Liquid Instruments: $70M Series C
Canberra-born Liquid Instruments closed a $70M Series C to bring manufacturing operations back to Australia. The round was co-led by listed US firm Keysight Technologies and included $28.45M from the National Reconstruction Fund.
Other investors: Breakthrough Victoria, Acorn Capital, Significant Capital Ventures, and Tribeca. The company was founded in 2014 from university research.
Sales angle: Series C rounds typically trigger significant go-to-market expansion. Hardware companies scaling manufacturing usually add 5-8 enterprise AEs and 3-5 technical sales engineers within 12 months of a raise this size. Worth watching for ANZ-based sales roles as production returns locally.
The Other Three: $20M Combined
Marloo, Aigentsphere, and Manifest raised a combined $20M this week. Details on individual round sizes, investors, and company focus remain limited.
What we know:
- Marloo: Reportedly working on eliminating timesheets
- Aigentsphere: Limited public information
- Manifest: One investor compared them to "early days of Canva"
What we don't know: Founding dates, prior funding, headcount, sales team size, ANZ footprint, or comp structures for any of these three.
Market Context
This $90M week comes as ANZ VC activity faces headwinds. ANZ Bank's 1835i venture arm is under cost-cutting review, potentially signaling reduced corporate VC support for local startups.
The pattern: Series C rounds like Liquid Instruments' typically mean go-to-market expansion. If you are tracking ANZ sales opportunities, hardware and deep tech companies post-Series C are worth monitoring for quota-carrying roles.
Missing data: No details on sales hires, OTE structures, or territory plans from any of the four companies. Standard for early funding announcements, but worth following up as these companies scale.