UNSW Sydney

🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #173, 9th August 2026

Weekly roundup: Firmus completes its $2.85b round; Procore acquires DroneDeploy; Atlassian rebounds while Canva cuts guidance; plus fresh raises for Zabidou, BioScout, Vexev, Enrola, Spacetalk and others.

Also Dealroom·RenewEconomy·RenewEconomy

UNSW to fast-track female founders in new $4m NSW Government program

UNSW Founders will run the NSW Government's new $4 million Diversity Pre-Accelerator Program for female and culturally diverse health founders, with the University of Newcastle also delivering support; applications open in July.

UNSW puts $35 million into uni startup spinouts

UNSW Sydney unveiled a plan to commercialise research through new spinouts, featuring a pre-seed vehicle for nascent companies and a planned injection into venture firm High Street Ventures.

Robotics company Contactile says new grant will help it get a grip globally

Contactile, a Sydney robotics firm, has received a federal Industry Growth Program commercialisation grant to launch its tactile-enabled gripper internationally; the grant size was not disclosed.

Also contactile.com·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·contactile.com

Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

Roundup: Space Machines' joint India mission clears a design milestone with an $8.5m government grant behind it, RMIT and Skykraft scale up photonics-based navigation tech, and SunCable names a new group CEO.

Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Roundup of manufacturing briefs: Rio Tinto's quarterly output, Respiri's fresh placement, Archer's CEO exit, Amaero's US revenue, a retired UNSW satellite, Little Green Pharma's record quarter, OKA's investor group and MicroTau job ads.

Silex Systems awarded defence support for quantum silicon production

Defence Trailblazer grants Silex Systems $5.1 million to build commercial-scale zero spin silicon output at its Sydney plant, securing local supply for quantum chipmaker Silicon Quantum Computing.

Eight Aussie startups that secured $30.2 million this week

Weekly roundup of eight Australian startups raising a combined $30.2 million, spanning SME lending, quantum computing grants, proptech, consumer apps and recycling, plus Stylerunner's earlier sale to Accent Group.

Also Startup Daily

Australia wants to build a laser that can stop a tank. Here's why 'directed energy weapons' are on the military wishlist

An academic explainer of directed energy weapons, covering AIM Defence's newly launched Melbourne testing range, a Defence deal with QinetiQ for a prototype laser, and the ASCA program.

Portfolio Spotlight: HEO Robotics - UNSW Founders

UNSW Founders profiles its alumnus HEO Robotics, a Sydney company that inspects satellites from orbit, recounting its founding, accelerator history, and founders' backgrounds.

UNSW startup engineers a quantum processor, bringing commercial quantum computers closer to reality

A UNSW-backed quantum computing startup says it has built the world's first atomic-scale processor and has launched a $130 million Series A to push toward a commercial quantum computer by around 2028.

Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Roundup of Australian manufacturing briefs: ZoneRV wins a Queensland grant, CLS and ARM Hub build a laundry robot prototype, Traffic Technologies lands a street-light order, Conflux launches a cooler, and UNSW unveils a solar car.