🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #156, 5th April 2026
$2.82m raised across 3 rounds, Anthropic signs MoU with federal government, RBA director Elana Rubin joins Airwallex, 4DMedical raises $83m on the ASX
I’m heading to SF this week, which will mean there will be no newsletter next week - I’ll do a full roundup for two weeks on 19 April.
News
M&A, IPOs & Exits
Australia Post has acquired Rendr, a last-mile delivery orchestration platform, for an undisclosed amount (LinkedIn)
IMDEX, Australian mining technology company, has acquired the remaining stake in Krux Analytics, mining data and analytics software company, taking its ownership to 100%, for $23m in cash (Capital Brief)
Rokt reports $1.2bn revenue and $141m EBITDA, missing Barrenjoey’s forecast as the adtech unicorn delays its IPO to invest in AI (AFR)
Vection Technologies, an XR and enterprise software company, has agreed to acquire DXLabs, a no-code and digital transformation services firm, for an undisclosed amount (ARN)
Xplor Technologies and Clubessential Holdings launch unified global company under the Xplor brand, after closing their merger and announcing a major new AI investment (Xplor)
Capital Markets
4DMedical raises $83m from institutions after inbound investor demand, adding fresh fuel to debate over its soaring valuation (Capital Brief)
US class action firms are investigating Atlassian over whether it misled investors about AI threats to its business after its share price slumped (AFR)
Firmus targets ASX float at up to $12bn, with pre-IPO investors told they can sell on debut and no escrow planned (The Australian)
Koala shares climb on ASX debut after $68 million IPO (SmartCompany)
Sharon AI shares surge on USD1.25b GPU cloud deal, Canva customer reveal (Capital Brief)
Product Launches, Milestones and Expansion
BizCover launches Australia’s first AI-based insurance quotes within ChatGPT (Australian FinTech)
Lendi co-founder Dave Hyman launches new AI startup monō ai to help SMEs embed AI into workflows (LinkedIn)
Venture Capital & Other Funding
IP Group, UK listed climate tech investor, launches $50m Australia focused fund with CEFC to back seed and Series A startups in energy, industry and AI efficiency (AFR)
Rosella, founded by Australians Chris Dwyer and Adam Stevens, raises $3.7m | $2.5m USD to build an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage in the US (Startup Researcher)
Macquarie Capital joins Whoop’s USD575m Series G round (Capital Brief)
Government, Policy & Regulation
Australian government accuses big tech of undermining under-16 social media ban, highlighting rising regulatory pressure on platforms (AFR)
Anthropic CEO visits Canberra for policy talks and data centre deals, signalling potential AI infrastructure investment in Australia (AFR)
Anthropic signs MoU with federal government to collaborate on AI (Capital Brief)
Ecosystem & Hubs
Airwallex extends University of Melbourne partnership with a further A$2m to fund tech scholarships, hardship grants and student entrepreneurship programs (LinkedIn)
People Moves & Spotlights
Airwallex taps RBA director Elana Rubin to chair new governance board (AFR)
Other News & Updates
Professionals Australia, a union which represents technology workers, accuses Atlassian of short-changing laid-off staff by ending employment before stock awards were due to vest (AFR)
Canva’s newly lodged ASIC accounts show $3.2bn revenue and $1.1bn cash in 2024, while statutory losses reached $1.1bn over three years (The Australian)
Funding Rounds
Aquafab, who has developed an all natural cocktail foamer, has raised $620k in a Crowdfunding round (Food & Drink Business)
Fresho, an order management platform, built specifically for fresh food suppliers and their customers, has raised $700k from Primorus Investments (Investegate)
Proseek Bio, a MedTech developer of an ovarian cancer blood test that detects disease in women to reduce unnecessary surgery, has raised $1.5m in a Seed round from Edale Capital, Scale Investors, AngelLoop and AusHealth (Capital Brief)