EY-Parthenon

Cut Through Quarterly 3Q 2026

Cut Through Venture's quarterly report records a record $4.2 billion raised across 78 Australian venture rounds in Q3 2026, dominated by Firmus's $2.85 billion data centre raise, with sector trends, valuations and investor sentiment.

Also Startup Daily

Too much solar, not enough storage: Zen Energy faces liquidation as administrators blame high risk strategy

Zen Energy faces liquidation after administrators blamed its risky solar-heavy trading strategy; its Zen Futures infrastructure unit was sold for $45 million, and creditors look likely to recover little.

Too much solar, not enough storage: Zen Energy faces liquidation as administrators blame high risk strategy

Administrators McGrathNicol say troubled renewable retailer Zen Energy must liquidate, blaming a risky trading strategy; creditors face heavy losses, its infrastructure arm was sold for $45 million, and a Gunvor retail deal collapsed.

Investment Update: AlleSense Investment $1 million

Breakthrough Victoria announces a $1 million investment in AlleSense, a La Trobe University spin-out developing nanofabricated slides for faster cancer diagnosis, joining round leader Welcome Ventures.

Breakthrough Victoria's university platform funds EntroMat, Excelligent and Remagine Labs

Victorian pre-seed program BVUIP, backed by Breakthrough Victoria and seven universities, has funded startups EntroMat, Excelligent and Remagine Labs, plus fellowship grants for three PhD-led ventures.

BREAKTHROUGH VICTORIA INVESTS $75 MILLION IN VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDS TO BUILD VICTORIA'S INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM

Breakthrough Victoria is putting $75 million into five venture capital funds, including Virescent, SYNthesis BioVentures, Scale and Galileo, each of which has pledged a quarter of its capital to Victorian startups.

Breakthrough Fellowship Program

Breakthrough Victoria announces the first three fellows of its $7.5 million fellowship, giving each researcher $150,000 and support to turn research into startups in mental health games, IVF imaging and skin cancer detection.

Breakthrough Victoria and Infleqtion: Powering Victoria’s Quantum Future

Breakthrough Victoria reflects on its 2022 investment in quantum company Infleqtion, part of a larger raise, detailing Victorian operations, university partnerships, workforce programs and a planned US listing via SPAC.

From Vision to Impact: How Breakthrough Victoria Is Powering the State’s Innovation Economy

Breakthrough Victoria's CEO sets out the fund's investment record and an EY report finding its portfolio delivers strong returns and economic impact for Victoria.

Breakthrough Victoria Fuels Innovation Surge with Billions in Projected Economic Gains to Victoria

Breakthrough Victoria publicises an EY study projecting its portfolio could add billions to Victoria's economy by 2035, citing its deal count, committed capital, co-investment leverage and returns to date.

Aussie video game developers on Qloud 9 after $7.5m seed raise

Sydney game studio Qloud closed a $7.5 million seed round for its solarpunk game Loftia, led by GFR Fund and Bitkraft Ventures with Andreessen Horowitz returning; the founders earlier crowdfunded and joined a16z's Speedrun.

BREAKTHROUGH VICTORIA AND MONASH UNIVERSITY INVEST IN THREE GROUNDBREAKING STARTUPS TO IMPROVE LIVES AND EASE PRESSURE ON VICTORIA’S HEALTH SYSTEM

Breakthrough Victoria and Monash University put joint pre-seed backing into three life-sciences spinouts and launched the $15m Monash Ventures pre-seed fund, part of a $100m platform commercialising Victorian university research.

'I'm really uncomfortable with certainty': Meet Michelle Gilmore

Blackbird's blog interviews Juno founder Michelle Gilmore about her AI conversation product, its early adopters, and the $2.8 million raised to scale it.

‘I’m really uncomfortable with certainty’: Meet Michelle Gilmore, the founder behind Blackbird’s latest AI bet Juno

Interview with Juno founder Michelle Gilmore on her AI listening engine, fifth venture and first external funding — $2.8 million with Blackbird's Nick Crocker leading — plus early customers.

Breakthrough Victoria CEO steps down

The Victorian government-backed venture fund's inaugural CEO Grant Dooley is resigning after nearly three years, with no replacement named; the fund's past backing of Neo-Bionica, Atmo Biosciences and RayGen is recalled.

Four Aussie startups that raised $29 million this week

Roundup of four Australian startups that each announced fresh capital this week: a caregiver healthcare app, a green ammonia producer, a clean energy project modelling platform, and a wellness advice marketplace.

Also SmartCompany

Caregiver software start-up Circle In bucks dire investment trend for female-led start-ups, raises $2m in funding

Melbourne family-care benefits platform Circle In has closed a $2m round, adding Alberts Impact Ventures to existing private backers and LaunchVic's Alice Anderson Fund, while research highlights shrinking venture money for women-only founding teams.

Also Alberts Impact Ventures portfolio·Alberts Impact Ventures portfolio·Women's Agenda·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Women's Agenda

The Week in AgriFoodTech: Hardee Fresh grabs $56m, Upward Farms shuts down, Wine that tastes like climate change

Weekly agrifoodtech roundup reporting numerous startup funding rounds, fund closes by S2G Ventures and Bidra Innovation Ventures, and collapses including Upward Farms, Boxed, Kalera and Australia's CoLab.

Also AgFunderNews·SmartCompany·AgFunderNews

BLAST OIF | Edition VI

OIF Ventures' newsletter announces leading Nullify's pre-seed round, two investment team hires, portfolio company awards and product launches, and Go1's acquisition of Anders Pink.

Also OIF Ventures portfolio·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Quantum sensing startup Q-CTRL raises another $27.4M

Sydney quantum software firm Q-CTRL announced a $27.4 million Series B extension with new backers including Salesforce Ventures, following its $25 million Series B led by Airbus Ventures in late 2021.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·Forbes Australia

Business digitisation and consulting startup FORMM raises $600,000 pre-Seed

Digital consulting startup FORMM has raised a $600,000 pre-seed round from individual investors who also take on leadership, board and advisory roles, to help mid-sized businesses digitise.

Also SmartCompany

AirTree joins leading VCs Square Peg and Blackbird in cutting Canva's valuation by a third

Australian venture firms Airtree, Square Peg and Blackbird have written down their Canva stakes, valuing the design company well below its last raise, amid wider market corrections hitting Klarna and other late-stage startups.

Lendtech innovator Grapple raises $6.5m to offer enterprises 'lending as a service' as it scales for growth

Australian invoice-financing technology company Grapple has raised 6.5 million dollars from local and overseas backers and hired two senior executives as it expands its platform and lending capacity for small businesses.

Sydney startup Earnd, now Wagestream, raises $236M Series C to bring financial wellbeing to employees

UK pay-access fintech Wagestream, formed from Sydney's Earnd, secured a A$236 million Series C — equity led by Smash Capital with Silicon Valley Bank debt — to expand beyond Britain, including across Australia.

Applications open for six-month circular economy accelerator

Boomerang Labs in Sydney is accepting applications for its free six-month circular economy accelerator, backed by sponsors, with six to ten participants to be selected before applications close in March.

AUSTRALIA'S FINTECH ECOSYSTEM WELCOMES TEN NEW STARTUPS AND SCALE UPS.

Startupbootcamp Australia announces ten fintech startups from seven countries joining its 2021 accelerator cohort, focused on financial health and wellbeing, building on seventeen companies previously accelerated that collectively raised nearly $30 million.

Founders Stories Podcast: Vend on making tough calls and leading without ego

Square Peg's podcast interviews Vend founder Vaughan Fergusson and new CEO Ana Wight, covering the retail software company's culture, leadership, its almost US$60 million raised, and its US$350 million sale to Lightspeed POS in March 2021.

Also Startup Daily

Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: Tiger is the new Softbank, Accel's 40x, more marketplaces, Zooming into VC

Ignition Lane's weekly column rounds up Australian raises including Octopus Deploy, Neara, Mr Yum and Archistar, ThinkTilt's sale to Atlassian, Latitude's ASX listing, and US moves by Tiger Global, UiPath and Squarespace.

Also Startup Daily

Lightning Flow world-first platform increases connectivity speeds by up to 7 times for end-users and organisations, signed strategic agreement with EY and PoC with ANZ

Profile of LightningFlow, an edge computing optimisation platform by The Migration Company, citing a prior seed raise, agreements with EY and ANZ, technology partnerships, and a current Series A offering seeking $2 million.

Arctic Intelligence appoints Darren Cade as CEO

RegTech firm Arctic Intelligence has promoted its COO Darren Cade to CEO, replacing founder Anthony Quinn, who moves to the board and will focus on partnerships and investor relations.

Phoebe Yu secures $2.54 million funding for environmentally friendly homewares brand

Ettitude founder Phoebe Yu closed a $2.54 million seed round for her sustainable bamboo bedding brand, which she started in Melbourne in 2014 before relocating the company to Los Angeles.

5 things you should know about tech today

Tech roundup: Baron Cohen attacks social media platforms, Tesla's Cybertruck debut, cloud-kitchen startup Zoom's SoftBank backing, YBF's fintech diversity award winners, and Uber losing its London operating licence again.

One of Australia’s most influential female entrepreneurs, who’s presented in her swimsuit, has joined Antler’s new Sydney startup program

Antler's first Sydney startup generator program begins in June with 60 accepted founders and applications still open. Participants profiled include B.Kindred founder Penny Locaso, plus David Smyth, Lars Oleson and Towe Ahrnbom.