🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #141, 14th December 2025

$712.3m raised across 8 rounds, Blackbird announces 2026 Sunrise Sydney date, Airwallex to spend $1.1b on UK base, Australia’s world-first teen social media ban comes into effect

Good morning from all the way from Bangkok as I’ve wrapped up for the year and will be spending the rest of the year on vacation with family and friends - the next newsletter will be published on the 4th of January 2026.

The second edition of ‘This Year in Australian Startups’ will be in a very different format to last years, and I’ll be aiming for a publish date of either late January or early February - transparently depending on how much time I have to complete it to a standard I’m happy with.

If you’re interested in getting involved drop me a message and I’d be happy to explore partnership or collaboration opportunities.

News

Capital Markets

• Atlassian aims to be profitable mid-2027, marks 10th anniversary of listing (AFR)

Partnership & Deals

• NBN Co teams up with RMIT for research lab (ARN)

Product Launches, Milestones and Expansion

• Airwallex to splash $1.1b on UK base as it seeks global growth (AFR)

• Atlassian aims to be profitable mid-2027, marks 10th anniversary of listing (AFR)

• Wisr launches tokenised asset-backed security pilot under Project Acacia (Capital Brief)

Venture Capital & Other Funding

• Tractor Ventures backs data governance startup Aristotle Metadata to grow global network with $400k in venture debt (BNA)

• UK nature-tech Earthly launches Western Australia “Biome” fund to rebuild trust in carbon credits in partnership with Founders Factory Perth (Capital Brief)

• Five Sigma raises $10.5m to scale AI technology in India (Capital Brief)

• Tanarra’s John Wylie and Tin Alley Ventures pitch a university VC fund-of-funds to super funds and global institutions (AFR)

• 21 WA Startups Share $1.9 Million In Latest Round Of IBG & CBG Government Grants (Startup News)

• WA Government Doubles Innovation Grants To $2 Million, With Individual Funding Up To $300,000 (Startup News)

• Eight new Centres of Excellence announced by the ARC includes $70m for two centres focused on quantum computing research (InnovationAus)

Government, Policy & Regulation

• Australia’s planned AI Advisory Body has been dumped (SmartCompany)

• LaunchVic CEO Kate Cornick sees opportunity ahead amid the shock scrapping of state’s startup agency (BNA)

• “Devastating decision”: Founders backed by Alice Anderson Fund criticise LaunchVic’s closure (SmartCompany)

• Inside Australia’s world-first teen social media ban (The Age)

• Reddit files High Court challenge against social media ban (Capital Brief)

Accelerators, Ecosystem & Hubs

• Blackbird announces 2026 Sunrise Sydney date – and cuts ticket prices, with early-stage founders going for under $100 (Startup Daily)

• Fishburners launches The Ascent Project to back women founders (Startup Daily)

People Moves & Spotlights

• Sparc Hydrogen appoints former Queensland hydrogen lead Alana Barlow as CEO (Capital Brief)

Other News & Updates

• Melbourne startup Akula Tech lays off 70% of staff months after satellite launch (SmartCompany)

• Immutable late accounts reveal $72m loss despite big revenue growth (AFR)

Funding Rounds

• Electric Future, a EnergyTech platform that delivers and manages EV and energy infrastructure for businesses to accelerate electrification, has raised $10m debt and equity in a Series A round from Ecotone Partners (AFR | LinkedIn)

• All G, a precision-fermentation biotech making human and bovine milk proteins for food and infant-formula brands to supply bioequivalent ingredients, has raised $10m in a Pre-Series B round from Agronomics, Doehler Ventures and ID Capital (AFR)

• Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for businesses, has raised $475m ($330m USD) in a Series G round from Addition, T. Rowe Price, Activant, Lingotto, Robinhood Ventures, TIAA Ventures, Square Peg and Airtree (AFR | Capital Brief)

• AUDC, a FinTech platform issuing an AUD backed stablecoin for businesses to make fast payments., has raised $5m in a Pre-Series A round from inWelt Holdings AG and Novatti Group Limited (Australian FinTech)

• Kasada, a cybersecurity platform that protects websites, apps and APIs from malicious bots to stop fraud and scraping, has raised $30m ($20m USD) in a Undisclosed round from EQT, Ten Eleven Ventures, Main Sequence, Reinventure, OIF Ventures, StepStone Group and Turnbull & Partners (AFR | Startup Daily)

• Squizify, a digital food safety platform that that automates compliance and the management of food safety records, has raised $10m in a Series A round from Coreline Ventures (Startup Daily)

• Emanda, a business advisory platform that prepares founders for exit by creating AI-enabled data rooms and fast valuations, has raised $300k in a Pre-Seed round from M8 Ventures, Torus Ventures, Melbourne Angels and Angel Investors (BNA)

• Sharon AI, an AI infrastructure platform that offers GPU-as-a-service for enterprises to run large-scale model training and inference, has raised $150m in a Pre-IPO round (AFR)