m in convertible notes after buying Fishburners out of administration for an undisclosed sum. The deal adds 40,000 founders to Scalare's database but came with no staff or liabilities. Worth noting: customer receipts hit $5.3m in Q4, up from $639k a year ago.
Sydney-founded Canva pulled 10.5 billion visits in 12 months, behind only ChatGPT (64.7 billion) and ahead of Gemini, Claude, and Grok. The traffic data reflects Canva's embedded AI features in design workflows, not pure chatbot usage. Context for sales teams: this is about where your buyers are spending time, not which AI agent closes deals.
Strip out SpaceX's $1.77 trillion listing and 2026's IPO market is one of the weakest on record for enterprise software. Not a single B2B SaaS company has gone public or even filed. Databricks CEO called it 'a terrible year to go public' despite $5.4B ARR growing 65%. Why this matters for your quota: when the exit window stays shut, hiring plans stall.
Matt Berriman called time on his US legal battle against Google after the Ninth Circuit rejected his appeal. Unlockd, the Sydney adtech startup that raised $60m and was valued at $200m, collapsed in 2018 after Google banned it from the Play Store. Eight years of litigation later, Google won.
Victorian Premier Ben Carroll is reportedly considering carve-outs for small businesses in the state's work-from-home legislation, which would give eligible employees the right to work remotely two days a week. Business groups have pushed back on compliance costs and liability exposure, particularly for the 1.3 million Victorians employed by SMEs.
SaaStr deployed 20+ AI agents, cut headcount from 20+ humans to 3, grew revenue 47% YoY. The catch: AI multiplies your existing playbook. If your messaging doesn't work at human scale, 10x zero is still zero.
Jason Lemkin (EchoSign, SaaStr founder) ran three different commission structures on multi-year SaaS contracts. One worked. One printed money. One let a rep sell a lifetime deal for $200k and bank $150k commission. Here is what actually happens when you get the incentives wrong.
The construction software incumbent spent $845 million cash on drone tech, more than double its own valuation multiple. Meanwhile, sales and marketing spend grew just 3% while revenue jumped 16%. First GAAP profit in company history, new CEO six months in.
Brussels hit Google with its first Digital Markets Act penalty: €890 million for favoring its own services in Search results and blocking app developers from steering users to cheaper payment options outside Play. The fine underscores EU enforcement on platform gatekeepers, relevant to ANZ app developers and digital advertisers navigating Google's ecosystem.
Chief Product & Technology Officer roles are showing up more at larger B2B software firms, especially those pushing AI transformation. The market reality: executive search firms report these hybrid roles typically fail because one person cannot cover both product strategy and technical execution well. For sales teams, a CPTO hire often signals organisational complexity rather than stronger execution.
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.