Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
Major CRM vendors are adding usage-based pricing for AI agent API access, charging dramatically more per call than existing integration tiers. Salesforce's Flex Credits and HubSpot's Breeze metering hit at renewal, forcing sales teams to rework agent workflows or pay the premium. The pattern: if your pricing was built for humans clicking, the meter moves to the API.
The $69M ARR ecommerce CX platform tested its AI agent against named competitors on 8,356 live conversations and published the full methodology. Ranked first overall, but showed Yuma beating them in one category. This is how vendor evals should work.
Four months after cutting 14% of headcount and exiting 22 countries, GitLab shipped a $286M quarter with 24% billings growth. Revenue grew 21% but Q3 is guided down due to Flex recognition timing. New consumption model did $20M in six weeks.
Sydney proptech RentBetter closed $5 million from EVP to build AI property management tools. The 2016-founded company is profitable but won't disclose revenue, headcount, or what the round valued it at. Previous raise was $1.9 million in 2022.
Maia Josebachvili, Stripe's CRO for AI, shared revenue data from the fastest-growing AI companies. They grew 175% in 2026, hit 120 countries by year three, and 48% of revenue came from outside their home market. Worth noting: Stripe processes payments for most major AI companies, so these are actual revenue numbers.
Heidi's $140 million Series C leads this week's funding haul, valuing the AI healthcare platform at $1.26 billion. Six other startups closed rounds across medtech, proptech, and fintech. The deals signal continued investor appetite for B2B software and applied AI plays in ANZ.
Australian founders are moving companies offshore earlier than they otherwise would, driven by capital gains tax exposure that gets worse as valuations climb. The flip-up gets harder once you have revenue and investors. Lawyers say cost and complexity push founders to Delaware before they raise serious money.
Bowral-based medical edtech Medcast closed a $5.4 million raise led by Best Practice Software to scale MedLuma, its AI clinical knowledge platform for Australian GPs. The round was oversubscribed. Funding goes toward tech and clinical hiring, plus integration with Best Practice's practice management software, which holds 80% of the GP market in Australia.
SaaStr's inbound AI agent handled 17,000 conversations in 12 months, booked ~600 meetings for its $90K sponsorship packages, and drove 60% more new business. The entire sales operation runs with three humans. Here's the actual setup, what they replaced, and why it works for tech buyers but won't work for everyone.
Global acquirers are snapping up Australian SMEs in infrastructure, defence, and energy. Target range: $1m-$50m enterprise value. Buyers want established teams, local relationships, and market access without building from scratch. Seven deals closed in 2026 so far.
Sydney fintech OpenDebt closed $2 million pre-seed from Blackbird and Antler. The AI debt recovery startup is deploying with Australian lenders and collection agencies, which means sales hiring is coming. No public headcount or CRO yet, but enterprise traction with a national collection agency suggests AE roles ahead.
ServiceTitan shut off a partner with $100M in AI agent ARR and lost zero customers. That is what owning the system of record buys you. What it did not buy: faster growth. The trades software company grew 25% last quarter while competitors in the data layer grew 80%. Retention is defensive. Growth comes from somewhere else.