🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #161, 17th May 2026
$63.9m raised across 9 rounds, Labor has announced a $3.5b innovation package, VC tax incentive changes and a $70m AI Accelerator as tech leaders push for CGT carve-outs to protect startup equity
News
M&A, IPOs & Exits
Humankind, a Wellington HR consultancy, has acquired The Mintable, a management training startup backed by Blackbird, for an undisclosed sum. (Startup Daily)
NAB has acquired Banked, a London-founded account-to-account payments company, for an undisclosed sum to expand its Pay by Bank services for Australian business customers (Startup Researcher)
Capital Markets
IREN, a Sydney-headquartered Nasdaq-listed neocloud company, has closed a $4.1b convertible note raise to fund working capital and global AI data centre expansion (Capital Brief)
Megaport shares surged 37% after its US compute subsidiary Latitude.sh signed $254m in AI infrastructure contracts to provide GPU, CPU, network and storage services for inference workloads (BNA)
Xero’s profit fell 27% and its shares dropped 9% after the company absorbed costs from its US expansion and Melio acquisition, despite announcing a $550m share buyback and stronger revenue guidance. (The Australian)
Partnerships & Deals
Greater Homes, a Melbourne-based prefabricated home builder, is partnering with LG to pilot AI-powered modular houses that combine factory-built construction with energy management software to cut build times and power bills. (The Australian)
Product Launches, Milestones and Expansion
BuildPass, a construction software scale-up, says the US is already more than 20% of revenue six months after opening in Austin, supported by undisclosed venture debt from Mighty Partners (Startup Daily)
Cuttable has launched Shoots Video, an AI tool that creates brand-specific video ads using a company’s product, customer profile and visual language for Meta and TikTok campaigns. (LinkedIn)
Me&u and Dimmi founder Stevan Premutico has launched Hey Buddy, a voice AI startup that helps restaurants answer missed calls, bookings and customer enquiries (SmartCompany)
Rumblings, founded by experienced agency, communications and data science leaders from We Scout, G+S and Woolworths, has launched an AI platform that turns cultural and behavioural signals into marketing recommendations (LinkedIn)
Venture Capital & Other Funding
Automotive Superstore, an online car parts and accessories retailer, is seeking $10m in funding to upgrade its warehouse and tech stack as it pushes toward $48.2m in forecast revenue (AFR)
Facet Amtech, a Newcastle clean ammonia startup, has received a $50,000 NSW Government MVP Ventures grant to scale its proprietary catalyst manufacturing for a pilot project. (LinkedIn)
Gratifii, an ASX-listed loyalty and rewards program operator, is preparing to invest in and partner with Marketplacer, a marketplace software platform for online retailers, via a convertible note after investor write-downs signalled a lower valuation (AFR)
Orbit2Orbit, a space infrastructure startup helping customers test hardware across stratospheric, suborbital and orbital environments, has closed the first tranche of a $1.4m+ Seed round led by Fusion Venture Labs. (LinkedIn)
Government, Policy & Regulation
Australia’s tech and VC sector is pushing for startup carve-outs from expected CGT changes, warning higher taxes on equity gains could hurt founders, employees and early-stage investors (AFR)
Labor has announced a $3.5b innovation package for startups, AI and R&D-heavy companies while signalling it may soften CGT changes after tech sector backlash (AFR)
The federal government will expand VC tax incentives from July 2027 by lifting VCLP and ESVCLP caps to encourage more investment into Australian startups and scaleups (Startup Daily)
The federal government has announced a $70m AI Accelerator to fund research projects and will trial AI across major agencies as part of its push to build domestic AI capability (SmartCompany)
WA has allocated $348m over four years to its Future Health Research and Innovation Fund to back health and medtech startups, researchers and commercialisation projects (Startup News)
Ecosystem & Hubs
Adrenalen Group has launched Adrenalen Edge, an accelerator for sports, media and venue technology startups, with SportEdge named as its first partner. (LinkedIn)
People Moves & Spotlights
Airtree has appointed partner Elicia McDonald as CEO, with co-founder Craig Blair becoming investment committee chair (Capital Brief)
Airwallex has appointed former treasurer and Goldman Sachs Australia chair Josh Frydenberg to its global economic advisory council as the Australian-founded fintech deepens government ties across 180 markets (AFR)
Leigh Jasper, Firmable co-founder and co-CEO, is stepping down as LaunchVic Chair after six years as Victoria shifts startup ecosystem support into the new Innovation Victoria agency (LinkedIn)
Other News & Updates
Former Metigy CEO David Fairfull is seeking a reduced sentence after pleading guilty to misleading investors in a $50m raise and using a $7.7m loan to buy luxury properties (AFR)
ASIC is investigating DroneShield’s November disclosures and share trading after its former CEO and two directors sold $67m in shares before the counter-drone company’s stock fell more than 30% (The Age)
Zip must stop using its trademark in Australia within 28 days after the High Court dismissed the ASX-listed fintech’s appeal in a legal dispute with Firstmac (Capital Brief)
Funding Rounds
INSITE DC, a data centre developer that builds hyperscale facilities for cloud and AI customers to host compute and storage, has raised an undisclosed amount from Alceon (ITBrief | BNA | The Australian)
ProcurePro, which simplifies the subscontractor procurement process for the construction industry, has raised $15.2. | $11m USD in a Series B round from QIC, Airtree Ventures, Glitch Capital and Bouygues (SmartCompany | Capital Brief | AFR)
Commit Works, a platform for mine teams to centralise shift planning and task execution to boost productivity, has raised an undisclosed amount from Datamine (Canadian Mining Journal | Direct)
NinaMED, a MedTech developing a non-invasive at-home therapy for people with overactive bladder to reduce symptoms, has raised $19m | $13.75m USD from SPRIM Global Investments (PR Newswire | Startup Researcher)
Extraordinary Money, a FinTech personal finance platform that uses AI to manage spending for consumers to improve financial wellbeing, has raised $4m in a Pre-Seed round from Airtree Ventures, Triple Bubble, Arconic Capital and Angel Investors (Startup Daily)
FinEdge Terminal, a FinTech trading intelligence platform for retail traders to access AI market analysis, news and risk tracking, has raised $698k | $500k USD (PRLog)
Arkeus, which makes autonomous optical systems that integrate advanced optics, AI, and edge processing to enhance decision-making in defence and security operations, has raised $25m in a Series A round from QIC, R+VC, Folklore Ventures, DYNE Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Salus Ventures and Beaten Zone Venture Partners (Forbes | Defence Connect)
SavvyWise, an AI platform that speeds Australian tax research for accountants and bookkeepers to cut time on compliance work, has raised an undisclosed amount (The West Australian)
Number 8 Bio, an AgTech company that makes slow-release feed capsules for cattle farmers to cut enteric methane from livestock, has raised an undisclosed amount from Meat & Livestock Australia (LinkedIn)