Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
Sydney-based WiseTech Global is cutting 2000 engineering roles, more than a quarter of its 7000 headcount, as AI takes over code writing. CEO says the era of manual coding is over. Revenue up 76% to $951m, but the sales team impact remains unclear.
Anthropic's data from 1 million tool calls shows AI agents dominate software engineering (49.7%) while sales sits at 4.3%. That is not a failure signal. It is a roadmap: sales automation is next, and the infrastructure is already being built.
AI infrastructure spending is driving demand for electricians and construction workers as data centres expand across ANZ. Job ads for trades roles jumped sharply in 2025, tracking AI investment patterns. For once, the sales team is not invited.
The federal government is offering $500 million to co-invest with venture capital firms backing Australian defence and dual-use tech startups. The Advanced Capabilities Investment Fund targets AI, cyber, quantum, and undersea warfare capabilities. Expressions of interest close April 30.
Sydney unicorn acquires US marketing algorithms startup MangoAI and UK animation platform Cavalry. Fifth and sixth acquisitions in two years. No sales team headcount or comp details disclosed, but B2B segment hit $500M ARR last year through 100% growth.
Victoria raised $2.2B in venture capital across 134 deals in 2025, overtaking NSW for the first time. The catch: mega-rounds drove growth while sub-$5M deals dropped from 87 to 66. Median Series B+ climbed to $40M, up from $17M.
The classic B2B SaaS playbook, lock up a category at $20M ARR, burn $80M grinding to $100M, ride 130% NRR on autopilot, is finished. AI-native competitors are hitting $100M in 12 months, shipping real capability weekly, and pulling budget from incumbents whose quarterly releases look absurd. For sales teams, this means quotas built on automatic expansion are breaking, and CFOs now demand immediate ROI or they will spend elsewhere.
Sydney-founded Canva reported $4B ARR with 35% YoY growth and $500M enterprise ARR doubling annually. The company employs roughly 5,000 globally but sales team size remains undisclosed. Current valuation sits at $42B in secondaries, with Figma and Adobe comps suggesting $20-48B range depending on market sentiment around AI risk.
The two firms that sell into enterprise IT and marketing budgets just reported Q4. Gartner revenue up 2%, consulting down 13%. Forrester down 8% full year, exiting strategy consulting, market cap collapsed to $105M. When the companies that track B2B spend are getting crushed, that tells you where enterprise buying cycles actually are.
Sydney telehealth startup Eucalyptus sold to NYSE-listed Hims & Hers for $1.6 billion, three times its 2023 valuation. The deal includes $340 million upfront, earnouts through 2029, and signals continued consolidation in digital health. Worth noting: Eucalyptus was burning cash with a $15 million loss in FY2024 despite $640 million ARR.
Figma closed Q4 2025 at $304M in revenue, up 40% year-over-year, with full-year revenue of $1.056B. Net dollar retention hit 136%, meaning existing customers expanded their spend significantly. For sales teams watching SaaS benchmarks, these numbers set a new bar at scale.
Two dozen Australian startups pulled in $91 million this week, led by Fluent Commerce's $46 million raise. The funding follows 2024's 68% jump in startup capital, now hitting $5.4 billion across 380+ deals. For sales professionals: this translates to hiring across retail tech, legal tech, and defence sectors, with Startmate's 19 new cohort companies ramping teams.