🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #175, 23rd August 2026

$86.5m raised across 9 rounds, Diraq has opened its first lab outside Australia, Federal parliament has launched its broadest AI inquiry, Alphabet raised $5.5b in Australia's largest Kangaroo Bond

Three things that caught my eye this week;

Constantinople raising $62.5m a week after completing their first full bank migration

Only last week Constantinople shared they had moved MOVE Bank’s entire operation onto their platform in under a year - this week the AFR reports they have closed a $62.5m round led by Square Peg and Airtree. Notably they are bot…