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🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #179, 26th September 2026

Weekly roundup recording a dozen raises and acquisitions, Firmus's scheduled float, a new $50m venture fund, a founder share sale, grant winners, an accelerator intake, and an AI agent's government breach.

Also DealStreetAsia·Dealroom·This Week in Australian Startups·AFR Technology·AFR Technology·Startup Daily·AFR Technology·AFR Technology·ABC News Technology·iTnews

Heidi hits $1.2 billion valuation with $470 million in fresh funding

Heidi raised US$100m in a Blackbird-led Series C plus US$240m in customer-acquisition finance from General Catalyst, reaching a $1.26 billion valuation as Australia's fourth billion-dollar startup of the year.

Also Dealroom·Cut Through Venture·Startup Daily·This Week in Australian Startups·Dynamic Business·This Week in Australian Startups·Mirage News·This Week in Australian Startups·Forbes Australia

Six ANZ startups that raised $211.1 million this week

Roundup of six Australian and New Zealand funding rounds, headlined by Heidi Health and Octopus Deploy, also covering Nexl, OpenSolar, Lucent and PAM, with past acquisitions of Stella AI, MagicBrief and Codefresh noted.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Women's Agenda

Heidi Health's $98 million raise skyrockets its valuation to $704 million

Melbourne AI medical-notes startup Heidi Health has banked a $98 million Series B led by Point72 at a $704 million valuation, adding two senior clinical and commercial hires to its leadership.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia

Six Aussie startups that raised $56.7 million this week

Weekly roundup detailing six Australian startup raises announced this week, covering Heidi Health, Instant, Esper, Trusst AI, Flowing Bee and GonGlobal, with investors, founders, valuations and earlier rounds.

Also Startup Daily

GP administration startup Heidi Health tops up Series A with another $27 million

Heidi Health, whose AI tool drafts doctors' clinical notes, has added $26.8 million to its Series A in a round led by Headline, with Local Globe and Anthology also taking part.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Go1 snaps up speed reading app Blinkist to expand in enterprise learning

Australian learning platform Go1 is buying Berlin's Blinkist to grow its corporate training offering; deal terms are undisclosed, though Blinkist backer Insight Partners is taking $30 million of Go1 equity alongside the purchase.

Also SmartCompany·Techboard

Meet the CEO of one of Australia's fastest growing unicorns

Profile of Zeller's co-founder Ben Pfisterer covering the payments firm's Melbourne base, unicorn valuation, early backers, product range and growth since launching in 2021.

Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: Super-fast unicorn, VC funding boom, put another founder on a Barbie

Ignition Lane's weekly roundup: Zip's deal for Sezzle, Zeller's unicorn raise, several Australian funding rounds, Startmate backing Provvy, a space manufacturing grant, NZVC's first close, and tech's response to Russia.

Australian fintech Zeller raises $100M AUD Series B at $1B AUD valuation

Australian neobank Zeller closed a Series B valuing it above one billion Australian dollars, led by Headline with Hostplus participating and prior backers Square Peg, Addition and Spark Capital returning.

Also TechCrunch Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·myzeller.com·Australian FinTech·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Techboard·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·Fintech News Australia·Forbes Australia