Black Nova Venture Capital

Pre-Seed funding in Australia dries up at the end of the year, here’s how to plan for it

Antler Australia urges founders planning a pre-seed raise to move early and close before the summer break, promoting its five-week Fast Track cheque and citing Refresh's later rounds as proof it works.

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🇦🇺 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

Four Aussie startups that raised $2.86 billion this week (sort of)

Roundup of four Australian raises: Firmus Technologies' US$2 billion round at a $15 billion valuation, Eudaemon's $3.75 million, Zabidou's $3.5 million seed round, and Rampart's $2.3 million.

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His self-driving car startup hit $300m before crashing. Now he's back for round two.

Deep tech founder Cibby Pulikkaseril has banked a $3.5m seed for Zabidou, whose lasers inspect factory output, with Black Nova, Main Sequence and Antler backing; his earlier LiDAR venture Baraja folded.

Also SmartCompany

Cheque-in: 10 ANZ startups raised nearly $193 million this week

Weekly roundup of ten Australian and New Zealand startup raises totalling nearly $194 million, topped by Neara's $90 million round at a $1.1 billion valuation, with Splose, Operata, HAMR Energy and Adora also covered.

Call centre monitoring startup Operata dials in $11 million Series A

Operata, which watches over call centre performance, has banked a Series A of $11 million at a valuation topping $100 million, with Tidal Ventures at the helm and funds earmarked for AI-era integrations.

Operata raises $11 million Series A as AI reshapes contact centres

A Melbourne software firm monitoring AI-driven customer service operations has closed a Series A round led by Tidal Ventures, valuing it at $100 million, with proceeds earmarked for platform integrations and international growth.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

AI cybersecurity agent Nullify re-Seeds with $17.8 million

Australian-founded AI vulnerability platform Nullify, now San Francisco-based, has closed a second seed round led by SYN Ventures with returning backer Black Nova; SYN's Glenn Chisholm joins its board.

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Cheque-in: four ANZ startups raised $307.1 million in mid-January

Roundup of four ANZ raises: a Queensland rocket company's nine-figure Series E, a New Zealand legal-AI firm's Series B, a seed round for AI code-security, and a Melbourne construction-software raise.

Four ANZ startups that raised $307.1 million this week

Roundup of four ANZ raises totalling over $307m: Gilmour Space's Series E, Ivo's Series B, Dam Secure's seed round and SPEC Toolbox's pre-Series A, plus a board appointment at Dam Secure.

Construction tech startup builds $3 million pre-Series A after rebrand

Melbourne construction software firm SPEC Toolbox, once CLT Toolbox, has banked a fresh $3 million round with Black Nova and Investible co-leading, its third raise after earlier seed and bridge funding.

Also SmartCompany

Construction site safety proptech bags rival amid $4.5 million raise

1Breadcrumb has acquired Canberra rival SignOnSite and raised a $4.5 million SAFE note from Five V Capital, Tribe Global Ventures and a US family office, creating a merged construction-safety technology provider.

Also SmartCompany

Seven Aussie startups that raised $155.5 million this week

Weekly roundup covering seven Australian companies' fresh capital: EV charging, satellite IoT, sovereign cloud, wearables, workplace messaging, plus two crowdfunding raises on Birchal.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing

Destined for growth: Healthtech startup Kismet adds $20 million to close $32.5 million seed round

Kismet has raised a further $20 million to complete a two-part seed round totalling $32.5 million, with new backer MassMutual Ventures joining Prosus and Airtree; the healthtech startup plans international expansion.

Also SmartCompany

Antler Investor Memo Series: Factory AI is solving one of manufacturing’s biggest problems: unplanned downtime

Partner-content memo in Antler's investor series profiles pre-seed startup Factory AI, whose AI platform predicts manufacturing equipment failures; covers founders, Antler's backing, customers like Bega, and revenue targets.

Four Aussie startups that raised $29 million this week

Roundup of four Australian startups that each announced fresh capital this week: a caregiver healthcare app, a green ammonia producer, a clean energy project modelling platform, and a wellness advice marketplace.

Also SmartCompany

Eleven Aussie startups that raised $61.5 million this week

Weekly roundup of funding rounds at eleven Australian startups, including a $28 million Series B, a $14 million raise paired with an acquisition, and a neural-implant company appointing a new chief executive.

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Three Aussie entrepreneurs to watch

Profiles three founders: Kismet's Mark Woodland ($4m pre-seed for disability-services software), Forage's Tom Brumskill and Pasha Rayan (job-simulation platform, Series A and B), and Diolog's Amy Benson (self-funded investor-communications startup planning a seed round).

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Antler-backed shares-for-shopping fintech Upstreet is winding down

Sydney app Upstreet, which gave shoppers fractional shares for their spending, is closing; the founders gave no reason, 18 months after a Wattle Hill-led seed round and a lifetime raise near $5 million.

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Black Nova believes ‘boring is better’ as it prepares a new $35 million fund

The venture firm is out raising a second vehicle targeting $35m for unglamorous business software, after its first vehicle gathered over $22m; it recalls backing Pathzero and GovConnex and supporting Arlula's earlier raise.

Also Startup News (WA)

Spacetech data startup takes off with $2.2 million Seed round

Sydney Earth-observation analytics firm Arlula has banked a $2.2 million seed injection, led by Main Sequence with backing from Black Nova, adding to earlier accelerator support, a pre-seed raise and a state government grant.

Seven startups that raised $77.2 million this week (kind of)

Weekly roundup of seven Australian and New Zealand startup raises, headlined by a previously unreported $32 million seed for banking software venture Constantinople, plus new rounds for six other companies.

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Three Australian startups that have already raised millions this year

Early-2023 roundup of startup raises: a solar software company closed a Series B, an adventure-tech firm landed Series A money, and an angel investing platform raised seed capital.

Emissions startup Pathzero refills Series A, 14 months on, with another $8.6 million

Pathzero has topped up its Series A with $8.6 million led again by Carthona Capital, lifting that round to $15.6 million. The piece also recalls earlier raises and notes funding by Arvani and Greener.

Also SmartCompany

Nine Aussie startups that raised more than $104 million this week

Weekly roundup reporting nine Australian startups that together secured roughly $104 million across sports tech, semiconductors, regtech, legal automation, SaaS, edtech, agtech and biotech, with Vald's $36 million the largest.

Also Techboard

Edtech Saasguru wants to fix the cloud talent shortage at scale

Saasguru, an edtech platform for cloud skills training, raised a $4 million AUD seed round led by Square Peg Capital; founders previously sold SaaSfocus to Cognizant.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany

This female-founded startup wants to build better managers – and raised $6.8 million in Seed funding to do it

Manager-training platform The Mintable, founded by Lauren Humphrey and Melissa Miller, has raised a $6.8 million seed round led by Blackbird, after previously securing $1.3 million in pre-seed backing.

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Vyro raises $1 million Seed round to create a virtual EV dealership

Six-month-old EV sales startup Vyro has raised a million-dollar seed round led by Ellerston Capital and Antler Australia, with several angels, to launch a digital electric vehicle dealership.

Construction tech startup Varicon nails $2.25 million Seed round

Tasmanian construction cost-management software firm Varicon raised a $2.25 million seed round led by Black Nova with several industry angels, following a smaller raise a year earlier, to support national expansion.

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Sydney-based startup Upflowy raises $4M to optimize web experiences with its no-code solution

Upflowy, an Australian no-code platform for optimising signup flows, raised $4 million led by Counterpart Ventures with returning backers, and plans to grow headcount and expand into the US.

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Athlete mental health startup championed by Grand Slam winning tennis coach Darren Cahill bags $2.5 million seed round

Also SmartCompany·Women's Agenda·Startup Daily

Startup Daily's most read stories of 2021

A year-in-review of Startup Daily's most-read 2021 stories, recalling major Australian tech exits including A Cloud Guru, Afterpay and Sweat, Canva's soaring valuation across three raises, Zero Co's crowdfunding record, and new VC funds.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Fintech News Australia·Business News Australia·Crunchbase News·LaunchVic

Functionly secures US $2.7m (AU$3.6m) in seed round funding to disrupt the organisational design industry with simple software for leaders

Org-design software maker Functionly announced a AU$3.6m seed round with Black Nova Venture Capital leading and several funds plus angels taking part, bringing its overall funding to AU$5.9m alongside an earlier A$598k government grant.