Corporate / CVC · 3 deals
Every published round Qantas took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.
| Company | Stage | Announced | Amount | Role | Alongside | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HAMR Energy | Series A | 4 Aug 2026 | $10m | Participant | Startup Daily (5 Aug 2026), Startup Daily (13 Feb 2026), SmartCompany | |
| Wildfire Energy | Unnamed stage | 6 Jul 2026 | $2m | Participant | Startup Daily, Dealroom, Climate Tech Partners portfolio | |
| Jet Zero Australia | undisclosed | 18 Mar 2024 | $29m | Participant | Dragonfly Enviro Capital, Early VC |
Companies Qantas has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire Energy | 6 Jul 2026 | 1 | 0 | |
| Jet Zero Australia | 18 Mar 2024, undisclosed | 1 | 0 | |
| HAMR Energy | Converts plantation forestry residues into low-carbon methanol fuels for aviation and shi… | 4 Aug 2026, Series A | 1 | 0 |
This is a stake in the fund itself, money that the fund's manager invests, not a stake in the fund manager.
Companies Qantas has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Qantas did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Alicia Roach | Head of Strategic Workforce Planning (former) | SmartCompany, Our Innovation Fund |
| Chris Hare | Executive (former) | SmartCompany |
| Colin McGregor | Engineer (former) | - |
| Derek Feebrey | Pilot (former) | Startup Daily (2 Oct 2026), Dealroom, Startup Daily (29 Sep 2026), Startup Daily (6 Dec 2022) |
| Fiona Church | Pilot (former) | Startup Daily (2 Oct 2026), Dealroom, Startup Daily (29 Sep 2026), Startup Daily (6 Dec 2022) |
| Fiona Messent | Chief Sustainability Officer | Startup Daily (5 Aug 2026), Startup Daily (11 Feb 2026), SmartCompany, Startup Daily (8 Apr 2025) |
| Geoff Dixon | CEO (former) | Forbes Australia |
| Jamila Gordon | Chief Information Officer (former) | Startup Daily |
| John Mullen | Chair | SmartCompany, Startup Daily |
| Leigh Clifford | Chair (former) | Startup Daily |
| Mitch Deam | Pilot (former) | Startup Daily (2 Oct 2026), Dealroom, Startup Daily (29 Sep 2026), Startup Daily (6 Dec 2022) |
| Tom Caska | Pilot (former) | Forbes Australia, Startup Daily |
Stories naming Qantas. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Trendspek, a Sydney maker of 3D infrastructure condition records, has banked $6 million in a round OIF Ventures led, funding North American and European growth and AI tools that flag defects in inspection imagery.
Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·This Week in Australian Startups
Qantas and Airbus backed an unnamed Australian company's A$30 million raise to advance a Queensland plant that would make lower-carbon jet fuel.
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.
Wildfire Energy receives an 18.56 million dollar Queensland government grant for its Bulwer Island Biofuels Hub, with the article recalling earlier ARENA funding and a Climate Tech Partners investment.
Agriculture and food roundup: robotics, crop and fruit-tech raises; Qantas-backed Brisbane aviation-fuel startup; three fund closes; Kimitec majority acquisition; a Hyphen executive hire; and a John Deere repair settlement.
Wildfire Energy, a Brisbane waste-to-fuels startup, secured A$2m from Qantas, Airbus and Climate Tech Partners, plus an A$3.15m government grant, to scale technology that turns waste into low-carbon fuels.
Also Startup Daily
Wildfire Energy, an Australian waste-to-energy developer, received $2 million from Climate Tech Partners, Qantas and Airbus, plus a separate $3.15 million ARENA grant for bio-methanol production work.
IREN's board has signed off on long-term share awards worth roughly US$788 million for co-founder chief executives Daniel and Will Roberts, as the Sydney-based green data centre operator capitalises on AI demand.
Airwallex has appointed Elana Rubin AM to chair its Australian board and former New Zealand prime minister Sir Bill English as a director there, with both roles starting immediately; their other board roles are listed.
Weekly roundup of ten Australian and New Zealand startup raises totalling nearly $194 million, topped by Neara's $90 million round at a $1.1 billion valuation, with Splose, Operata, HAMR Energy and Adora also covered.
Methanol venture HAMR Energy has secured ten million dollars in Series A backing from Qantas, Airbus and Thyssenkrupp Uhde for its Victorian renewable fuel projects.
HAMR Energy, an Australian low-carbon fuels company, has closed a $10 million Series A backed by Airbus, Qantas and Thyssenkrupp Uhde to advance its sustainable fuel projects in Victoria.
Funding roundup covering four raises: Pay.com.au's $25 million round plus a $28 million secondary, Ruminant Biotech's Series A, Australis Scientific's Rohto-backed funding, and Paperly's $3 million round led by Tribe Global Ventures.
Melbourne fintech pay.com.au has banked $25 million for a US push, Morgans Corporate leading, with Wilson Asset Management, Thorney Group and Ophir participating, at a pre-money valuation of $633 million.
Payment rewards platform Pay.com.au has raised $25 million led by Morgans Corporate, with $28 million of existing shares also sold, valuing the company at $633 million as it pushes into America.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Dealroom·Fintech News Australia
Ranking of Australia’s five best-funded fintechs — Airwallex, Athena, Zeller, InDebted and Brighte — profiling each one’s total raised, most recent raise, backers, valuation and growth moves.
Indigenous-founded snack brand Cooee lands a deal putting its cookies on Qantas domestic flights, with Ochre Ventures having invested $1.5 million to support its growth.
Also Dealroom
Crunchbase News profiles 14 venture-backed companies its predictive models flag as likely IPO candidates, from Stripe to Sierra Space, recapping their funding histories, valuations and financial milestones.
Pet-sitting marketplace Mad Paws has recommended a proposed $62 million takeover by US company Rover, with its Pet Chemist arm earmarked for VetPartners, while earlier raises are recalled.
Weekly roundup detailing new capital for Australian startups Diraq, BrainFish, RecycleSmart, Cohabit and Five Faces, alongside Alumly's undisclosed multimillion-dollar backing from UK investor Mauve Group.
Also Startup Daily
Sydney strata analytics startup Cohabit has raised $1.2 million from individual backers including Qantas chair John Mullen, six months after soft-launching its building data platform.
Also SmartCompany
Bain Capital's Mike Murphy recounts transforming Virgin Australia from its 2020 administration buyout to an ASX re-listing, detailing cost cuts, fleet reductions, Qatar Airways' stake and the firm's plans to sell down its holding.
Climate Tech Partners has reached a $50 million first close on its debut climate tech fund, backed by Australian Ethical, the CEFC, Qantas, Airbus and Daniel Besen's family office.
Qantas and Airbus have committed A$15 million to Climate Tech Partners, a local VC, to back startups in sustainable aviation fuel and aviation decarbonisation, drawing on their 2022 US$200 million SAF partnership.
Government energy agency ARENA announced $9 million in funding for Jet Zero Australia's Townsville sustainable aviation fuel project, with Queensland adding $5 million toward the FEED study; Qantas, Airbus and Idemitsu Kosan are consortium partners.
Vast's chief executive argues hydrogen demand is maturing, with shipping and aviation emerging as anchor customers for green methanol and eSAF, and points to government grant funding for the company's Port Augusta methanol project.
Oceania Biofuels withdraws its planned Gladstone refinery from federal approval; the article surveys a biofuels sector in retreat, from Fulcrum's US collapse to Carnarvon abandoning a WA plant and Jet Zero's new backers.
A Melbourne fund manager's tech fund led a $4.9 million investment in Sydney hospitality procurement platform Marketboomer, taking a 20 per cent stake to fund local resources, Asian and UK expansion and payouts to existing shareholders.
Sapia.ai is making its AI interview models available to other businesses through a new API initiative on AWS Marketplace, letting firms build workplace AI tools from its interview data, per CEO Barb Hyman.
Prep, a marketplace helping food makers reach large buyers, has landed $200,000 in pre-seed funding from Melbourne venture firm Skalata.
An interview with Sun Cable's co-founder about his advisory firm's new report urging Australian investment in solar recycling, aviation fuel, and clean export industries.
Dragonfly Enviro Capital has put a further $4 million into Jet Zero as part of the company's recently announced $30 million raise, with Qantas and Airbus also taking part.
Also Early VC
Compostable packaging maker BioPak is entering Hong Kong before its plastic ban; the profile recalls Five V's 2022 $65.8 million stake at a $275 million valuation and flags possible acquisitions.
Sydney drone startup Aerologix has secured A$2m from Nightingale Partners to expand internationally, buying Brazilian geospatial firm Mappa and rolling the software out worldwide as AerologixMaps.
Also @AuManufacturing
Profile of Ajust, whose platform uses AI to route consumer complaints to businesses; its solo founder secured pre-seed backing from Carthona Capital and joined AWS's generative AI accelerator program.
Weekly roundup of four Australian startup raises totalling $115.7 million: Secure Code Warrior's Series C, Lyre's, IMRA and Naked Life's crowdfunding record, alongside commentary on funding for women founders.
Also ARN (ARNnet)·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia
A roundup of Australian manufacturing news: a summit keynote, a product launch, a CEO appointment, an acquisition, a quantum HQ, training and supply deals, and a refrigeration deployment.
HR and payroll platform Employment Hero has launched Swag, an app adding an AI-powered jobs board, auto-generated job descriptions and employee benefits to its existing small-business tools.
Payments firm Airwallex has opened an Israeli operation based in Tel Aviv and appointed Or Liban to lead its Israel and Middle East business, as part of wider regional growth plans.
University of Melbourne's Tin Alley Ventures fund has raised $100 million toward a $200 million target, backed by the university, Breakthrough Victoria and local business figures, with a second close targeted for mid-2023.
Also @AuManufacturing