Matt Wright sold his Brisbane used-car marketplace to Toyota Tsusho for $120 million after six years. Now he is writing three $1 million cheques to founders in Australia, UK, and US through his Founder Finds Future initiative. The company hit $500 million in revenue before the exit.
Oli closed a $6.5 million Series A3 to commercialise wearable birth-monitoring tech. The Sydney startup has now raised $13 million private capital plus $9.5 million in grants since 2018. Worth watching: they are moving from development into hospital sales, which means clinical sales hires are likely coming.
Sydney hospitality wholesale platform Ordermentum closed $55 million from Five V Capital at a $150m valuation. The round funds AI development and acquisitions. The company connects 50,000 venues with suppliers through digital ordering and payments.
Three ANZ startups pulled in $81 million this week. Sydney hospitality platform Ordermentum led with $55M from Five V Capital, serving 45,000 venues. Melbourne defence tech Arkeus closed a Series A, while NZ music platform Lume secured backing from Lorde ahead of launch.
PepsiCo's 2026 APAC Greenhouse Program selected five startups, including Sydney's Adiona and X-Centric. Worth noting: both have been working with PepsiCo since 2023 and 2024 respectively. The program is grant-based and non-dilutive, which matters if you are selling climate or supply chain tech and want an enterprise reference customer without giving up equity.
The federal Industry Growth Program stopped accepting new applications last week, freezing access to grants up to $5 million for startups commercialising products. The pause hits hardware, medtech, and advanced manufacturing companies that rely on non-dilutive capital while they are still building revenue.
The Industry Growth Program, which has issued 1,000 advisory reports and up to $5M grants since 2023, stopped accepting applications last week. Federal budget cuts removed $102M in uncommitted funding. The pause hits deep-tech and industrial startups hardest, especially those building into National Reconstruction Fund sectors.
Arkeus closed a $25 million Series A at a $100m valuation, 7x its seed round two years ago. The Melbourne-founded drone AI startup is building a manufacturing facility in Queensland and expanding into the US and Europe. No public detail yet on sales headcount or comp structure.
NSW shadow minister Jacqui Munro has launched #StopTheTechTax targeting Labor's proposed capital gains tax changes. The campaign reflects growing sector concern that moving from the 50% CGT discount to cost-base indexation, plus a 30% minimum tax on real gains, could increase founder tax bills at exit and push talent offshore.
Melbourne defence tech startup Arkeus closed A$25M Series A led by QIC Ventures at A$100M valuation. The company builds AI-powered hyperspectral sensors for autonomous military platforms and has won contracts with the Pentagon and Australian Defence. Money goes to manufacturing scale-up in Queensland and US market expansion.
Two Australian startups closed funding this week: Harrison.ai raised $179 million for healthcare AI expansion into US and UK markets, while insurtech UpCover secured $19 million ($8m debt) at a $45 million valuation. Both are hiring, but the sales motion looks very different.
Reevo closed $80M from Coastal Ventures and Kleiner Perkins to build an AI-native revenue operating system targeting mid-market GTM teams. The company is betting fragmented sales stacks, averaging 10-15 tools per team, will give way to unified platforms. Founder team from DoorDash, Stripe, and Square.