🇦🇺 This Week in Australian Startups #169, 12th July 2026
Weekly roundup: four raises totalling $20.5m, WiseTech's founder-chairman leaving his board role, Firmus nearing a large capital raise, and Aura's agreed ASX backdoor listing through Qoria.
Company
Logistics software company
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round WiseTech raised.
Companies WiseTech acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Richard White | Chairman (former) · Founder | Skalata Ventures, This Week in Australian Startups, Startup Daily (10 Jun 2026), Startup Daily (8 Jan 2025), SmartCompany, Online Brands Group portfolio |
Stories naming WiseTech. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Weekly roundup: four raises totalling $20.5m, WiseTech's founder-chairman leaving his board role, Firmus nearing a large capital raise, and Aura's agreed ASX backdoor listing through Qoria.
Josh Simons-led Vinyl Group raised $2.4 million and is adding Time Out Australia and Pedestrian Group to its media portfolio for little outlay, alongside earlier buys of Concrete Playground and Val Morgan Digital.
Employment Hero acquires Canada's Humi for $112m and, filings show, paid $43.4m for Ben Thompson's Employment Innovations; the story also recalls its 2023 Series F and investor clash.
A year-end SmartCompany roundup counting down 2023's ten largest Australian startup raises, headed by Employment Hero's $263m Series F, with investor details and commentary on fewer mega-rounds and continued under-representation of women co-founders.
Brisbane logistics software startup Explorate, started in 2016 by Conor Hagan and Alex Ewart, has raised $7.5 million as it aims to grow into a major freight technology player like WiseTech.