University of Canberra

🇦🇺 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.

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Bottrell appointed non-executive director with defence company Aurora Labs

Retired Major General Andrew Bottrell has joined defence company Aurora Labs as a non-executive director, bringing senior military and acquisition experience; he also founded Rockpool Partners and holds an academic chair at Deakin University.

Textile sorting robot and fabric trading platform among projects backed by Country Road Climate Fund

Country Road's Climate Fund has named its second-year grant recipients: RediRobots gets $30,000 for automated textile sorting, Circular Sourcing $139,000 for a surplus-fabric platform, with two biodiversity projects also backed.

Ionize and Cybermerc handed $6.4M for SME security development

Two Canberra cyber security firms won a $6.4 million federal grant through CRC-P to build Project DFNDR, a managed security and threat intelligence platform for small businesses, alongside the University of Canberra.

$51 million for CRC-P industry research collaborations

Federal grants roundup: 21 Cooperative Research Centres Projects awards worth $51 million in Round 15, with EQ Plastics, Optiscan Imaging and NEXSEN BioTech each receiving $3 million for product development.

Also RenewEconomy

Healthcare simulation startup SimConverse raises $1.5 million Seed round

SimConverse, whose AI simulates patient conversations to train healthcare workers, has raised a $1.5 million seed round, with Folklore Ventures leading and Artesian participating.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany

A cosmic comeback: Could Aussie investment in spacetech boost economic recovery on Earth?

Australian government grants totalling $11 million go to space sector startups and universities, including a near-$4 million CubeSat mission, as part of a wider plan to triple the sector's value by 2030.

Space startups and researchers score $11 million in government grants

Ten Australian space projects, from universities and startups, share eleven million dollars in Australian government grants for work including CubeSats, spacesuits and astronaut training simulations.

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