Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
Commerce platforms tied to restaurants, logistics, and retail are growing 2-3x faster than seat-based SaaS. Shopify hit $3.6B revenue (+34% YoY), Toast added 9,500 locations in one quarter, Samsara crossed $2B ARR at +30%. AI is squeezing seat-licensed software, but transaction-based models in the physical world are holding up.
Below $8k ACV, you cannot afford dedicated account managers. The unit economics do not work. At $10k+, you can justify pooled coverage. At $50k+, customers deserve a dedicated person. Here is what the data shows and where most SaaS companies get it wrong.
Farmbot closed a $22M Series B led by Lewis & Clark Partners. Seven other ANZ startups raised capital this week, spanning agtech, medtech, and robotics. The full cohort: Farmbot, Atmo Biosciences, Alloy Robotics, Vexev, Fabulate, Kantoko, Sterling, and Enrola.
ASX-listed furniture retailer Nick Scali forced parts of its network offline following a cyber incident, leaving sales and customer service teams working from manual records. The company says orders and deliveries continue, but response times are slower. No evidence of customer data breach yet, AFP and Cyber Security Centre notified.
Auckland-based Sterling closed an oversubscribed seed round led by Blackbird to build AI workflow automation for finance teams. Founded in 2025 by ex-Deliveroo and Vend engineers Nik Wakelin and Ludwig Wendzich, the startup has early customers but no public headcount or sales org details yet.
Jason Lemkin warns B2B founders that experienced executives with strong LinkedIn profiles are joining AI startups without basic AI tool proficiency. The pattern: good logos, fluent talk, zero hands-on capability. Worth noting: this is not about tech skills, it is about leaders who have never built anything from scratch.
The Australian Business Growth Fund lifted its initial investment cap from $15M to $30M and total investment ceiling to $50M. The government-backed fund can now take majority stakes, marking a shift upmarket from its original $5M-$15M sweet spot.
New York City's minimum pay rules for app-based delivery workers hit $22.13 per hour in 2026, up from $21.44 in 2025. Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, Instacart, and Shipt face direct unit economics pressure in NYC. The regulatory model offers a preview of gig-economy labor rules that could reshape platform pricing in ANZ markets.
Sydney creator marketing platform Fabulate closed an oversubscribed $4.5 million round at $84.5 million post-money valuation, 90% from existing backers including Centerstone Capital and Nightingale Partners. The company is profitable and operates across 10 APAC markets with more than 100 employees.
Independent MP Allegra Spender says Labor's proposed $10 million lifetime cap on startup CGT concessions could discourage successful founders and investors from backing new ventures. The cap applies to gains under the existing 50% discount, potentially hitting serial investors and exited founders who reinvest.
Brisbane unicorn SafetyCulture is now Mitti, pushing AI-driven workplace operations and insurance alongside its core safety platform. The rebrand follows the 2023 buyout of QBE's 50% stake in their insurance JV. Worth noting: 26,000 businesses worldwide already use the platform, but the company has not disclosed sales headcount or go-to-market structure for the expanded product suite.
Five years after Intuit paid $12B for a business doing $1B ARR, Mailchimp is now shrinking. Intuit reports growth twice: once with Mailchimp, once without. The May earnings call confirmed year-over-year revenue decline and a 17% workforce reduction. Mailchimp went from 20% growth to a liability Intuit strips out of its numbers.