Nine walks away from its $49 million digital media investment, Pedestrian, handing it to Richard White’s Vinyl

Vinyl Group is buying Nine's youth publisher Pedestrian Group for nominal consideration, ending Nine's costly ownership. The piece also recalls Nine's stake purchases, Linkby's Series B, and Vinyl's acquisitions and shutdowns.

Also Startup Daily·This Week in Australian Startups·Capital Brief

Janus Electric secures $8.65M to scale battery-swap truck electrification

Battery-swap truck converter Janus Electric has raised $8.65 million via a private placement, R&D finance and tax refunds, funding US expansion, while analyst Trim Capital flags execution risk.

Should Aussie startups move overseas? That's the wrong question to ask.

Opinion by UNSW Founders' entrepreneurship director arguing founders should pick geography strategically instead of debating staying or leaving, using Cauldron's recent raise and Breaker's US expansion as contrasting examples.

Scalare rescues Fishburners from administration

Scalare Partners has bought Fishburners out of administration, keeping the founder community operating within Scalare's ecosystem, with planned hub access, revived pitch nights and a future investment vehicle for startups.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·This Week in Australian Startups

Google Just Raised $85 Billion — The Biggest Stock Sale Ever

Markets newsletter reports Google's equity offering with a completed first tranche, SpaceX and Anthropic IPO filings, xAI's earlier merger into SpaceX, fast-food bankruptcies blamed on GLP-1 drugs, and a live tour wrap-up.

Anatomy of a renewable finance deal: Developer lands equity for state's largest solar-battery hybrid

Listed Perth developer Frontier Energy has locked in $110 million of equity pledges for the first stage of its Waroona solar and battery project in Western Australia, with more funding still required.

Also RenewEconomy

Lightspeed $9B Raise: $4.5B Flagship, AI Focus

Analysis of Lightspeed Venture Partners' 2026 close of three funds totalling nine billion dollars, its backer base, AI allocation, portfolio outcomes and comparisons with other big venture firms.

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #164, 7th June 2026

Weekly roundup: eight funding rounds totalling $12.1m; Airwallex bought Leapfin; 4DMedical agreed a deal for Contextflow; Scalare Partners took over Fishburners; Airtree and Build Club each unveiled new founder programs.

Also Australian FinTech

ACT Investors: 15 Canberra Funds Backing Deep Tech in 2026

A directory of fifteen Canberra investors backing deep tech, noting ACTivate Capital's fund first close, several government-backed company raises, an incubator's alumni, and one portfolio acquisition.

Seven ANZ startups that raised $17 million this week

Weekly roundup of seven Australian and New Zealand startup raises totalling $17 million, including two startups entering Y Combinator, plus a new QuantX Labs board director and SmartrMail's earlier sale to Relay Commerce.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Adelaide AI martech startup Nitrosend nails $700,000 Seed round

Adelaide brothers Edward and George Hartley, who earlier sold SmartrMail to Relay Commerce, have raised US$500,000 in seed money for Nitrosend, their AI email marketing platform, with Eastend Ventures Fund 1 leading.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Oscorp Energy raises A$1.3M pre-Seed to deploy AI vision for battery detection in waste streams

Sydney robotics startup Oscorp Energy raised A$1.3 million pre-seed, led by Atlas's AI fund with Antler and Antipodean Capital, to build AI vision systems that detect lithium-ion batteries in recycling waste streams.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Aurora Labs to move forward with metal 3D printer acquisition, propulsion system scaling plans

Aurora Labs says a $1m government grant, matched by its own $1m, will fund a large-format metal 3D printer to scale production of its micro gas turbine propulsion systems for defence applications.

ASX-listed fintech Findi appoints Sam Wright and Thomas May as Joint Company Secretaries

Payments provider Findi has named Sam Wright and Thomas May as its joint company secretaries, taking over from Charly Duffy and Shelby Coleman, who have resigned from the role.

EBR to Raise A$150m via Fully Underwritten Capital Raising

Listcorp carries an ASX announcement in which EBR Systems flags a fully underwritten capital raising; the page shows only the headline, with no body text or further detail.

Eastend leads US$500K seed round in Adelaide AI startup Nitrosend

Eastend Ventures led a half-million-dollar US seed round in Nitrosend with Archangel Ventures and Aussie Angels. Founders Edward and George Hartley earlier built SmartrMail, bought by Relay Commerce in 2022.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Dealroom

Property investment startup Dashdot in liquidation, with Budget as 'the straw that broke the camel's back'

Property investment advisory Dashdot has entered voluntary liquidation after seven years, with co-founder and CEO Glenn McGrath citing economic conditions, federal budget tax reforms and rising Meta advertising costs; clients face losing upfront fees.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

SAPHI wins Australian government grant to bring AI to “dark” industrial sites

Australian startup SAPHI has received a government grant to apply artificial intelligence to industrial sites that lack digital visibility, as Australia pushes to modernise its mining sector.

Megaport raises $594M to build AI inference cloud, secures four US contracts

Megaport, a network-infrastructure firm based in Australia, has won four US contracts for AI computing and plans a shareholder entitlement offer to fund a new GPU inference cloud service.

ARENA backs GridZync's grid stability software with $953K

Australia's renewable energy agency is granting GridZync $953K via its Advancing Renewables Program to refine and commercialise Rezonance, a tool that spots oscillation risks as inverter-based generation replaces coal.

Huayou Cobalt to buy Atlantic Lithium for $210M

Dealroom reports Chinese battery maker Huayou Cobalt intends to take over ASX-listed lithium explorer Atlantic Lithium for $210 million, with the final price hinging on a Ghanaian tax assessment.

NAB acquires fintech Banked to accelerate account-to-account payments

National Australia Bank has bought pay-by-bank fintech Banked, a company its venture arm previously backed in three rounds, to bring account-to-account payment technology in-house.

Australian ag-tech startup VeraSys lands $2.2M grant for AI weed-fighting drones

Medowie drone maker VeraSys received a $2.2 million federal Industry Growth Program grant, announced 20 May, to commercialise CropSight, its AI weed-detection system built around the Brolga aircraft.

Prestige Consumer Healthcare acquires LaCorium Health, posts $1.1B in annual revenue

Prestige Consumer Healthcare has agreed to buy Australian skin care company LaCorium Health while reporting fiscal 2026 revenue of $1,088.7 million, with revenue down 4.3% year over year.

Strategic Elements raises $1.2M in days as share plan blows past target

Australian-listed investor Strategic Elements pulled in roughly $1.2 million from a shareholder purchase plan shortly after opening, as portfolio ventures Australian Advanced Materials and Stealth Technologies reached technology milestones.

FinEdge Terminal targets $500K pre-seed at $5M valuation

Melbourne entrepreneur Shahid Kamal is seeking pre-seed backing for FinEdge Terminal, an AI market-analysis tool for retail traders; no money is committed yet, but a Newsquawk partnership and waitlist are in place.

PPK Group buys into Rome's Farport Software to build European B2B hub

Australia's PPK Group has taken a stake in Italian B2B software firm Farport Software, aiming to build a Rome hub for its European operations; the piece weighs integration risks and the broader Asia-Pacific-to-Europe expansion trend.

AdAlta raises $2.5M to bring CAR-T cancer therapy from China to the West

AdAlta, an ASX-listed biotech, has completed a $2.5 million placement to progress its CAR-T cancer treatment toward trials, with funds earmarked for US regulatory engagement and a domestic manufacturing transfer via Cell Therapies.

Diagno wins Formbay backing for solar and battery diagnostics

Dealroom notes Australian solar and battery diagnostics startup Diagno has received investment from corporate backer Formbay, as demand grows for monitoring tools across Australia's renewable energy installations.

Weebit Nano raises $15M via share purchase plan

Melbourne semiconductor developer Weebit Nano completed a strongly supported $15 million share purchase plan to bolster its balance sheet and advance its ReRAM memory technology research.

Remarkable, Catalysr and Indigenous pre-accelerators score NSW government support for diverse founders

Four organisations join a NSW government diversity pre-accelerator program as delivery partners, running programs for migrant, disability and First Nations founders alongside two university-based partners already on the roster.

“We want more:” State launches fresh round of grant funding for local green manufacturing

New South Wales has opened another $225 million grant round for low-carbon manufacturers, and the article recalls earlier awards to recycler Sell & Parker and transformer maker Tyree Transformers under the same state program.

Also RenewEconomy

Wealth industry veteran Renato Mota appointed to InvestStream Advisory Board

InvestStream has appointed former Insignia Financial chief executive Renato Mota to its advisory board, adding deep wealth sector experience as the startup scales its modelling engine across Australia's superannuation and wealth industries.

DataMasque raises $5.6 million to tackle one of AI's biggest enterprise hurdles

DataMasque, whose platform masks customer data for AI use, has collected $5.6 million from Wavemaker Partners, OIF Ventures and Icehouse Ventures, with Wavemaker leading.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Cuscal Completes Acquisition of Paymark, Expands New Zealand Presence

Cuscal has completed its purchase of New Zealand payments firm Paymark, rebranding it Cuscal Paymark; the business stays standalone with leadership unchanged as Cuscal widens its Australasian payments footprint.

Wealth Industry Veteran Renato Mota Joins InvestStream Advisory Board

Renato Mota, formerly chief executive of Insignia Financial, has joined InvestStream's advisory board to help win institutional partners and steer compliance and go-to-market for its SUGAI and SuperAnne platforms.

Aurora Labs wins $544k Australian Defence grant to scale 3D-printed micro gas turbines for UAVs

Aurora Labs has received a Defence Industry Development Grant to help buy production equipment for its small gas-turbine engines used in drones, supporting its sovereign manufacturing push.

Tim Cahill Backs Sports Tech Startup Nardo in $1 Million Pre-Seed Funding Round

Former Socceroo Tim Cahill joins sports tech startup Nardo as investor and strategic partner, coinciding with a $1 million pre-seed raise to fund global expansion.

Also Startup Daily·app.fundz.net·thesaasnews.com·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·raising.fi

Growth Capital: backing the businesses scaling Australia’s net zero transition

Recap of CEFC’s Sydney forum on climate tech investing, revisiting its 2025 co-investment with Five V Capital in Agile Energy and the PATF’s growth capital approach.

ARENA expands Amber project to accelerate vehicle-to-grid rollout in Australia

The renewable energy agency commits a further $13.6 million grant to Amber Electric's vehicle-to-grid trial, lifting participation to 1,000 households, with carmaker BYD joining to work on charging standards.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Dealroom

Growth Capital: backing the businesses scaling Australia's net zero transition

CEFC's write-up of its Growth Capital Forum sets out its PATF investment approach and revisits its late-2025 co-investment with Five V Capital in Agile Energy, plus Australian Ethical's view on transition investing.

EcoGraf Gains Institutional Backing as India Patent and Twin Financing Deals Bolster Graphite Push

EcoGraf wins a European Investment Bank grant alongside an active KfW loan mandate, secures an Indian patent for its purification process, and signs a Foxconn-affiliated partner for anode licensing and off-take.

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #163, 31st May 2026

Weekly roundup tallies five completed raises totalling $26.6m, plus Airwallex releasing a billing product, HEO approaching a Series B, Tanda hunting a private-equity backer, Firmus's ASX listing timeline slipping, and a DroneShield shareholder protest.

Denteric Commences a Phase I Safety Study in Patients with Early Alzheimer’s Disease

Denteric has begun recruiting early Alzheimer's patients for a Phase I trial of its gingipain-targeting therapy GPV381, with funding from the CUREator+ Dementia program and the Medical Research Future Fund.

Gratifii acquires Simplicity Australasia

ASX-listed rewards firm Gratifii has announced a deal taking over Auckland-based points specialist Simplicity Australasia, backed by a freshly secured $10m placement that also funds a stake in marketplace business Marketplacer.

Also Dealroom·grafa.com

Reinventing the fight against chronic lung infections

Brandon Capital's blog profiles Respirion, interviewing founders Barry Clements and Matt Callahan plus investment manager Helga Mikkelsen about the company's inhaled cystic fibrosis therapy, now in a Phase 2a trial.

La Trobe cancer diagnostics spin out AlleSense raises $5 million

La Trobe University spin-out AlleSense has secured $5 million to develop slide-based imaging for earlier cancer detection, led by Welcome Ventures with Breakthrough Victoria and the Australian Economic Accelerator's grant program also contributing.

Also Dealroom·Startup Daily

7 WA businesses named as recipients of AUKUS SME Readiness Fund

Seven Western Australian defence businesses have received state government grants of as much as $100,000 each to prepare for work in AUKUS supply chains.

Recent Good News from our portfolio

Breakthrough Victoria rounds up April–May 2026 portfolio news, including grants for Number 8 Bio and Xefco, Liquid Instruments' Series C, program selections, partnerships, regulatory clearances and two new Aravax directors.

Also Breakthrough Victoria

Investment Update: AlleSense Investment $1 million

Breakthrough Victoria announces a $1 million investment in AlleSense, a La Trobe University spin-out developing nanofabricated slides for faster cancer diagnosis, joining round leader Welcome Ventures.