SEEK

Victoria picks nine start-ups for LaunchVic's 30x30 mentoring program

LaunchVic selected nine Victorian start-ups, including Preezie, for a mentoring bootcamp with executives from Atlassian, Uber, Dropbox, Seek and Canva.

REA Group finds its first chief AI officer

REA Group has created its first chief AI officer role and appointed Thyago Liberalli, a long-serving Seek AI leader, to it; he reports to CTO Steve Maidment.

Pepperstone appoints Nigel Fernandes as Chief Technology Officer

Online trading firm Pepperstone has hired Xero engineering leader Nigel Fernandes as its new technology chief, to oversee engineering, architecture, security and data worldwide from its Melbourne base.

Bids for unicorn Employment Hero test $2b value in Seek sell-off

Bids for Seek's stake in HR software firm Employment Hero point to a resilient valuation, while Seek prepares to hand shareholders proceeds from selling a billion dollars of startup holdings.

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.

Seek’s VC fund is conscious uncoupling with Employment Hero

Seek's venture arm has begun selling its remaining stake in Employment Hero, a year after a $95 million partial sale to KKR, following the recent resolution of their Federal Court dispute over API access.

Employment Hero sues investor Seek over job platform access

Employment Hero has begun Federal Court action against backer Seek to halt its job-listing API shutdown; the piece recalls Seek's 2018 investment and KKR's $95 million stake purchase.

Eight Aussie startups that raised $104.4 million this week

Weekly roundup of eight Australian startup raises, led by Sonder's $40 million round, plus AMP's $20 million raise and acquisition of the Shopify app Back in Stock.

Also Startup Daily·Defence Connect·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Defence Connect·Forbes Australia

Sonder raises $40m from Blackbird Ventures, Seek, Hostplus

Sonder, a workplace health and wellbeing provider, closed a 40 million dollar round with Blackbird and Seek leading, Hostplus newly investing, and funds aimed at growth across Australia, New Zealand, Britain and AI features.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Wellness app Sonder secures $40m from Blackbird, Seek and Hostplus

Sonder has wrapped up a $40m round backed by Blackbird Ventures, Seek and Hostplus; the Sydney staff-wellness firm says its app has passed one million members and will push overseas.

Also Capital Brief·Startup Daily·SmartCompany

Seek offloads a $95 million slice of its Employment Hero investment to US private equity firm KKR

Seek is selling part of its Employment Hero holding to KKR for $95m, implying a $2.2bn valuation; the article also recalls the HR startup's Series F and its buyouts of Humi and Employment Innovations.

Catch: A business timeline, in their words

Retrospective timeline of Catch's journey from its 2006 launch through Tiger Global's investment, the Menulog and Luxury Escapes deals and Wesfarmers' $230 million acquisition, to Wesfarmers' announced wind-down.

Also Startup Daily

Affinda named fastest growing AI company in Australia, closes further $10m raise

Melbourne document-AI firm Affinda, founded by Tim and Ben Toner, closed a $10m round from family offices and wealthy individuals after an earlier $13m raise; Deloitte ranked it the nation's fastest-growing AI company.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Breakthrough Victoria posts $3 million loss

The Victorian government's VC fund Breakthrough Victoria slipped to a loss, its annual report showing startup investments, cost cutting and boardroom departures amid criticism of its spending and performance.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Aussie businesses get a boost: New Future Technology Program cohort unveiled to tackle intelligent performance

Stone & Chalk and KPMG Australia selected five startups for the fourth Future Technology Program cohort, providing residency and mentorship to enhance business productivity.

12-year-old document processing scaleup rides AI wave with $10 million raise

Melbourne document-analysis company Affinda has pulled in $10 million from its previous backers at double its earlier valuation, and Christine Christian has joined its board.

Also Forbes Australia

Employment Hero debuts SmartMatch amid concerns over AI and recruitment bias

Employment Hero has rolled out SmartMatch, an AI job-matching feature for small businesses; chief executive Ben Thompson defends its bias safeguards as the piece weighs fears the technology could entrench workplace sameness.

Riding the waves of entrepreneurship with Guy Kawasaki and Grant McCarthy

Tidal Ventures managing partner Grant McCarthy and Guy Kawasaki compare notes on luck, timing, founder qualities, early-stage mistakes, AI adoption and pitching, drawing on careers spanning Apple, Canva, Yahoo and Tidal.

Bringing our venture DNA to the public markets: Square Peg's Global Tech Fund

Square Peg profiles its Global Tech Fund, a listed-markets strategy applying its venture investing approach to early-stage public tech companies, and outlines its team, edge, and focus on fintech, software and AI.

Also Square Peg Capital

‘More than just a venture capital firm’: $2 billion sovereign fund Breakthrough Victoria hits back at critics who want it abolished

Breakthrough Victoria defends its spending and investment record against critics urging its abolition, pointing to portfolio companies, university partnerships and recent backing of startups including Aravax.

Five ANZ startups that raised $36.4 million this week

A weekly roundup detailing five raises across Australia and New Zealand: Marmalade, Cauldron, Prophet, Hola Health and Buddy, naming amounts, lead backers and founders.

Prophet raises $5 million for its cookie-free martech platform

Marketing technology company Prophet has raised a seed round of $5 million from individual investors including Antony Catalano, Matt Rockman and Cheuk Chiang, with no venture capital involved.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

LaunchVic has picked the final 10 startups it thinks have unicorn potential in the 30×30 program

LaunchVic has selected ten scaleups for the last intake of its 30X30 mentoring program, which pairs their leaders with mentors from unicorn companies; the 20 earlier participants have together raised over $98.7 million.

Also RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy

Jonny Dawson

Dom Pym discusses his journey from engineering to founding Up Bank and now investing via Euphemia, focusing on social good and underrepresented founders.

Investment Notes: Hatch

Jelix Ventures explains why it joined Hatch's December 2023 funding round, citing the founders' track record, an AI job-matching product, strong customer feedback and a large addressable market.

Why We Invested in Hatch

Aura Ventures explains its seed investment in Hatch, an Australian jobs marketplace for young professionals co-founded by Adam Jacobs and Chaz Heitner, alongside Rampersand, Investible, Jelix Ventures and Alberts.

Also Alberts Impact Ventures portfolio·Aura Group portfolio·Startup Daily·Early VC·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia·SmartCompany·Forbes Australia

Melbourne AI startup set for global expansion after $12.5 million raise

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.

From zero to Employment Hero

Sydney HR-and-payroll firm Employment Hero announced a TCV-led Series F reaching unicorn valuation; the profile covers its products, remote workforce and global ambitions, citing rival raises.

Follow the funds: Australian VC deals

Hospitality tech firm Ordermentum bought marketplace Foodbomb and closed a $16m round with existing and new backers, valuing the combined group above $100m.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Employment Hero creates ‘super app’ with AI recruitment tools and auto-generated job descriptions for SMEs

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.

‘Game-changer’: Aussie HR unicorn takes on Seek with latest AI play

Employment Hero has launched Swag, an AI-powered hiring superapp for small businesses offering job drafting, candidate matching and employee benefits, putting it in competition with its own backer SEEK.

A temporary dancefloor and no plans for layoffs: Canva celebrates new Melbourne office through tech sector downturn

Canva has opened a converted Collingwood warehouse as its new Melbourne office and says it has no layoff plans, citing six consecutive profitable years while hiring continues despite widespread tech sector job cuts.

The Future of the Workforce and How Companies Can Adapt

A Credible-authored opinion piece argues the contract workforce is booming, criticises outdated hiring tools, promotes its contractor hiring platform, and invites readers to its deal room while it seeks growth capital.

Former Hey You founder raises another $6.2 million for hospitality ordering startup

Hospitality ordering platform Ordermentum, cofounded by Adam Theobald, raised $6.2 million in July, with earlier raises in 2017 and 2021 and a secondary stake sale by RoZetta also recounted.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily

Go1 nabs $100M at a $2B+ valuation to upgrade its curated enterprise learning platform

Also TechCrunch Australia·Crunchbase News·Tech Funding News - Australia·Startup Daily·edtechchronicle.com·TechCrunch Australia·go1.com·Crunchbase News

Square Peg on building its foothold in Southeast Asia

Interview with Square Peg partners about the Australian venture firm's growing Southeast Asia presence and portfolio; mentions a fresh fundraise underway and points to Cialfo's recent $40 million backing co-led with SEEK.

Lumir Israel Tech Fund 1 Launches

Three investors announce the launch of Lumir Ventures and its first fund, which will target later-stage rounds in Israeli-founded technology companies; no close or amount is stated as completed.

Ignition Lane's Weekly Wrap: Tech's climate fight, another big raise week, valuations set to fall?

Ignition Lane's weekly technology roundup: climate-tech funding activity, Grok's bid for AGL, King River Capital's digital asset fund, a batch of Australian startup raises, Maropost acquisitions, GigSuper's collapse and a National AI Centre appointment.

Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily

Hybrid work startup Calven raises $6.8 million seed round

Sydney workplace experience platform Calven has raised a $6.8 million seed round led by Airtree, with backing from Michael Gonski and the Gonski family office, to grow its hybrid work product in Australia and the US.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily