Athena

Australia’s Top 5 Most Well-Funded Fintech Startups in 2025

Ranking of Australia’s five best-funded fintechs — Airwallex, Athena, Zeller, InDebted and Brighte — profiling each one’s total raised, most recent raise, backers, valuation and growth moves.

Reinventing homeownership with a $31m raise

OwnHome has secured a $31 million Series A, with Square Peg Capital leading and Commonwealth Bank joining, as returning backers double down on its low-deposit route into home ownership.

Blackbird backs Heidi Health’s AI platform for overworked doctors

Melbourne healthtech firm Heidi Health has pulled in A$10 million Series A capital, headed by Blackbird Ventures, to grow its AI scribe that lightens clinicians' documentation workload.

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VC Square Peg just raised $860 million for two new funds to back new startups and double down on its portfolio

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Alternative liquidity investor SecondQuarter raises $83 million for 2nd fund backed by Andrew Forrest, Sam Kroonenburg & Dom Pym

Secondaries fund SecondQuarter has reached an $83m first close on its second vehicle, aiming past $100m, with founder-angels and Minderoo among new backers; its portfolio includes past sales of ActivePipe and A Cloud Guru.

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2019 Year in Review

Square Peg's retrospective of 2019: five new portfolio companies, several large rounds it led or co-led, two acquisitions, two IPOs, new team members, and its capital deployed across new and follow-on deals.

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Founders Stories Podcast: Athena Home Loans and the trillion dollar mortgage market

Square Peg podcast episode with Athena Home Loans' founders Nathan and Michael on lessons from building the mortgage challenger, their earlier ventures iSelect and NABTrade, and its record raise from local backers.

Financial wellness platform WeMoney raises a further $7M to accelerate growth

WeMoney closed a $7 million round in March 2022, led by Full Circle VC and Betterlabs with new backers, following its 2020 seed raise, to fund product development.

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A Cloud Guru founder Sam Kroonenburg signs on as a partner in SecondQuarter Ventures

A Cloud Guru co-founder Sam Kroonenburg joins SecondQuarter Ventures as venture partner as it closes $100 million for fund two; the piece also recalls A Cloud Guru's sale to Pluralsight and Moxiwork buying ActivePipe.

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Investment notes: Athena AU$25m Series B

Square Peg explains its rationale for leading Athena's Series B, joined by Hostplus and Airtree, with analysis of the Australian mortgage market, the challenger lender's model, and its founding and senior team.

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Follow-on notes: Athena AU$70m Series C

Square Peg's post explains why it led mortgage platform Athena's $70 million Series C, with Hostplus and Airtree reinvesting and Australian Super, NAB Ventures and Salesforce Ventures joining as new backers.

Insurtech startup AuditCover books $1.7 million Seed round

Tax audit insurtech AuditCover has raised a $1.7 million seed round led by Hunter Equity Group, with angels and Greenlight Re participating, and appointed Claire Wivell Plater as a director.

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Our investment in Fortiro

OIF, an Australian VC, announces a $3.5 million investment leading Fortiro's seed round, profiling the document fraud-detection startup's technology, PwC-experienced founders, and customer traction.

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Send Payments raises $5m in round backed by Kelly Partners, Polymorphic

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2021 wrapped: a record-breaking year for fundraising and growth

Square Peg Capital's year-in-review recaps its 2021 portfolio: raises it led or joined, SPAC listing decisions, Vend's acquisition, new investment-team hires, and its newsletter and podcast output.

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Live entertainment startup Muso turns the dial up to 11 with $2 million seed+ round

Gig booking platform Muso has raised a $2 million seed round led by Rampersand to expand into New Zealand and the UK, after a $1.5 million raise in 2019, and has made several senior hires.

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Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: CBA's cash splash, NZ's Hi-Tech awards, the biggest tech news from around the world

Weekly roundup covering CBA's strategic stakes in Little Birdie and Amber, several Australian funding rounds, Zip's BNPL acquisitions, Tritium's planned NASDAQ listing, Amazon's MGM purchase and other global tech news.

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Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: Intersekt highlights, $100m Kiwi exit, tech sucker trade, the week in raises

A weekly technology roundup reporting a New Zealand booking software firm's sale, an Australian beauty retailer's acquisition, several venture raises, executive share sales at an e-commerce firm, and a new government fund committee.

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Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: Airwallex's culture concerns, CSIRO's $100m plan, crypto trolls

Ignition Lane's weekly roundup reports Tyro buying Medipass, several startup raises, ASX listings, Hey Tiger shutting down, Airwallex culture complaints, CSIRO's technology spending plan, and Musk's bitcoin antics.

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The startup funding round: Athena’s record-breaking raise, $1.5 million for biotech, and Turnbull backs forensics startup

A weekly roundup reporting raises by Athena, Comestri, Mass Dynamics and CircleSource, plus Malcolm Turnbull investing through Turnbull & Partners in UK cloud forensics startup Cado Security.

Fintech lender Athena banks $90 million series D

Mortgage lender Athena has raised a $90 million Series D led by Square Peg Capital with earlier backers returning. The piece recalls its earlier Series A, B and C raises and lists other investors.

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Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: Netflix comparisons, ScoMo's digital epiphany, Bitcoin's face-off

Weekly technology roundup covering Australia's digital economy budget, multiple startup raises including SafetyCulture's unicorn round, Data Republic's administration, TikTok's new permanent CEO, and Bill.com's purchase of Divvy.

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VC fund SecondQuarter Ventures has raised $51 million and struck investment deals with two more startups

Secondary-focused VC SecondQuarter Ventures closed $51 million and bought stakes in ActivePipe and Propeller from a founder and Startmate, on top of earlier positions in Athena Home Loans and Equiem.

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More than $1.6 billion was raised by Aussie VCs in 2020, with Paul Bassat's Square Peg leading the way

Square Peg has closed a $600 million fourth fund, capping a year in which Australian venture funds collectively gathered over $1.6 billion, with closes by Blackbird, OneVentures, Equity Venture Partners, Antler, Tidal and others.

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Australian FinTech company profile #110 – TrueLayer

A profile of open banking API provider TrueLayer, covering its founding, backers, Australian leadership and expansion plans, with no new funding, hires or transactions announced.

Australian FinTech company profile #107 – Driva

Question-and-answer profile of Driva, a Sydney car-loan platform, covering its founders, its January 2020 pre-seed raise, lending milestones and its focus on the Australian auto-finance market.

Ignition Lane’s Weekly Wrap: Zoom boom, Redbubble hits unicorn, Rocket Lab takes off

Weekly roundup column covering Zoom's record quarter, Redbubble reaching unicorn valuation, founder share sell-downs, a new secondary fund launch, and funding rounds for mental health and e-commerce startups.

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Why Square Peg Capital's Ben Hensman thinks there's never been a better time to build a fintech company

Square Peg investor Ben Hensman argues conditions favour Australian fintech founders despite COVID-19, citing the firm's seed backing of Zeller and more than $100 million invested in local fintech businesses.

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“Era of innovation”: Square Peg surpasses $1 billion in funding assets as Paul Bassat predicts post-pandemic tech boom

Square Peg has raised $350 million toward its fourth fund, lifting assets under management past $1 billion, with super funds among backers; co-founder Paul Bassat predicts a coming innovation boom.

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Australian fintech investment boomed last year

KPMG's report shows Australian fintech investment hit nearly A$3 billion in 2019, driven by CBA's PEXA acquisition and Judo's raise, with notable rounds for Athena, Grow Super and Cover Genius.

Sydney’s AirTree Ventures closes $275M fund as Aussie unicorns gather pace

AirTree Ventures closes a $275 million third fund backed by Australian institutions and announces staff moves; the piece also recalls Canva's raise, Prospa's ASX listing and :Different's new round.

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October 21, 2019

THE FINNIES: Here are the best fintech businesses in Australia

Afterpay, Airwallex and Up Bank took major prizes at the 2019 Finnie awards in Melbourne; Airwallex's $141 million raise won biggest raise and Liberty's purchase of MoneyPlace took deal of the year.

Airwallex and Afterpay clean up again at Finnies 2019

FinTech Australia's 2019 Finnies awards recognised Airwallex with three trophies including Biggest Raise, Afterpay as FinTech Organisation of the Year, plus wins for Up, Zuper, Xinja, Athena and others.

Good tidings we bring: The 10 biggest capital raises of 2018

A year-end roundup of Australia's largest 2018 startup capital raises, covering Judo Capital, Deputy, Airwallex, Inflazome, SafetyCulture, Culture Amp, Canva, Havven, Athena, Ansarada and Data Republic, with investors and earlier rounds recalled.

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