Anthropic

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #180, 4th October 2026

Weekly roundup reporting Australian startup funding rounds and government grants, a venture fund close, agreed acquisitions, an IPO pricing, a collapse, plus executive hires and AI policy developments.

🇦🇺 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

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

'OpenAI can't mark its own homework': Optus ex-CEO says rogue AI is an inevitability

Former Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin warns rogue AI agents in enterprises are inevitable and discusses Aigentsphere, her AI-monitoring startup, which raised a $4 million seed round from Main Sequence in April.

Canva takes the fight to Microsoft and Google for enterprise subscribers

Canva is pushing productivity tools like Docs and Sheets to win enterprise subscribers from Microsoft and Google, while slowing its AI rollout to control costs and trimming its revenue growth forecast.

The food brands AI will favour

FoodNavigator interview with Bramble Intelligence's Chris Mitchell on how AI shopping agents will reshape brand loyalty, category fortunes, and what food makers must do to stay visible to algorithms and shoppers.

AI Sales Platform Clay Raises New Round at $7 Billion Valuation Led by Wellington Management

Blog item on the AI funding climate: sales platform Clay reportedly raising at a stepped-up valuation with Wellington Management leading, plus a recap of its CapitalG Series C and other AI funding notes.

Canva bet millions on data centre play Sharon AI before becoming its 'major customer'

Filings show Canva backed Sharon AI's US$103 million December 2025 raise with Regal, Ellerston, Digital Alpha and others; the Sydney compute provider has since floated on Nasdaq and raised US$2.15 billion more.

Also Dealroom

🇦🇺 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.

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.

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.

Topic | Cybersecurity | Australian Financial Review

AFR cybersecurity topic page rounding up recent stories: Origin Energy's data breach investigation, Point Wild's planned ASX float, AI models hacking companies, and a CyberCX–Monash University cybersecurity degree partnership.

Australia doesn’t need copyright change to win data centre billions, AI boss says

The head of neo-cloud firm Sharon AI argues no copyright change is needed to attract data centre investment; the piece recalls its Nasdaq listing raise and a large new financing.

Also AFR Technology·Forbes Australia·Dealroom

Australian retail investors can now gain exposure to global private AI companies

Pengana's AI trust is now on the ASX as AIX after a $267 million IPO raise from wholesale investors, opening retail access to private AI companies; GCM Grosvenor manages the portfolio.

Sierra Raises $950M at $15B, Locking 40% of the Fortune 50 Into Its Agent Platform Before the Labs Go Direct

Analysis of Sierra's $950 million raise at a $15 billion valuation with Tiger Global and GV at the lead, weighing its revenue multiple, Fortune 50 customer lock-in, and competition from OpenAI and Anthropic's ventures.

Baseten: the whole game

Blackbird's post explaining its participation in Baseten's $1.5 billion Series F, its biggest investment yet, and why inference infrastructure will anchor the open-source AI era; notes rapid growth and senior engineering hires.

Also Dealroom

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.

Palmer Luckey: From Oculus Founder to Anduril Defense Tech Leader

Profile of Palmer Luckey tracing his Oculus VR venture, its multibillion-dollar Facebook acquisition, his co-founding of defense tech firm Anduril Industries, and his gaming hardware venture ModRetro.

Six months in Austin: BuildPass says the US is already 20% of revenue

BuildPass, a Melbourne construction software maker, says its American business now exceeds a fifth of revenue half a year after opening in Austin, with growth credit from Mighty Partners funding the expansion.

Bret Taylor's Sierra raises nearly $1 billion months after last capital push

Sierra, the enterprise AI agent firm started by Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, has banked a $950 million Series E with Tiger Global and Google Ventures at the helm, plus Benchmark, Sequoia and Greenoaks.

Also TechCrunch Australia·aivy.com.au·cmswire.com·theaiworld.org·faq.com.tw·groundy.com

Clem Delangue: Open Source AI & the Future of Builders

Turing Post interviews Hugging Face's co-founder and CEO on open-source AI, arguing open models empower a far larger builder community, discussing robotics hardware sales, cybersecurity arguments, and lobbying against open source in the US.

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #159, 3rd May 2026

Weekly roundup: Hipages takes a majority stake in VIZ Insurance, Side Stage Ventures banks $40m for fund two, Airwallex unveils the Latitude 37 program, Anthropic appoints an ANZ general manager, Atlassian shares jump.

‘Before Canva was Canva’: Mel Perkins on the original vision now shipping at scale

Interview with Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins on the release of Canva AI 2.0, its agentic and memory features, and Anthropic's Claude Design launch, which builds on the two companies' partnership.

Sequoia's new leaders raise about $7 billion for firm's biggest bets

Bloomberg-sourced report says Sequoia's incoming co-leaders have gathered roughly seven billion dollars for a new vehicle backing large, often AI, companies; the piece also covers leadership changes and Wiz's sale to Alphabet.

Sequoia Capital Raises $7 Billion Fund for AI and Late-Stage Investments

Sequoia Capital has closed about $7 billion for a fund backing late-stage AI companies in the US and Europe, the first big fundraise since Alfred Lin and Pat Grady took over as co-stewards.

Also economictimes.indiatimes.com

Goodbye, SaaS. Welcome, SaiS.

Blackbird partner Tom Humphrey argues AI panic overstates the threat to software firms, sketching four stages from bolting on models to training them, and pointing to Canva's acquisitions and Springboards' new model as proof.

Also Crikey·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

💫 Ramplify: April Architect

Rampersand's April newsletter: an essay on AI services startups, model releases from Anthropic and Meta, Firmus Technologies' $505 million raise, Dexibit's sale to accesso, plus portfolio jobs, events and market commentary.

Also Dealroom

Canva paints itself as an AI work platform with Simtheory, Ortto acquisitions

Canva has bought Sydney AI startup Simtheory and marketing automation firm Ortto, its fifth and sixth acquisitions in ten months, as it repositions from design tool to AI workplace platform; no prices disclosed.

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

AI data centre startup Firmus eyes off another $725 million raise as it readies to IPO on the ASX

Sydney-founded AI data centre company Firmus, now Singapore-based, says Coatue and Nvidia are set to back its next US$505 million raise before a planned ASX listing, after earlier raises including Nvidia's A$330 million.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·iTnews

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #156, 5th April 2026

Weekly digest reporting Australia Post's purchase of delivery-software firm Rendr, an $83 million sharemarket raise by 4DMedical, Reserve Bank director Elana Rubin's move to Airwallex, and an Anthropic-government memorandum.

Also SmartCompany

WorkOS raises $100M Series C at $2B valuation, betting on AI agent identity infrastructure

WorkOS has closed a $100m Series C at a $2bn valuation — its first external backing in over four years — with founder Michael Grinich pointing the company at identity infrastructure for enterprise AI agents.

Heidi acquires UK medical AI startup

Melbourne clinical documentation firm Heidi has bought UK healthcare AI company Automedica for an undisclosed sum and launched two AI products; the piece recalls its $98m Series B and $27m Series A top-up.

Also Forbes Australia

24 Aussie startups that raised $91 million this week

Roundup of the week's Australian startup funding: fresh raises for five companies, Startmate's Summer '26 accelerator intake of 19 startups, and Affinda's acquisition of Pathfindr.

Also Startup Daily

Investment Notes: Baseten Series-E

Blackbird's investment note sets out why the firm joined Baseten's $300 million Series E with IVP, Capital G, Nvidia and Greylock, praising the inference startup's customer culture and its purchase of Parsed.

Also Blackbird Ventures portfolio

Defence start-up Breaker raises $9m in seed funding after Boxer demonstration

Sydney and Austin-based defence tech startup Breaker secured $9 million at seed stage, led by Bessemer Venture Partners with Main Sequence following on, after a voice-controlled autonomous systems demo in Rheinmetall's Boxer vehicle.

Also Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Crunchbase Predicts: 15 Companies That Could Go Public In 2026 As The IPO Market Gains Momentum

Crunchbase's 2026 forecast lists fifteen late-stage companies it deems probable or very likely IPO candidates, profiling each with past raises, valuations and secondary sales; Australia's Canva makes the list.

Lightspeed raises record $9Bn across funds to double down on AI bets

Lightspeed has closed over nine billion dollars across six new funds, its largest fundraising ever, spanning early to late stage, with the opportunity fund mainly for follow-ons into its portfolio companies.

Also valueaddvc.com

Lightspeed Raises $9B as Big VCs Pull Ahead in an AI-Driven Market Reset

Lightspeed has closed over $9 billion across six vehicles, its largest-ever fundraise; the story ties the trend to LPs backing bigger firms and AI bets, and recalls IPOs by Rubrik, Netskope and Navan.

Also thetechportal.com

In The Space Of Months, AI Funding Boom Adds More Than $500B In Value To Unicorn Board And Reshuffles Top 20

Crunchbase's unicorn tracker analysis finds AI-driven valuations added over half a trillion dollars in months, reshuffling the top twenty and minting eleven new decacorns in H2 2025, including Figure, Kraken, Mistral and Sierra.

Also Crunchbase News·Crunchbase News