Swinburne Ventures Limited

🇦🇺 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

Four Aussie startups that raised $2.86 billion this week (sort of)

Roundup of four Australian raises: Firmus Technologies' US$2 billion round at a $15 billion valuation, Eudaemon's $3.75 million, Zabidou's $3.5 million seed round, and Rampart's $2.3 million.

Also This Week in Australian Startups

Atlassian's first investor leads $8.55 million Seed in workflows documentation startup Fluency

Melbourne work-documentation startup Fluency raised a US$6 million seed led by Accel at a $30 million valuation, with DST Global and others participating; its founders previously raised $1.5 million.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

3 Monash University health tech startups score $2.25 million in pre-Seed backing, supported by Breakthrough Victoria

Two Victorian backers put a combined $2.25 million into three university spinouts pursuing biologics, antibody drugs and delivery devices, launching a new $15 million pre-seed vehicle.

Also @AuManufacturing

Automated process documentation startup Fluency banks $1.5 million in pre-Seed

Two young Melbourne founders have secured pre-seed backing for Fluency, their AI platform that automates business process documentation, drawing support from a local venture firm and Singaporean funds.

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

Gen Z VC fund NextGen Ventures scores Blackbird cofounders as investors in $2.5 million fund build

Student-run venture fund NextGen Ventures has locked in $1.5 million toward a $2.5 million target, backed by Blackbird's cofounders, Airtree and angel investors, and has already invested in AI startup Fluency.

Two ANZ startups that raised $60.4 million this week

Crimson Education has completed a NZ$67 million Series D with Movac leading and a valuation above NZ$1 billion; fulfilment-robotics maker Nexobot has raised $400,000 pre-seed from Skalata and Antler.

‘More than just a venture capital firm’: $2 billion sovereign fund Breakthrough Victoria hits back at critics who want it abolished

Breakthrough Victoria defends its spending and investment record against critics urging its abolition, pointing to portfolio companies, university partnerships and recent backing of startups including Aravax.