Lorikeet

🇦🇺 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.

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

Square Peg Investor Letter Half Year Report 30 June 2026

Square Peg's half-year investor letter reports two funds reaching final close, three exits including Talon.One's sale to Adyen, realisations past US$1bn, and a framework for judging AI disruption across its portfolio.

Square Peg's H1 2026 investor letter: portfolio up 30%, US$1bn in realisations

Square Peg reports 30% portfolio growth, US$1bn+ cumulative realisations, US$138m returned this half, closes two new funds, and outlines an AI disruption framework.

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: 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

AI AI investors: Data centres and artificial intelligence startups fire up Australian VC backing

A quarterly report on the Australian venture market finds Q3 2025 investment passed a billion dollars, led by a Singapore data centre company's raise, with AI drawing premium valuations and bubble warnings.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Cut Through Quarterly 3Q 2025

Cut Through Venture's quarterly report counts roughly $1 billion over 116 Australian venture rounds in 3Q 2025; deep-tech sectors dominated, Firmus Technologies' $330M raise was largest, and early-stage valuations climbed.

AI customer support startup Lorikeet has now raised $75 million in just 10 months

Sydney AI customer-support startup Lorikeet has closed US$35 million in a Series A led by QED Investors, its third round in under a year, lifting total funding beyond $75 million.

Also SmartCompany·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Square Peg Investor Letter Half Year Report 30 June 2025

Square Peg's half-year investor letter reviews its accelerating AI investing, portfolio companies' progress including several completed raises, listed fund returns, a new data hire, and ongoing fundraising for its 2025 vintage funds.

Square Peg Investor Letter Half Year Report 30 June 2025

In its half-year letter, Square Peg explains how it picks AI founders, reports several portfolio companies' recent raises, flags a data engineering hire, and says fundraising for its next funds is well advanced.

Also Tech Funding News - Australia·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily

The race to enterprise context: Enterprise change management in an AI-native world

A Square Peg investor reflects on interviews with automation veterans, arguing that winning legacy enterprise customers for AI tools hinges on human factors, politics and budget dynamics rather than technology alone.

Investment Notes: Lorikeet

Blackbird's note explains why it led Lorikeet's nine-million-US-dollar round alongside co-investors, describing the startup's workflow-first approach to harder support tickets and its results with Eucalyptus.

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

Investment Notes: Lorikeet US$5M Seed

Square Peg led Lorikeet's US$5 million seed round for its AI customer-support automation platform, joined by Skip Capital and US angel investors, supporting the team's US expansion.

Also Square Peg Capital·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily