Corporate / CVC · 3 deals
Every published round Xero took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted, and a place in one of its own programs is under Cohorts.
| Company | Stage | Announced | Amount | Role | Alongside | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zenly | Grant | 19 Nov 2024 | $20k | Lead | Women's Agenda | |
| Prosthetic Art Technology | Grant | 19 Nov 2024 | $20k | Lead | SmartCompany, Women's Agenda | |
| Other Matter | Grant | 19 Nov 2024 | $20k | Lead | SmartCompany, Women's Agenda |
Everyone Xero has named to a program in published coverage. A place in a program is not a raise: the cheque is the figure recorded with the place, which is the program's standard terms where we hold them, and a blank is one we don't.
| Member | Program | Announced | Cheque | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other Matter | Xero Beautiful Business Fund | 5 Dec 2024 | - | SmartCompany, Women's Agenda |
| Prosthetic Art Technology | Xero Beautiful Business Fund | 5 Dec 2024 | - | SmartCompany, Women's Agenda |
| Zenly | Xero Beautiful Business Fund | 19 Nov 2024 | - | Women's Agenda |
Companies Xero has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other Matter | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 | |
| Prosthetic Art Technology | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 | |
| Zenly | 19 Nov 2024, Grant | 2 | 2 |
Fund closes reported for Xero, as distinct from the investments it has made.
Companies Xero has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Xero did.
| Company | Bought by | Kind | Announced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No portfolio company of Xero is recorded as having been acquired. | ||||
Companies Xero acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
| Company | Kind | Announced | Price | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planday | Acquisition | 4 Mar 2021 | ~$284.8m | SmartCompany, Startup Daily |
| Waddle | Acquisition | 25 Aug 2020 | $80m | Startup Daily, Australian FinTech (Wed 28 Sep 2022), SmartCompany, Australian FinTech (Tue 25 Aug 2020) |
Stories naming Xero. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Weekly digest: Firmus withdraws its planned listing, Square Peg reaches a billion-dollar close on two vehicles, MUFG clears regulators to buy Grow Inc, and Lubdub, RocketDNA, Energy Bay and Metal all raise.
Neocloud Firmus Technologies is pitching its planned $7 billion IPO to local fund managers, with co-chief executive Tim Rosenfield presenting in Melbourne alongside Daniel Kearney and former Xero finance head Kirsty Godfrey-Billy.
Weekly roundup: Blackbird confirms a record fund close and Galileo reaches a first close, Genesis merges with Proudi, IREN secures massive debt, and several startups report raises, grants and program wins.
Forbes Australia reports Xero's board lifted CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy's potential pay to US$18.5 million, mostly equity vesting over three years, and now requires her to hold shares worth five times her salary.
Bower, an Australian startup, has closed a $2 million pre-seed round led by TEN13 with Admiralty Capital Group, Edale Capital and angel backers, funding ambient AI that captures laboratory work as structured research records.
At a Sydney event, Canva's co-founder explained how soaring compute bills forced a delay to its AI relaunch, and how homegrown models cut serving costs; he also recalls early government backing.
Online trading firm Pepperstone has hired Xero engineering leader Nigel Fernandes as its new technology chief, to oversee engineering, architecture, security and data worldwide from its Melbourne base.
AFR cybersecurity topic page rounding up recent stories: Origin Energy's data breach investigation, Point Wild's planned ASX float, AI models hacking companies, and a CyberCX–Monash University cybersecurity degree partnership.
Australian grid-modelling startup Neara raised a $90 million Series D led by TCV, valuing the company above $1 billion, funding ML and expansion.
Xero's chief people officer Jeff Ryan left the ASX-listed software firm in early July, with its people function reporting interim to CFO Claire Bramley, as the company's shares slide on AI disruption fears.
Ten13's post explains why it led Flyweel's pre-seed round with QIC, Antler and angel investors, backing a platform bringing real-time financial visibility and funding to advertising spend.
Month-end automation firm Mayday announced a seed round of £3 million, led by 24Haymarket alongside AirTree Ventures and several angels, to fund product development, APAC hiring and its Xero partnership.
Blackbird partner Tom Humphrey argues AI panic overstates the threat to software firms, sketching four stages from bolting on models to training them, and pointing to Canva's acquisitions and Springboards' new model as proof.
OFX has hired ex-PayPal Australia marketing head Liz Lord as chief marketing officer as the payments firm broadens its offering for business customers into finance operations tools.
Payments automation firm Lessn reports over $100 million transacted on its platform in its first year, recalling a small November 2025 round at a $30 million valuation, with further investment under consideration.
Firmus announces three new non-executive directors joining its grid board from March 2026, each bringing finance, governance or resources and energy delivery experience.
Weekly roundup of ten Australian and New Zealand startup raises totalling nearly $194 million, topped by Neara's $90 million round at a $1.1 billion valuation, with Splose, Operata, HAMR Energy and Adora also covered.
Neara joins the unicorn club after a TCV-led $90 million Series D at a $1.1 billion valuation, with existing backers participating; funds will fuel global expansion and engineering hires.
Roundup of six Australian funding deals: AutoGrab, Applied EV, Checkbox, Hometime, Factory and On the House, with amounts, investors, and Hometime's past acquisitions and raise history detailed.
Also Startup Daily
Australian legaltech firm Checkbox has raised a $35 million Series A led by Touring Capital to grow its AI platform for corporate legal teams, with four institutional backers joining.
Roundup of four ANZ raises: a Queensland rocket company's nine-figure Series E, a New Zealand legal-AI firm's Series B, a seed round for AI code-security, and a Melbourne construction-software raise.
Roundup of four ANZ raises totalling over $307m: Gilmour Space's Series E, Ivo's Series B, Dam Secure's seed round and SPEC Toolbox's pre-Series A, plus a board appointment at Dam Secure.
Canberra data governance firm Aristotle Metadata has borrowed $400,000 from Tractor Ventures as venture debt, planning to grow its consulting partner network after equity investors labelled it too risky.
ASX-listed Tyro is acquiring AI financial-admin startup Thriday for an undisclosed sum, with the deal tipped to close in January 2026. Thriday cofounder and CEO Michael Nuciforo will move across to Tyro.
Also Australian FinTech
Accounting platform for sole traders Hnry has secured an oversubscribed Series C round led by Movac's Growth Fund, with Icehouse Ventures participating, to drive expansion across Australia and the UK.
Leigh Jasper keynotes SmartCompany's February 2026 startup event in Melbourne; the profile recalls his Aconex journey to an Oracle sale, Firmable's seed raise and his venture fund roles.
Startup Daily profiles Slice, a proptech automating property transaction paperwork, and its founder Amy Stevens, among the 12 startups in Techstars Sydney's 2025 cohort ahead of its December demo event.
Melbourne payments provider Zeller is launching in Britain, its first overseas market, appointing ex-ByteDance executive Lars Weber to head new London operations and building a 40-strong local team.
Weekly roundup covering 19 Australian and New Zealand raises, headlined by Andromeda Robotics' $23m Series A, plus Freckle, Marloo, X-Hemp, Harvest B, Wable, Starboard and Techstars Sydney's 12-startup cohort.
Also SmartCompany
Blackbird partners recount backing Marloo's founders before they had settled on an idea, having led its 2024 pre-seed and now announcing its seed round.
Also marloo.com·marloo.com·Fintech News Australia·Business News Australia·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany
Aether, a New Zealand AI presentation startup co-founded by a former TikTok NZ manager, raised NZ$3.8 million in seed backing from Icehouse Ventures and Brand Fund 2 after spinning out of studio New+Improved.
Also Startup Daily
Profile of Turnto founder Jessica Dove London, who built a health-information platform after her son's rare cerebral palsy diagnosis; the startup has secured $1.1 million pre-seed from angel and fund backers.
Spend management firm Weel has released an accounts payable automation suite combining AI invoice capture, automated coding rules, multi-step approvals, multi-currency payments and real-time Xero syncing for finance teams.
Two Australian winners of Xero's Beautiful Business Fund, Other Matter and Prosthetic Art Technology, describe how their country and global grants will fund scaling, from algae-based decals to digital prosthetics workflows.
TALY, a Melbourne startup applying personality data to management decisions, has closed a $500,000 pre-seed round with Skalata leading; founder Peter Treloar previously sold Telmy to US firm Sago.
Also SmartCompany
Profiles ten Australian women founders across prosthetics, sustainable materials, wellness, mental health and AI, including three recipients of a Xero award program and a Cartier fellowship.
Also SmartCompany
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.
Advice piece in which two founders who competed in a SmartCompany pitch competition share lessons on pitch deck content, using analogies, demonstrating traction, and rehearsing answers before a live investor pitch.
A Blackbird partner argues AI has revived vertical software by turning hard-to-sell customers into product-led buyers, noting the firm recently backed three such startups and recalling Aconex's sale to Oracle.
Also buildxact.com