Startup · $40.8m raised · AI
AI company powering ecommerce search
Melbourne, VIC
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Marqo raised.
| Investor | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| Lightspeed | Series A | - |
| Rob Skillington | Series A | - |
| Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Accelerator | - |
| Aidan Gomez | Series A · Seed | - |
| Ivan Zhang | Series A · Seed | - |
| January Capital | Series A · Seed | - |
| Michele Catasta | Series A · Seed | - |
| The Creator Fund | Series A · Seed · Pre-seed | - |
| Blackbird Ventures | Series A · Accelerator · Seed · Pre-seed | - |
Companies Marqo acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
Stories naming Marqo. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
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.
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AWS picked 40 startups for its 2025 Generative AI Accelerator, including Australians Pluralis Research and Mary Technology; the piece recalls past raises by alumni Relevance AI, Leonardo.ai and Marqo, and Leonardo.ai's sale to Canva.
Australian startups Diraq, Marqo, and Hatch secured funding rounds. Ansarada was acquired by Datasite. Bupa launched a new venture fund, and the Queensland government backed several VCs and accelerators.
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.
Australian vector search firm Marqo has banked US$12.5 million in a Series A headed by Lightspeed, with Blackbird, January Capital and an individual backer taking part, and is shifting its base to San Francisco.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Early VC
Blackbird announces it led AI search startup Marqo's seed round, joined by January Capital, The Creator Fund and angel investors, having previously backed the company's pre-seed in May 2022.
Also TechCrunch Australia·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany
Weekly roundup of eight Australian startups together securing $149 million: One Model, SafetyCulture, Hysata, Pendula, Marqo, Medigrowth, Curiious and Zena Sport, spanning HR analytics, safety tech, hydrogen, AI, medicinal cannabis, VR and sportstech.
Also Startup Daily·thebusinesstimes.com.au·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia
Melbourne vector-search startup Marqo has announced a $4.4 million seed round, with Blackbird Ventures leading and Creator Fund, January Capital and Cohere's co-founders also in; the piece recalls its pre-seed and rivals' raises.