OpenAI

🇦🇺 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.

From prison to billionaire data centre operator, the incredible story of Oliver Curtis

Analysis tracing Oliver Curtis from an insider trading prison term to his central role in Firmus's planned $7.2 billion Australian sharemarket listing, with Blackstone and Nvidia among its existing backers.

🇦🇺 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

Buildkite quietly raised $21 million earlier this year after posting massive losses

ASIC filings show Buildkite raised $21m via convertible debt in January 2026 after heavy losses and a CEO change; its earlier backers include OneVentures, AirTree, General Catalyst and Dom Pym.

Also Capital Brief

AI data centre provider could become one of Australia's biggest stock floats

Firmus Technologies is courting investors ahead of a possible IPO on the ASX, with reports suggesting up to $7 billion, but no prospectus is lodged and the company declined to confirm any figures.

'OpenAI can't mark its own homework': Optus ex-CEO says rogue AI is an inevitability

Former Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin warns rogue AI agents in enterprises are inevitable and discusses Aigentsphere, her AI-monitoring startup, which raised a $4 million seed round from Main Sequence in April.

Firmus lands OpenAI deal for Malaysian data centres

Firmus will supply computing capacity to OpenAI from two planned Malaysian data centres, but sceptical investors say the deal is too small ahead of a potential float valuing the start-up at $15.5 billion.

AI hotshot Firmus tees up IPO meetings after OpenAI win in Malaysia

Street Talk column reports AI cloud firm Firmus Technologies will soon market a planned ASX float to investors, with a debut tipped imminently, after a Malaysian win involving OpenAI.

Canva takes the fight to Microsoft and Google for enterprise subscribers

Canva is pushing productivity tools like Docs and Sheets to win enterprise subscribers from Microsoft and Google, while slowing its AI rollout to control costs and trimming its revenue growth forecast.

The food brands AI will favour

FoodNavigator interview with Bramble Intelligence's Chris Mitchell on how AI shopping agents will reshape brand loyalty, category fortunes, and what food makers must do to stay visible to algorithms and shoppers.

AI Sales Platform Clay Raises New Round at $7 Billion Valuation Led by Wellington Management

Blog item on the AI funding climate: sales platform Clay reportedly raising at a stepped-up valuation with Wellington Management leading, plus a recap of its CapitalG Series C and other AI funding notes.

🇦🇺 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.

Two Sydney teenagers are building AI startups before they finish school

Report on OpenAI's Sydney Founder Day profiling two school-student founders: one whose gaming-advertising venture has raised pre-seed funding, and one building a platform helping small businesses coordinate their tools.

OpenAI equips Aussie SMEs with $5.5 million in startup credits for AI use

OpenAI has handed Australian founders, including two school students, credits worth over $5.5 million; the piece also notes Firmus's $15 billion valuation after a big raise and rising business AI adoption.

Canva bet millions on data centre play Sharon AI before becoming its 'major customer'

Filings show Canva backed Sharon AI's US$103 million December 2025 raise with Regal, Ellerston, Digital Alpha and others; the Sydney compute provider has since floated on Nasdaq and raised US$2.15 billion more.

Also Dealroom

Eight ANZ startups that raised $67.4 million this week

Eight Australian and New Zealand startups secured a combined $67.4 million in funding across various sectors including agtech, medtech, robotics, and fintech.

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

Alloy raises $8M seed to help engineers debug robot fleets with AI

Robotics AI startup Alloy has banked an $8m seed at an $80m valuation, led by Square Peg with Blackbird, Airtree and Skip Capital back again; funds earmarked for engineering hires and growth in the US.

Topic | Cybersecurity | Australian Financial Review

AFR cybersecurity topic page rounding up recent stories: Origin Energy's data breach investigation, Point Wild's planned ASX float, AI models hacking companies, and a CyberCX–Monash University cybersecurity degree partnership.

Australian retail investors can now gain exposure to global private AI companies

Pengana's AI trust is now on the ASX as AIX after a $267 million IPO raise from wholesale investors, opening retail access to private AI companies; GCM Grosvenor manages the portfolio.

Sierra Raises $950M at $15B, Locking 40% of the Fortune 50 Into Its Agent Platform Before the Labs Go Direct

Analysis of Sierra's $950 million raise at a $15 billion valuation with Tiger Global and GV at the lead, weighing its revenue multiple, Fortune 50 customer lock-in, and competition from OpenAI and Anthropic's ventures.

Baseten: the whole game

Blackbird's post explaining its participation in Baseten's $1.5 billion Series F, its biggest investment yet, and why inference infrastructure will anchor the open-source AI era; notes rapid growth and senior engineering hires.

Also Dealroom

Google Just Raised $85 Billion — The Biggest Stock Sale Ever

Markets newsletter reports Google's equity offering with a completed first tranche, SpaceX and Anthropic IPO filings, xAI's earlier merger into SpaceX, fast-food bankruptcies blamed on GLP-1 drugs, and a live tour wrap-up.

Lightspeed $9B Raise: $4.5B Flagship, AI Focus

Analysis of Lightspeed Venture Partners' 2026 close of three funds totalling nine billion dollars, its backer base, AI allocation, portfolio outcomes and comparisons with other big venture firms.

Palmer Luckey: From Oculus Founder to Anduril Defense Tech Leader

Profile of Palmer Luckey tracing his Oculus VR venture, its multibillion-dollar Facebook acquisition, his co-founding of defense tech firm Anduril Industries, and his gaming hardware venture ModRetro.

State of AI 2026 Report

Galileo Ventures promotes its report from a May 2026 AI event it hosted with OpenAI, three portfolio companies and several investors, highlighting local venture data and an early-stage investment thesis.

Six months in Austin: BuildPass says the US is already 20% of revenue

BuildPass, a Melbourne construction software maker, says its American business now exceeds a fifth of revenue half a year after opening in Austin, with growth credit from Mighty Partners funding the expansion.

Bret Taylor's Sierra raises nearly $1 billion months after last capital push

Sierra, the enterprise AI agent firm started by Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, has banked a $950 million Series E with Tiger Global and Google Ventures at the helm, plus Benchmark, Sequoia and Greenoaks.

Also TechCrunch Australia·aivy.com.au·cmswire.com·theaiworld.org·faq.com.tw·groundy.com

Clem Delangue: Open Source AI & the Future of Builders

Turing Post interviews Hugging Face's co-founder and CEO on open-source AI, arguing open models empower a far larger builder community, discussing robotics hardware sales, cybersecurity arguments, and lobbying against open source in the US.

Sequoia's new leaders raise about $7 billion for firm's biggest bets

Bloomberg-sourced report says Sequoia's incoming co-leaders have gathered roughly seven billion dollars for a new vehicle backing large, often AI, companies; the piece also covers leadership changes and Wiz's sale to Alphabet.

Sequoia Capital Raises $7 Billion Fund for AI and Late-Stage Investments

Sequoia Capital has closed about $7 billion for a fund backing late-stage AI companies in the US and Europe, the first big fundraise since Alfred Lin and Pat Grady took over as co-stewards.

Also economictimes.indiatimes.com

The same mission. A different mountain

Blackbird partner Rick Baker recalls backing Canva's founders in 2013 and argues its 2026 AI launch extends that founding purpose to a new frontier.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily

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: April Architect

Rampersand's April newsletter: an essay on AI services startups, model releases from Anthropic and Meta, Firmus Technologies' $505 million raise, Dexibit's sale to accesso, plus portfolio jobs, events and market commentary.

Also Dealroom

Canva paints itself as an AI work platform with Simtheory, Ortto acquisitions

Canva has bought Sydney AI startup Simtheory and marketing automation firm Ortto, its fifth and sixth acquisitions in ten months, as it repositions from design tool to AI workplace platform; no prices disclosed.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·This Week in Australian Startups

AI data centre startup Firmus eyes off another $725 million raise as it readies to IPO on the ASX

Sydney-founded AI data centre company Firmus, now Singapore-based, says Coatue and Nvidia are set to back its next US$505 million raise before a planned ASX listing, after earlier raises including Nvidia's A$330 million.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·iTnews

Stone & Chalk appoints AI leader Stela Solar as CEO, signalling new era for Australia’s largest innovation hub

Stone & Chalk named Stela Solar its new CEO, replacing Chris Kirk. Solar, formerly of Accenture and the National AI Centre, aims to enhance AI support for Australian startups.

The Brisbane start-up tackling the “tech tax” on food

FaBA profiles Pollinate, a Brisbane startup founded by Adeep Mitra and Corey Berther that uses AI to automate food supply chain workflows, tracing its path from a university food challenge to Y Combinator backing.

Also Business News Australia

WorkOS raises $100M Series C at $2B valuation, betting on AI agent identity infrastructure

WorkOS has closed a $100m Series C at a $2bn valuation — its first external backing in over four years — with founder Michael Grinich pointing the company at identity infrastructure for enterprise AI agents.

Sharon AI ponders ASX listing after $1 billion Nasdaq debut

Australian AI infrastructure company SharonAI Holdings has debuted on Nasdaq at a valuation above $1 billion, with a December pre-IPO round, backing from Digital Alpha and USD.AI, and an April ASX float planned.