Startup World Cup

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #173, 9th August 2026

Weekly roundup: Firmus completes its $2.85b round; Procore acquires DroneDeploy; Atlassian rebounds while Canva cuts guidance; plus fresh raises for Zabidou, BioScout, Vexev, Enrola, Spacetalk and others.

Also Dealroom·RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy

PepsiCo selects two Australian startups for 2026 APAC accelerator

PepsiCo has chosen alumni companies Adiona Tech and X-Centric Sciences for the 2026 APAC Greenhouse Program's IMPACT Edition; the piece also recalls Adiona's $1.8m CRC-P grant and X-Centric's earlier $600,000 round.

Two Aussie AI startups pitched to 500 Silicon Valley investors – we were there

Recap of Australian startups Adiona and Deeligence pitching at a global startup competition in San Francisco; the million-dollar investment prize went to a US battery company, but both gained customers and investor contacts.

AI-powered fleet logistics startup Adiona Tech drives away with Startup World Cup Sydney win

Fleet-logistics software firm Adiona Tech won the Sydney pitch competition and heads to the San Francisco finale vying for a US$1 million investment prize; Telstra and Third Sphere previously backed the company.

Starts at 60 in the race for $US1 million after winning Aussie final of Startup World Cup

A Brisbane media platform for Baby Boomers won the Australian leg of a global pitch contest and will compete in San Francisco; the piece also recalls its recent multi-million-dollar funding round with several new backers.