Latest updates for ANZ sales professionals
HubSpot reported 23% growth and beat consensus by $18M, then the stock tanked. The reason: five points of that growth came from FX. Constant currency growth is 18% and decelerating. Q2 guide is 16%. AI revenue is still activation counts, not material dollars. Multi-hub remains the actual engine.
Google is turning Search into an AI answer engine that keeps users inside Google, not clicking through to websites. For ANZ startups relying on organic search to build pipeline, that means higher CAC and weaker attribution. AI Overviews already serve 1.5 billion users.
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.
SaaStr's AI Agent API Report Card graded 144 B2B APIs on autonomous agent readiness. Average score: 71/100. Stripe leads with 95. Marketo, Gainsight, and Workday sit at C or below. The gap matters: vendors with weak APIs are losing deals to agent-native competitors.
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.
SaaStr's traffic nearly doubled year-on-year, with direct visits up 160%, organic search up 42%, and referrals up 116%. The data suggests AI adoption is driving B2B content consumption across all channels, not killing SEO as predicted. APAC is exploding: Singapore traffic up 429%, Australia up 127%.
For decades, the fix for slowing growth was simple: hire a better VP Sales. A great sales leader could double revenue in 90 days without changing the product. That playbook still works, but the underlying assumption has collapsed. Products are no longer static.
Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh says Australia's AI adoption sits at 7%, concentrated in big banks and enterprise. The gap between large firms and SMEs is widening. For sales teams, that means the buyers with budget for AI tools are still mostly the majors: CBA, Macquarie, NAB, Westpac, ANZ.