Innovation Victoria

🇦🇺 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

Amber raises $78.5m to supercharge its international leadership in battery automation

Amber, an Australian home battery automation company, has secured a Series E round led by Morgan Stanley's 1GT climate fund, with earlier backers taking part, to support local growth and European expansion.

Amber closes $78.5m Series E to push energy tech platform into European markets

Melbourne energy tech firm Amber has banked a $78.5m Series E led by Morgan Stanley-backed climate fund 1GT, with E.ON, ETF Partners and Innovation Victoria joining, to fund growth and European expansion.

Home battery automation champion raises $78.5 million towards local growth, global expansion

Energy retailer Amber has closed an oversubscribed $78.5 million round led by Morgan Stanley's 1GT fund, with existing backers participating, to add vehicle-to-grid capability and expand into Europe.

Also Business News Australia·Forbes Australia

The Victorian Opposition wants to end the state’s $2 billion VC fund

Victoria's opposition pledges to shut down Breakthrough Victoria and sell its investments, calling the state fund a failure. The piece recalls portfolio raises, a rescue deal, an NYSE listing and the LaunchVic merger.

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.

GonGlobal lands A$1M grant to build needle-free IVF treatment

Melbourne medical device maker GonGlobal has received a A$1 million grant, split evenly between Innovation Victoria and RMIT University, to develop Ovulair, which delivers fertility medication by inhalation instead of injection.

Also Dealroom·Startup Daily·datapile.co·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany

🇦🇺 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.

Galileo Ventures reaches first close on its second fund

Artesian writes that Galileo Ventures' second fund has closed $15 million of a $30 million target, counting Artesian and Innovation Victoria among its backers, and has made a first investment in Fluent BCI.

Also Galileo Ventures portfolio·Dealroom·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Dealroom

Galileo Ventures reaches first close of $15M on $30M second fund

Galileo Ventures has closed the first half of its second fund at $15 million, targeting $30 million, with Innovation Victoria a cornerstone backer; the fund's first cheque went to brain-interface startup Fluent BCI.

Kite Magnetics wins $2M grant to scale EV motor material

Melbourne EV materials company Kite Magnetics has been awarded an Australian government grant to commercialise its motor-core material, with a larger Series A raise planned but not secured.

Also Startup Daily

Breakthrough Victoria, LaunchVic merge under new banner

Victoria has folded LaunchVic and its Breakthrough Victoria investment fund into a new body, Innovation Victoria, naming its chair, deputy chair and leader, while recapping agrifood startups the fund has backed.

Also innovationvictoria.com

New pre-accelerator programs for early-stage founders

As Breakthrough Victoria and LaunchVic combine into Innovation Victoria, nine partner organisations will share government funding to run pre-accelerator programs for founders at the idea stage.

Innovation Victoria | LaunchVic

LaunchVic announces Innovation Victoria, a new body combining its work with Breakthrough Victoria's, with Rod Bristow installed as chief executive and long-time chairs Leigh Jasper and John Brumby departing.

Infleqtion lists on the NYSE

Breakthrough Victoria's release marks Infleqtion's New York Stock Exchange listing, the investor's first portfolio listing, and notes further quantum backing of Quantum Brilliance plus Infleqtion's Victorian operations and partnerships.

Also Breakthrough Victoria·Breakthrough Victoria·Breakthrough Victoria·Breakthrough Victoria·Startup Daily·SmartCompany

BREAKTHROUGH VICTORIA INVESTS $75 MILLION IN VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDS TO BUILD VICTORIA'S INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM

Breakthrough Victoria is putting $75 million into five venture capital funds, including Virescent, SYNthesis BioVentures, Scale and Galileo, each of which has pledged a quarter of its capital to Victorian startups.

Breakthrough Victoria welcomes new CEO

Breakthrough Victoria has appointed Rod Bristow, previously Investible's CEO, as its chief executive, citing a 33-company portfolio, over $300 million invested and $1.06 billion attracted from co-investors.

ElectraLith BREAKTHROUGH VICTORIA INVESTS IN MONASH UNIVERSTY STARTUP REVOLUTIONISING LITHIUM EXTRACTION AND REFINING

Breakthrough Victoria puts $2 million into ElectraLith, a Victorian startup whose lithium extraction technology was developed at Monash University, as part of a Series A led by Main Sequence.

Breakthrough Victoria is investing $1.7 million in Number 8 Bio, a leading innovator in sustainable agriculture technologies

Breakthrough Victoria CEO steps down

Grant Dooley, Breakthrough Victoria's founding chief executive, will depart after roughly three years, staying briefly to aid the successor search. His tenure saw 27 portfolio companies and more than $350m committed.

Innovation Victoria: where founders start, scale and succeed

Innovation Victoria launches, merging Breakthrough Victoria and LaunchVic; Geoff Tarrant chairs the board, Monique Conheady deputises and Rod Bristow is CEO; Tarrant co-founded Payapps, bought by Autodesk in 2024.

Also Australian FinTech

Innovation Victoria - Breakthrough Victoria

Breakthrough Victoria's page announces Innovation Victoria, a new Victorian entity combining Breakthrough Victoria and LaunchVic from early July, with Rod Bristow as CEO, existing programs and investments continuing and both chairs stepping down.