🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #127, 31st August 2025

$186.6m raised across 21 rounds in the last 3 weeks, OpenAI to open first Australian office, Write-downs hurt decade-old Blackbird fund ahead of returns deadline, Cuscal to acquire Indue for $75m,

Aug 30, 2025

A longer edition than usual with the last two weeks not getting out in time. Transparently still juggling work, family and this newsletter - 2025 has been an interesting one, but definitely more to come and things are in the works behind the scenes.

Funding Rounds

$97.45m This Week (25th August to 31st August)

Apate.AI, an AI-powered scam disruption and intelligence platform that protects financial institutions, telcos, and crypto exchanges by deploying advanced conversational AI bots at scale, has raised $2.5m in a Seed round from OIF Ventures and Investible (Startup Daily)
Skutopia, a robotics-powered 3rd Party Logistics provider that automates eCommerce fulfilment, warehousing, a shipping platform and last-mile delivery via micro-fulfilment centres, has raised $38m from Pemba Capital, MA Financial and Blackpeak Growth Partners (SmartCompany | AFR)
Send Payments, an international payments and foreign exchange platform, has raised $5m in a round from Regal Funds Management, Kelly+Partners and iPartners (Australian FinTech | BNA)
Lucia Bio, a biotech who is developing highly selective spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitors for potential application in peripheral immunology, neurology and haematology oncology, has raised $2m in a Seed round from the UniQuest Extension Fund and Uniseed (Startup Daily)
Vaxxas, a biotech that is commercialising novel technology that dramatically enhances the performance of existing and next-generation vaccines, has raised $49.2m in a Series D round from SPRIM Global Investments, LGT Crestone, OneVentures, Brandon Capital and HostPlus (BNA | AFR | Capital Brief)
Coursebox, an AI-powered course creator and learning platform that converts your files and videos into interactive e-learning in minutes, has raised $750k in a Seed round from Purpose Ventures (Startup Daily)

$41.1m Week of 18th August to 24th August

Block Earner, a blockchain-powered fintech which wants to offer bitcoin-backed loans for home deposits, has raised $8m in a Series A round from CMCC Global and King River Capital (SmartCompany | BNA | AFR)
OneMRI, Australia’s first and only national provider of whole-body MRI scans, designed for the early detection of 500+ potential conditions, has raised $2.5m in a Seed round from OIF Ventures, Antler, Ten13, Salus Ventures, AfterWork, Archangel Ventures, Black Sheep Capital, Prtnr, Tribe Global and Larsen Ventures (SmartCompany | The Age)
The Laundry Lady, a marketplace for professional mobile laundry services, has raised $1m in a Seed round from Brisbane Angels, AngelLoop and Angel Investors (SmartCompany | BNA)
Carbon280, who is commercialising Hydrilyte a multi-patented liquid carrier that stores hydrogen safely at ambient temperature and pressure for easier, scalable transport and storage, has raised $11.1m in a Seed round from Woodside Energy and Hive Energy (SmartCompany)
Vinyl, an AI meeting assistant purpose-built for accounting and bookkeeping firms, has raised $2m in a Seed round from Tidal Ventures and Angel Investors (AccountantsDaily)
RaptorTech, who develops a fleet management system and collision avoidance system for the mining industry, has raised $8m from Fifth Estate Asset Management (AFR)
One Stop Warehouse, the ‘Amazon’ of clean energy, who is building an AI-driven distributed energy industry internet platform, has raised $8.5m from SparkEdge Capital (SmartCompany)

$48.14m Week of 11th August to 17th August

Cuttable, an AI advertising platform, has raised $4.5m in a Seed round from Square Peg, Rampersand and Brand Fund (SmartCompany | AFR | BNA)
National Renewable Network, which is building a connected network of solar and storage systems that radically changes the way renewable energy is delivered, has raised $17m in a Series A round from Investible, Virescent Ventures and Ecotone Partners (The Australian | SmartCompany | AFR)
SprintSuite, a business management platform purpose-built for mid-market mining and engineering services companies, has raised $3.5m in a Seed round from EVP (Startup Daily)
Syenta, who is architecting the future of AI computing through its revolutionary Localised Electrochemical Manufacturing (LEM) technology, has raised $8.8m in a Pre-Series A round from Investible, Blackbird, In-Q-Tel, SGInnovate, OIF Ventures, Salus Ventures, Jelix Ventures, Wollemi Capital Group and Brindabella Capital (BNA)
Bitwise Agronomy, who has developed an AI yield forecasting system that also analyses video footage to count fruit across entire farms in minutes, has raised $1m (BNA)
Qloud Games, an independent studio behind the upcoming massively multiplayer online game Loftia, has raised $7.64m (US $5m) in a Seed round from BITKRAFT Ventures, GFR Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, 1UP Fund and Gaingels (GamesBeat)
Mirugen, a preclinical biotech company identifying the optimal set of cellular instructions to ask one cell type to become another, has raised $4.5m in a Seed round from University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, Tin Alley Ventures, Brandon Capital
AUDD, a stablecoin backed by the AUD on a 1:1 basis, has raised $1.2m in a Seed round from

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #127, 31st August 2025

$186.6m raised across 21 rounds in the last 3 weeks, OpenAI to open first Australian office, Write-downs hurt decade-old Blackbird fund ahead of returns deadline, Cuscal to acquire Indue for $75m,

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