🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #168 5th July 2026
$75.6m raised across 7 rounds, ASX-listed Echo IQ has secured a $110m placement, Deputy has launches Deputy AI, Medical Angels Michael Batko as venture partner for its new $40m fund
News
Capital Markets
ASX-listed Echo IQ has secured a $110m placement to expand its cardiovascular AI diagnostics platform across the US (BNA)
IREN has approved a four-year equity compensation package for co-founders and co-CEOs Will and Dan Roberts worth about A$1.14b combined (Forbes)
Partnerships & Deals
Esper Satellites has partnered with Neo Space Group’s NSG UP42 platform to distribute its hyperspectral satellite imagery to Saudi Arabia’s mining and mineral exploration sector (LinkedIn)
Product Launches, Milestones and Expansion
Advanced Navigation is opening its first US manufacturing hub in Alabama, funded by its $158m Series C, as it expands international production and considers acquisitions in the US and Europe (Forbes)
Sydney startup Build Club has launched V2 f Solaris, an enterprise AI adoption platform that helps companies move from AI access to measurable workplace behaviour change (LinkedIn)
Deputy has launched Deputy AI, an in-app AI teammate that helps frontline managers handle rostering, timekeeping and people management tasks from mobile devices (Deputy)
Eucalyptus alumni Dan Cable and Alex Debney have launched Early Bird and are seeking $1.5m to develop a hangover remedy with Queensland University of Technology (AFR)
Gega Elements says it has produced its first gallium from a very low-grade resource, marking an early technical milestone as it looks to scale its refining process (LinkedIn)
Heidi has launched Heidi Dictate, a cursor-level medical dictation product that lets clinicians dictate into any app using its own medical transcription model (LinkedIn)
Vow has helped PARIMA produce cultivated duck at multi-tonne scale using its 22,000-litre Sydney facility, highlighting Australia’s role in lower-cost cultivated meat production (LinkedIn)
Sitemate says its Storm 1.0 AI product for Dashpivot workflows has seen early customer adoption after its first month, with Storm 1.1 and 1.2 updates planned for July and August (LinkedIn)
Tax Nuggets has launched the private beta of Ask Nugget, an AI tax research assistant for Australian accountants with human review escalation (LinkedIn)
Venture Capital & Other Funding
Melbourne biotech Atisama Therapeutics and Monash University have been awarded more than $15m in MRFF grant funding to advance a Phase 1 COPD therapy trial (Direct)
Medical Angels has appointed Hourglass AI founder and former Startmate boss Michael Batko as part-time venture partner for its new $40m Medical Angels Venture Fund I (Startup Daily)
National Reconstruction Fund Corporation invests $10 million of venture debt in CSIRO spin-out Emesent to build robotics and spatial computing capabilities (Direct)
OncoRes Medical has started a government-backed project to test its QME cancer surgery technology in prostate cancer, expanding beyond its breast surgery beachhead (LinkedIn)
QIC Ventures has published a quarterly update covering new Queensland startup investments, its appointment to manage a $30m agtech fund, and milestones across the state’s quantum sector (LinkedIn)
Sicona Battery Technologies secures $45m ARENA grant to build its first commercial-scale silicon-carbon anode plant at Port Kembla, targeting 230 tonnes a year (BNA)
Government, Policy & Regulation
Australian government opens myID Digital ID to the private sector; businesses to pay to verify customers from 2027 under a cost-recovery model, individuals stay free (SmartCompany)
Australia will double fines for social media platforms breaching the under-16s ban, but critics say a digital duty of care is still needed (Startup Daily)
Australia has passed a ban on subscription traps and drip pricing, forcing businesses to make cancellation and online fees clearer (SmartCompany)
Ecosystem & Hubs
Cicada Innovations has named 23 deep tech ventures for its Tech23 showcase as applications rise 57% year on year (Capital Brief)
Innovation Victoria has formally launched, combining Breakthrough Victoria and LaunchVic into a single organisation for startup support, research commercialisation and investment in Victoria (Innovation Victoria)
Western Australia has committed A$150,000 to Perth Landing Pad to attract international tech startups and expand global partnerships (Startup Researcher)
Reports & Data
A Project F and Tech Council report warns Australia risks missing its 1.2m tech worker target if experienced women keep leaving technical roles (SmartCompany)
Funding Rounds
DryFlow Magnetics, a mining technology that uses dry magnetic separation to process iron ore for miners and steelmakers to produce high-purity iron, has raised $2.5m in a Seed round from Significant Ventures
Southern Launch, a startup that provides comprehensive launch and re-entry services for space missions with two spaceports in South Australia, has raised $25m in a Series A round from Brindabella and Company, National Reconstruction Fund, Angel Investors
MAKO, an aerospace company that makes Flightfilm riblet surface coatings for airlines to cut aircraft drag and lower fuel burn by up to 4%, has raised $28m ($20m USD) in a Series A round from Virescent Ventures, IAGi Ventures, Grok Ventures, Skip Capital, IP Group, Zero Infinity Partners, TreeArc Investment Group
Zitcha, a retail media platform for retailers to monetise first-party data to sell targeted ads across digital channels, has raised an undisclosed amount from Iona Star
Fluent, a neurotech neural interface that translates intended speech to text for people who cannot speak to restore communication, has raised $2m in a Pre-Seed round from University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, Pacific Channel, Galileo Ventures, Multiple Sclerosis Western Australia, Angel Investors, Jumpspace Ventures, Founders Factory
Emesent, a spatial-computing platform that maps underground sites with autonomous drones for miners and surveyors to de-risk surveys, has raised $15m from Main Sequence, QIC, NGS Super, HostPlus, Orion Resource Partners
EchoYield, a DeFi staking platform and API suite for crypto holders and protocols to stake assets across chains for yield, has raised $3.19m ($2.2m USD) in a Series A round