Culture Amp

Well, well, Wells

Capital Brief's roundup: superannuation policy plans, a NSW data centre planning dispute, KPMG resisting a break-up, Stripe and Canva leaders on AI, Stripe's local Treasury push, and Culture Amp's data policy change.

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #167 28th June 2026

Weekly roundup flags Acorn's purchase of learning firm B Online Learning for an undisclosed sum, plus $487m across ten raises, Airwallex product launches, Blackbird's biggest-ever investment, and layoffs at Culture Amp and Immutable.

💫 Ramplify: December Details

Rampersand's December newsletter leads with its $2m pre-seed investment in Cor, maker of the Obi AI avatar coach, plus trend retrospectives, tech news, portfolio updates, community events and a job ad.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Airwallex is Blackbird's new Canva, as the VC devalues workplace software unicorns Culture Amp and Safety Culture

Leaked details from Blackbird's investor day showcase Airwallex and Canva as standout performers, record valuation cuts for Culture Amp and SafetyCulture, and detail Kiki's New York shutdown and settlement.

Culture Amp cuts 60 jobs as AI focus grows

Melbourne's Culture Amp has cut roughly 60 roles amid a push into AI products like AI Coach; the piece also recalls its 2019 Series E, 2021 Series F and $2 billion valuation.

Beaten Zone Venture Capital Fund 1 Achieves Unconditional ESVCLP Registration

Steve Baxter's Brisbane defence-tech fund announces it now holds unconditional early-stage venture capital registration, giving investors tax breaks; it has put A$4.45m into four companies so far.

Beaten Zone fund wins approval, targets AUD $451m defence tech

Beaten Zone's defence-tech fund has won full ESVCLP status, unlocking tax breaks for its backers; the Brisbane vehicle has backed four companies with $4.45m and screens a deep pipeline of defence deals.

WhyHive, the 'Canva for data', shutting down after pre-seed round

Melbourne data startup WhyHive is closing next month; founders T Guthrie and Matt Cohen couldn't sustain growth despite a $600,000 pre-seed round revealed last August with backing from Skalata Ventures and several tech founders.

Also Startup Daily

Four Aussie startups that raised $44.6 million this week

Weekly round-up of four Australian raises: Shift's $35 million Series D, Inform Ag's $7 million Series A, Cropify's $2 million round and WhyHive's $600,000 pre-seed.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Three Aussie startups that raised $9.7 million this week

Weekly roundup of three Australian raises: adtech firm Cuttable's seed round, Fundabl's equity round and SeenCulture's funding, naming investors, plus new Cuttable co-CEOs and a board appointment.

Employee retention startup SeenCulture raises $1 million pre-Seed round

SeenCulture, a workplace platform, has secured $1 million in a pre-seed round from Alice Anderson Fund, M8 Ventures, InterValley Ventures and Torus, having earlier joined Techstars' first Sydney cohort with Cut Through Angels backing.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany

Startmate’s top 20 most valuable investments

A profile of Startmate ranking the twenty most valuable companies it has backed, noting their valuations, past raises and founders, plus Bugcrowd's newly announced purchase of Informer and its climate focus.

Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar steps down as co-CEO

Atlassian's co-founder Scott Farquhar will vacate the co-CEO seat on August 31, staying on in governance and advisory roles, with Mike Cannon-Brookes set to lead alone from September.

Culture Amp acquires people analytics platform Orgnostic

Culture Amp is acquiring Orgnostic, a Belgrade-founded people analytics startup, for an undisclosed sum; its cofounders join as vice presidents and a combined People Analytics product is planned for later in 2024.

LaunchVic has picked the final 10 startups it thinks have unicorn potential in the 30×30 program

LaunchVic has selected ten scaleups for the last intake of its 30X30 mentoring program, which pairs their leaders with mentors from unicorn companies; the 20 earlier participants have together raised over $98.7 million.

Also RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy

The ripple effect of investing in women in practice

SeenCulture's founder marks IWD by profiling four women who backed her HR-tech startup's growth: a mentor, its first investor, its operations head and an adviser, recalling its first cheque and Techstars Sydney cohort.

Relationships guru Esther Perel joins Culture Amp as advisor

Psychotherapist Esther Perel has become Culture Amp's first external advisor, after years of involvement with the Australian employee experience platform, and will draw on its people scientists and data to inform customer insights.

Melbourne AI startup set for global expansion after $12.5 million raise

AI search startup Marqo has landed a $12.5 million Series A and is relocating its headquarters to San Francisco, while LaunchVic statistics show Victoria's ecosystem grew in value despite a funding drop.

Mike Cannon-Brookes names former Macquarie banker Tan Kueh as Grok's CEO

Mike Cannon-Brookes' investment vehicle Grok Ventures has hired Tan Kueh, ex-Macquarie, UBS and BlackRock, as CEO, joining CIO Jeremy Kwong-Law, as it sharpens its strategy around climate investing.

Agtech startup Bardee remains Bunnings supplier amid staff challenges

Bardee still supplies Bunnings and farmers despite big layoffs, slower production, and two regulator investigations; the agtech startup has raised $8 million, including a $5 million Blackbird-backed seed round.

Mental health app idea that’s ‘like Marie Kondo for your mind’ kicks off with $800,000

Modo, a Melbourne company developing a mind-clarity app, has secured pre-launch backing of $800,000 from five funds plus founders of Culture Amp and Seer; the app offers subscription access from early 2024.

Salesforce sheds its Australian VC arm amid swingeing job cuts

Salesforce is shutting its Australian venture arm amid global layoffs. Local head Mike Ferrari has departed, and the unit's Australian investments will now be run from the company's American headquarters.

LaunchVic's hunt for the next wave of tech unicorns is on again

LaunchVic reopens expressions of interest for its 30×30 program aiming to create 30 Victorian unicorns by 2030, recalling last year's nine participants, while July appoints Joanne Smith as its first chief financial officer.

Alternative liquidity investor SecondQuarter raises $83 million for 2nd fund backed by Andrew Forrest, Sam Kroonenburg & Dom Pym

Secondaries fund SecondQuarter has reached an $83m first close on its second vehicle, aiming past $100m, with founder-angels and Minderoo among new backers; its portfolio includes past sales of ActivePipe and A Cloud Guru.

Also Techboard

HR analytics startup grabs $15 million from Salesforce

Workforce intelligence firm Reejig has raised $17 million with Salesforce Ventures investing, eight months after completing its Series A. The 2019-founded company's earlier backing came from Skip Capital, Airtree and Right Click Capital.

Investment Notes: Excellent

Blackbird's investment note announces it led Excellent's pre-seed round, profiling the employee-experience design learning platform and its founders: Sam Gadd, formerly of Humankind and Kin, and Jenny, ex-Drumfit.

Also Startup Daily

Investment notes: Athena AU$25m Series B

Square Peg explains its rationale for leading Athena's Series B, joined by Hostplus and Airtree, with analysis of the Australian mortgage market, the challenger lender's model, and its founding and senior team.

HR analytics startup Reejig tops up Series A with $15 million

Workforce analytics firm Reejig has raised a further fifteen million dollars, four months on from its October Series A, taking total funding to twenty-one million as backers double down ahead of US expansion.

Also Women's Agenda·Startup Daily

Doubling down on culture: 2021 Year in Review

Aura Group's year-end reflection argues strong culture drives startup success, citing Culture Amp's recently announced $100 million Series F at a $1.5 billion valuation and academic studies linking founder-set culture to outcomes.

Canva and the five tech unicorns that are the wind beneath Blackbird’s wings

Analysis of Blackbird's portfolio: its value jumped 400% to $10 billion by September 2021, driven chiefly by Canva's rapid valuation growth across several raises, while the firm readies a fifth fund.

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

Who Gives A Crap brings on first investors with $41.5m raise

Toilet paper social enterprise Who Gives A Crap has taken its first outside capital, a $41.5 million round led by Verlinvest with Grok Ventures, Airtree, Giant Leap and prominent founders and athletes involved.

Also privateequitywire.co.uk·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·onimpact.com.au

BLAST OIF | Edition I

OIF Ventures' first portfolio newsletter: OIF Fund II closed above $100 million, plus recent raises at Go1, Circle In, Assignar, Arcade, Visionary Machines, Neara, Futurerent and Adventus.io.

Also OIF Ventures portfolio·Square Peg Capital·OIF Ventures portfolio·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·TechCrunch Australia·Startup Daily