AirTree Ventures

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #179, 26th September 2026

Weekly roundup recording a dozen raises and acquisitions, Firmus's scheduled float, a new $50m venture fund, a founder share sale, grant winners, an accelerator intake, and an AI agent's government breach.

Also Dynamic Business·DealStreetAsia·This Week in Australian Startups·Dealroom·ABC News Technology

A Sydney VC just built a $250K 'peer pressure' programme

Airtree Ventures' new Frontier residency offers chosen tech founders $250,000 on SAFE terms plus provider credits; the piece argues a tight peer group beats capital, with lessons for small firms.

Space monitoring startup scores NRF backing in $37 million Series B

Beaten Zone Venture Partners led a US$25 million Series B in HEO Robotics, which images other spacecraft, with the NRFC contributing $10 million; the piece also recalls earlier Series A and seed rounds.

NRF backs space startup HEO after US$100 million-plus contract

Satellite-monitoring camera maker HEO has landed a $37 million Series B, with the federal reconstruction fund contributing $10 million, and will grow its team while pushing more cameras into geostationary orbit.

Also Forbes Australia·Space Connect·This Week in Australian Startups·Dynamic Business

Airtree is offering $350,000 to ANZ founders to kick off in Silicon Valley

Startup Daily reports Airtree has extended its Frontier founder residency to San Francisco, dangling uncapped US$250,000 SAFE notes at expat Aussie and Kiwi founders; its Sydney edition hosts alumni of major local tech firms.

Buildkite quietly raised $21 million earlier this year after posting massive losses

ASIC filings show Buildkite raised $21m via convertible debt in January 2026 after heavy losses and a CEO change; its earlier backers include OneVentures, AirTree, General Catalyst and Dom Pym.

Also Capital Brief

15 ANZ startups that raised $67.2 million this week

Roundup of the week's Australia and New Zealand raises: Gridsight, Pearler and Apate.AI secure the biggest cheques, Drumbeat and GonGlobal add smaller sums, and ten AI startups join Airwallex's Latitude 37 program.

Expert360's $16 million sale leaves founder, early investors with no share payout

Workforce platform Expert360 is being bought by AI hiring firm Swipejobs at a reported $16 million value, while its founder and earliest backers are set to receive nothing for their stakes.

Also Startup Daily

Gridsight Raises $26M in Series B Funding

Gridsight, whose platform maps electricity grid capacity for utilities in real time, has raised a $26 million Series B round with Insight Partners leading, to fund its push into the US market.

Also thesaasnews.com

Airtree extends its first fund to July 2028 to hold onto Canva stake

Investors approved extending Airtree's 2014 debut fund to mid-2028 so the firm can keep its Canva holding; the piece also recalls Canva's Series A and Airtree's later fund totals.

Airtree wins investor support to extend first fund, saving Canva stake

Airtree's investors approved prolonging its debut fund to July 2028, safeguarding foundation stakes such as Canva and defusing a limited-partner revolt over the firm's withheld distributions.

Skalata named Australia's most active investor for H1 2024

Australian startup capital climbed 30% in early 2024 even as deal counts fell; Skalata Ventures topped investor activity with 13 participations, ahead of Blackbird and Investible.

Also TechCrunch Australia·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Australian FinTech·Forbes Australia·Forbes Australia

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #176, 30th August 2026

Weekly roundup: Blackbird confirms a record fund close and Galileo reaches a first close, Genesis merges with Proudi, IREN secures massive debt, and several startups report raises, grants and program wins.

Airtree's Canva stoush escalates as investors' patience runs out

Airtree is in a dispute with longtime backers over poor proceeds from its Canva stake and could not rally enough support to prolong its debut fund.

Japanese giant MUFG buys HESTA’s superannuation administrator Grow Inc

MUFG's pensions arm has struck a binding agreement to acquire Grow Inc, a Sydney-founded superannuation administration startup whose shareholders — among them HESTA, Five V Capital and AirTree Ventures — must still approve the deal.

Also AFR Technology

Blackbird mulls new Canva options as VCs battle impatient investors

Blackbird is weighing an early sale of its Canva stake through continuation funds, while Airtree's longtime backers are pushing it to return profits; no deal has been done.

The 8 Australian startups on Forbes Asia's 100 To Watch list

Eight Australian companies make Forbes Asia's annual 100 To Watch list; the piece profiles each and recaps recent raises across climate tech, health and software.

Big US institutions back Blackbird’s new $1b venture fund

Morgan Stanley and Schroders have committed money to Blackbird Ventures' new $1b fund; the piece also recalls Airtree's $650m fifth fund drawing US institutional backing last year.

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

Weekly roundup: Constantinople raises $62.5m; Blackbird wraps fund six above $1b; Guardhouse buys Mobohubb; SCX.ai debuts on the ASX; plus seed rounds, exits and executive changes across the ecosystem.

Seven ANZ startups that raised $111.5 million this week

Roundup of seven raises across the Tasman spanning fintech, marine tech, agtech, defence and AI, plus a first close for an ACT venture fund.

Constantinople raises A$62.5M Series B, nears unicorn status

Australian banking-tech firm Constantinople has closed a large Series B co-led by returning backers, per Dealroom; the piece recalls its earlier seed and Series A and highlights a client bank's full platform migration.

Also Dealroom

Constantinople in stealth cash call, on fast track to unicorn status

Square Peg and Airtree Ventures led Constantinople's newly completed $62.5 million round, per Street Talk; backers expect another raise within a year, which would value the banking software firm near $1 billion.

Canva wipes $11 billion from its valuation, putting IPO plans in doubt

Blackbird and Airtree mark Canva's worth down sharply, the employee share price falls too, and commentators question whether a 2027 sharemarket float remains realistic amid sliding confidence in AI-era software.

This Week in Australian Startups #174, 16th August 2026

Australian startups raised funds including Alloy Robotics, Farmbot and Atmo Biosciences. Firmus Technologies acquired Benmax while Tabcorp bought BetMakers. SafetyCulture rebranded to Mitti.

Eight ANZ startups that raised $67.4 million this week

Eight Australian and New Zealand startups secured a combined $67.4 million in funding across various sectors including agtech, medtech, robotics, and fintech.

Canva’s big backers slash $10b from software giant amid AI pivot

Blackbird Ventures and Airtree reduced Canva's valuation by ten billion dollars as the design platform faces challenges integrating artificial intelligence tools.

Canva investors wipe $10b from valuation

Blackbird and Airtree have marked down their Canva holdings by a combined figure above $10 billion, exceeded by Canva's own internal write-down, after the company lowered its growth outlook on rising AI costs.

The Big 3 VCs back robot testing startup’s $11.5 million Seed raise

Robot data analysis startup Alloy Robotics has raised $11.5 million in a seed round led by Square Peg, with Blackbird and Airtree participating, less than a year after a $4.5 million pre-seed.

Also SmartCompany

Alloy raises $8M seed to help engineers debug robot fleets with AI

Robotics AI startup Alloy has banked an $8m seed at an $80m valuation, led by Square Peg with Blackbird, Airtree and Skip Capital back again; funds earmarked for engineering hires and growth in the US.

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #173, 9th August 2026

Weekly roundup: Firmus completes its $2.85b round; Procore acquires DroneDeploy; Atlassian rebounds while Canva cuts guidance; plus fresh raises for Zabidou, BioScout, Vexev, Enrola, Spacetalk and others.

Also Dealroom·RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy

Defence tech scaleup Advanced Navigation charts $158 million Series C to bypass GPS

Sydney navigation startup Advanced Navigation raised a large Series C led by Airtree Ventures, with Quadrant Private Equity and NRFC, to expand PNT technology globally.

Sam Kroonenburg's Cuttable raises $5.7 million, opens in New York

Melbourne AI advertising startup Cuttable raised $5.7 million at a doubled $100 million valuation, expanding to New York amid growing US demand.

ProcurePro raises US$11M as French construction giant Bouygues moves from customer to backer

Brisbane procurement software startup ProcurePro closes a US$11 million round led by QIC Ventures, with customer Bouygues joining as an investor via ISAI vehicle.

Cricketer Pat Cummins backs longevity startup Everlab's $65 million Series A

Melbourne preventative healthcare startup Everlab raised a $65 million Series A led by Airtree Ventures to expand into the UK, with backing from cricketer Pat Cummins.

Airtree more than doubles its money in US start-up sale

Airtree Ventures has exited DroneDeploy in a $US845 million sale after an eight-year hold, pocketing over twice its outlay and returning cash to early backers as venture firms face investor pressure to distribute returns.

Eight ANZ startups that raised $102 million this fortnight

Roundup of eight Australian and New Zealand startups whose late-July funding totals $102 million across space capsules, medical devices, livestock breath analysis, sports analytics and AI crop forecasting.

Rocket Lab alum raises $10.5m to build 'anti-gravity chamber' for space manufacturing

A maker of satellites for in-orbit drugs and materials production has landed an outsized pre-seed round led by New Zealand's GD1, with Airtree and other venture firms taking part.

Investment Notes: Outlier Space

Investible's note explains its pre-seed backing of satellite startup Outlier Space alongside GD1 and others, arguing uncrewed return-capable platforms will make off-world manufacturing viable as the ISS retires.

Also Forbes Australia·SmartCompany

Everlab raises $46 million in Series A funding, AI preventive healthcare platform enters global market

Melbourne preventive-health startup Everlab has banked an A$65 million Series A led by Airtree Ventures with Plural, Left Lane Capital and b2venture taking part, funding overseas growth starting in the UK.

Airwallex worth $16 billion after $460 million Series H

Airwallex has closed a Series H valuing it at $16 billion, with Addition in the lead and eight other backers named; the piece also recalls its December Series G.

Also Startup Daily·Cut Through Venture