🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #150, 22nd February 2026
$106.7 raised across 27 rounds, Eucalyptus acquired by hims & hers for $1.6b, Techstars Sydney to shut down, NextGen Ventures raises $4.3m for new fund, Seek begins sale of its Employment Hero stake
News
M&A, IPOs & Exits
Eucalyptus founder Tim Doyle shares they have signed an agreement to be acquires by hims & hers, an NYSE-listed consumer health platform, for up to $1.6b, with ~$330m cash upfront and the rest as deferred/earnout payable in cash or stock (LinkedIn)
From Blackbird to Barrenjoey: The big winners from Eucalyptus’ billion dollar exit (Capital Brief)
Potentia, private equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in HotDoc, Australian GP booking platform, in a deal reportedly valued at $250m–$300m (SmartCompany)
Infleqtion lists on the NYSE to become the first Breakthrough Victoria portfolio company to do so (Breakthrough Victoria)
Pay.com.au targets $800m April IPO; meetings under way (AFR)
Seek’s Growth Fund begins sale of its Employment Hero stake after ending legal dispute (AFR)
Wall Street giant called in to deliver Seek’s Employment Hero payday (AFR)
Sharon AI to push ahead with ASX float after Nasdaq IPO (AFR)
Sharon AI Announces Nasdaq Listing and Pricing of $125 Million US IPO (Businesswire)
Partnerships & Deals
Airwallex becomes the San Francisco Giants’ official jersey patch partner (Australian FinTech)
Product Launches, Milestones and Expansion
Western Sydney to host Australia’s first commercial semiconductor packaging plant, slated to open in late 2027 (InnovationAus)
Me&u says it’s been monthly profitable since July and is now investing in a new consumer app as its first full-year profit nears (AFR)
Venture Capital & Other Funding
New Zealand startup Appetise secures $7m raise to boost meal planning market including investment from OIF Ventures (Startup Daily)
Energy Bay, backed by Skip Capital and Grok Ventures, seeks $150m–$500m in growth capital to expand rooftop solar + batteries to 350MW (AFR)
Federal government awards $12.7m in Stage 2 grants to eight quantum prototype projects under the Critical Technologies Challenge Program (InnovationAus)
NextGen Ventures raises $4.3m, backed by Blackbird’s Niki Scevak, to invest in student startups (Capital Brief)
Government, Policy & Regulation
Defence signs biggest ever contract with Palantir for department’s ‘Cyber Warfare Division’, bringing total spend to more than $26m on contracts with the controversial Trump-linked company (Crikey)
Albanese government launches $1bn Advanced Capabilities Investment Fund, offering up to $500m to co-invest with private capital in AUKUS-aligned dual-use tech (InnovationAus)
Ecosystem & Hubs
Techstars Sydney is the latest victim of the NSW government’s ongoing startup purge (Startup Daily)
Sally Tobin Launches AI-Native Venture Studio AiPX Ventures (Startup Researcher)
People Moves
LaunchVic CEO Kate Cornick appointed Tech Council of Australia CEO, starts May 5 (LinkedIn)
Other News & Updates
Atlassian freezes hiring amid global software sell-off (AFR)
Funding Rounds
Fluent Commerce, a cloud-native order management platform that provides real-time inventory visibility for retailers to improve fulfilment accuracy, has raised $46m from Bain Capital (SmartCompany | The Australian)
InvestStream, an AI-powered financial modelling platform that builds cashflow models for financial institutions to simplify advice and decision-making, has raised and undisclosed amount in a Seed round (Australian FinTech)
Parachute, a legal tech platform that automates drafting, review and verification for law firms to speed work and cut costs, has raised $1.8m in a Pre-Seed round from Rampersand (Capital Brief)
Breaker, develops advanced AI software that enabling robots to autonomously understand missions, make human-like decisions, and collaborate seamlessly with humans, has raised $9m in a Seed round from Bessemer Venture Partners and Main Sequence (Startup Daily| Startup Rise)
Dragonfly, an AI-native holding company that acquires and scales tech businesses for enterprises to accelerate AI adoption, has raised $2m from Side Stage Ventures, Marbruck Investments and Angel Investors (AFR)
Affinda, which leverages AI to digitise document-intensive processes, has raised $25m from Angel Investors (AFR)
Dataro, an AI-powered donor intelligence platform for charities to predict donor behaviour to increase fundraising revenue, has raised $20.17m ($14.28m USD) in a Series A round from Blueprint Equity, Basis Set and Save the Children (Direct)
JumpStart Fertility, a fertility biotech that’s trying to improve IVF success rates for patients 35 and older, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Series B round from Proto Axiom, VU Venture Partners, UNSW (LinkedIn)
SavvyWise, an AI platform that speeds Australian tax research for accountants and bookkeepers to cut time on compliance work, has raised $600k in a Seed round from Angel Investors (AccountantsDaily)
Startmate has invested $2.28m across 19 startups, $120k each (Startup Daily)
Ascenda, a HealthTech AI mental fitness app that gives users and clinicians daily training and insights to build resilience and improve care
Alloovium, a construction AI workspace that centralises a firm's documents, emails and industry tools for construction teams to find answers fast
Brainwaves, a marketing platform that synthesises research and customer insights for brand teams to produce sharp strategy faste
CheckGen, a MedTech device that rapidly measures skin biomarkers for skincare clinics and brands to personalise treatment
CrossCourt AI, a PropTech AI platform that automates underwriting documents for real estate and private credit teams to speed deal screening (I previously announced this as part of a $400k Seed round on 3rd February 2026 which included investment from Sydney Angels and VentureCrowd)
cascayd, a CRO platform that generates instant website funnel audits and A/B test ideas for growth teams to speed optimisation
Deeligence, a LegalTech platform that uses AI to generate contract due diligence reports for law firms and investors to speed contract review
FlowGo, an AI accounting platform that automates financial workflows via chat and email to cut manual data entry
Guin, an AI video production platform that turns company video libraries into short on-brand marketing videos for marketing teams to publish faster
iBnkVault, a FinTech payments platform that routes and settles cross-border funds for e-commerce merchants to deliver instant, lower-cost settlement
Lockii, a self-service rental platform for rental businesses to automate contactless bookings, pickup and returns without staff
Neuralindex, a PropTech AI platform that turns listing data into search and decision intelligence for property portals to improve lead quality
Superstat, a sports analytics platform that turns game footage into coaching-ready stats for basketball clubs to improve performance
Talentsheet, a marketing analytics platform that finds where ideal customers pay attention for brands and agencies to reach them faster
Tendor, a platform that automates government tenders from discovery to compliant submission for businesses to win public contracts
Thermal Dawn, a home thermal battery that stores rooftop solar or off-peak electricity for heating, cooling and hot water to reduce household energy bills
Vixia, a manufacturing vision system that detects equipment, process and product anomalies for factory operators to prevent unplanned downtime
Wiingman, an event operations platform that auto-generates stakeholder-ready event documentation for organisers to cut admin
Zabidou, an AI inspection system that detects surface defects on industrial production lines for manufacturers to prevent faulty shipments