The 8 Australian startups on Forbes Asia's 100 To Watch list
Eight Australian companies make Forbes Asia's annual 100 To Watch list; the piece profiles each and recaps recent raises across climate tech, health and software.
Venture capital fund · 22 deals
Sydney, NSW
Every published round Tidal Ventures 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.
Companies Tidal Ventures has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TMRW | Healthtech scaleup | 13 Mar 2026, Seed | 1 | 1 |
| Tendl | 24 Feb 2025, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Sonder | Safety technology company | Jun 2021 | 1 | 0 |
| Shippit | Shipping and delivery logistics platform | 17 May 2022, Series B | 1 | 1 |
| SecurePII | Compliance and data privacy startup using patented AI to remove personally identifiable i… | 31 Oct 2025, Seed | 1 | 1 |
| Orkestra | 9 Nov 2022, Pre-seed | 2 | 2 | |
| Operata | Platform monitoring voice quality, performance and customer experience at cloud contact c… | 4 Aug 2026, Series A | 1 | 1 |
| Minikai | AI agents for the disability and aged care sectors | 13 Feb 2025, Seed | 1 | 1 |
| Loopit | Sydney software company whose platform underpins subscription and rental services worldwi… | 27 Jun 2022, Seed | 1 | 1 |
| Lifelenz | 7 Feb 2022 | 1 | 1 | |
| FrankieOne | Customer onboarding solutions via single API | 28 Nov 2022, Series A | 1 | 0 |
| Flagship | Digital visual merchandising platform bridging e-commerce data and bricks-and-mortar reta… | 14 Sep 2023, Seed | 2 | 1 |
| FairSupply | Climate tech company | 22 Dec 2022, Series A | 1 | 0 |
| Fair Supply | 15 Dec 2022, Series A | 1 | 0 | |
| Checkbox | Legal-AI platform backed by Five V Capital | 7 Feb 2022, Seed | 3 | 0 |
| Carted | 2021, Seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Blakthumb | 11 Apr 2022, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Asseti | AI-enabled infrastructure data analytics platform for commercial property | May 2024, Seed | 1 | 1 |
Companies Tidal Ventures's own portfolio page lists that no published round yet places it in. The page is the source; the round is being looked for.
| Company | Site |
|---|---|
| 4You Innovation | - |
| AIMon | aimon.ai ↗ |
| AirRobe | airrobe.com ↗ |
| Bonjoro | bonjoro.com ↗ |
| Buildbetter | buildbetter.ai ↗ |
| Hone | - |
| Honeag | honeag.com ↗ |
| MediScan AI | mediscan.ai ↗ |
| Predict HQ | predicthq.com ↗ |
| Psyke | psyke.co ↗ |
| Refold | refold.ai ↗ |
| Renewtrak | renewtrak.com ↗ |
| Search | search.io ↗ |
| Search.io | - |
| Secure Code Warrior | securecodewarrior.com ↗ |
| Sherpa | sherpa.net.au ↗ |
| Shippit | shippit.com ↗ |
| Socialsuite | - |
| Socialsuitehq | socialsuitehq.com ↗ |
| Startmytomorrow | startmytomorrow.com ↗ |
| TheLoops | theloops.io ↗ |
| Usevinyl | usevinyl.com ↗ |
| Vinyl | - |
Investors that coverage says has money in a fund Tidal Ventures runs. This is a stake in the fund, not in any company the fund has backed.
Companies Tidal Ventures has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Tidal Ventures did.
Stories naming Tidal Ventures. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Eight Australian companies make Forbes Asia's annual 100 To Watch list; the piece profiles each and recaps recent raises across climate tech, health and software.
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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.
Operata, which watches over call centre performance, has banked a Series A of $11 million at a valuation topping $100 million, with Tidal Ventures at the helm and funds earmarked for AI-era integrations.
A Melbourne software firm monitoring AI-driven customer service operations has closed a Series A round led by Tidal Ventures, valuing it at $100 million, with proceeds earmarked for platform integrations and international growth.
Roundup of six Australian funding deals: AutoGrab, Applied EV, Checkbox, Hometime, Factory and On the House, with amounts, investors, and Hometime's past acquisitions and raise history detailed.
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Australian legaltech firm Checkbox has raised a $35 million Series A led by Touring Capital to grow its AI platform for corporate legal teams, with four institutional backers joining.
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Weekly funding roundup covering eight raises totalling over $113 million across aerospace, biotech, materials, health and software, plus a pharmacy firm's acquisition out of administration.
Weekly roundup of eight trans-Tasman startup raises worth a combined $113 million-plus, alongside Joe Zhou's buyout of StrongRoom AI from administrators.
Tidal Ventures explains why it has invested in SecurePII, a voice-compliance startup whose platform redacts payment card data from calls, covering market timing, product, channel model, founders and seed-stage plans.
Carted, the wishlist and commerce API startup, is shutting down on 22 October 2025. Its 2021 seed round raised $13m with Blackbird leading, alongside Grok Ventures and Tidal Ventures.
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Tidal Ventures sets out why it led the seed investment in Vinyl, whose software turns accounting firms' client conversations into structured insights, profiling the market, product plans, and founding team.
Roundup of two Australian raises: a quantum security company's government-led $20m round and a retail analytics startup's US seed round backing its American push.
Tidal Ventures' investment note explains why it led Tendl's pre-seed round, covering the AI tender-response platform's market opportunity, product features, pricing model, and founder Laurie Nicol's background.
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Tidal Ventures' investment note explains why it led disability and aged-care AI startup Minikai's seed round, covering the market opportunity, product features, founding team, early traction and planned use of funds.
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Orkestra, a Melbourne clean-energy software firm, won $2.77 million in ARENA co-funding to accelerate commercial EV charger rollout; a year earlier it banked $2 million in seed funding from Tidal Ventures.
Queensland's investment arm is backing Melbourne's sports technology network to run accelerator programs for as many as 40 local sportstech startups, after its venture development fund recently committed to several venture funds.
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.
Tidal Ventures profiles team member Kieran O’Neill, who moved from KPMG and London banking through co-founding Hometime into the firm’s seed investing team in 2022.
Tidal Ventures introduces team member Fee Barry, tracing her path from corporate law and Atlassian's M&A team to the seed-stage firm, where she supports founders on governance, people and investment evaluation.
Roundup of ten Australian startup raises totalling $38.8 million, topped by Heidi Health's Series A, also recording an Outstaffer executive appointment and the earlier sale of CarAdvice to Nine.
Tidal Ventures explains why it backed Orkestra for a second time, covering the clean-energy market opportunity, the feasibility software product, the founding team, business model and growth plans.
Melbourne renewables software firm Orkestra has secured $2 million in a follow-up seed round led again by Tidal Ventures, alongside Rampersand, Impact Ventures, Luxem and four climate tech investors, with a Series A next.
Flagship, whose software helps retailers optimise in-store merchandising, has raised a $2 million seed round led by Tidal Ventures, with Afterpay cofounder Nick Molnar, brother of founder Simon, among the backers.
Tidal Ventures reflects on leading Flagship's seed round, describing retail market tailwinds, the visual merchandising product, founder Simon Molnar's background, and its earlier investments in Shippit, Search.io, Carted and Drive Yello.
Tidal Ventures reflects on why it backed Fair Supply, a SaaS platform for ESG supply-chain risk, six months after the deal, praising the founders and naming co-investors Airtree, Minderoo Foundation and QIC.
Tidal Ventures explains how it backs seed-stage founders: its third seed fund is active, it leads $1-3 million seed rounds, and its thesis spans AI, fintech, cybersecurity and related sectors.
FairSupply has closed its Series A funding round led by AirTree Ventures, with Tidal Ventures, Minderoo Foundation and Queensland Investment Corporation participating; the amount was undisclosed and K&L Gates advised on the deal.
Law firm Lander & Rogers advised AirTree Ventures on FairSupply's AUD6.3 million Series A, with Tidal Ventures, Minderoo Foundation and QIC participating; the firm also recalls recent raises by QuintessenceLabs and Logmaster.
Sydney ESG supply-chain analytics firm FairSupply has raised a $6.3 million Series A led by AirTree, with Tidal Ventures, Minderoo Foundation and QIC investing, following Minderoo's earlier 2021 backing.
Sydney courier firm Drive Yello and cafe ordering app Hey You have combined as 4You Innovation, aiming to raise funds next year; the piece also recalls past raises and recent collapses among delivery startups.
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Fraud and identity verification company FrankieOne has added $23 million to its Series A, led by AirTree and Greycroft, with crypto exchange venture arms Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures joining as new strategic backers.
Melbourne identity verification startup FrankieOne raised a $23 million AUD Series A+ extension led by AirTree Ventures and Greycroft, with new strategic backing from Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures, to fund international expansion.
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Clean energy software startup Orkestra Energy has emerged from stealth with a $1.1 million round led by Tidal Ventures, with angels participating, to grow its team and roll out its platform across Australia.
Sydney dealership group Phil Gilbert partners with subscription platform Loopit, which also recently completed a 3.6 million dollar seed round led by Tidal Ventures with Upswell Ventures and Luxem participating.
Search technology firm Algolia has bought Sydney startup Search.io, formerly Sajari, and plans one API combining keyword and vector semantic search. Its founders and 2020 backer Tidal Ventures stand to gain.
Tidal Ventures promotes principal Georgina Turner to Partner, while the early-stage fund continues raising for its third seed fund and plans further team growth.