Tegan Jones

1 week ago | smartcompany.com.au | Eloise Keating |Tegan Jones

This week, we’ve counted capital raises by startups developing dissolvable glaucoma treatment implants and building platforms for infrastructure monitoring, engineering calculations, continuous glucose monitoring, and market research. Keep reading to learn about five Australian startups that collectively raised $64.8 million this week. Melbourne biotech PolyActiva has secured $40 million in a Series C round to advance its dissolvable glaucoma treatment implant and expand local manufacturing.

1 week ago | smartcompany.com.au | Tegan Jones

Deep tech is often framed as slow, complicated, and capital-hungry. But according to Main Sequence partner Elaine Stead, the bigger problem is that Australia still doesn’t fully understand what deep tech actually needs and why it matters. “We tend to treat deep tech like a cost centre — something for grants or government programs, not serious venture capital,” Stead said to SmartCompany. “But deep tech is already driving new industries.

1 week ago | smartcompany.com.au | Tegan Jones

After two years of slowdown, new data suggests Australian startups are starting to hit key funding milestones faster again. Cut Through Venture’s latest analysis of startup ages at each raise stage shows a sharp drop in the time it takes to reach Series B and C. In Q1 2025, the median age for a Series C raise fell to 6.6 years, down from 8.3 in 2024. Series B shrank even further from 7.4 to just 5.8 years.

2 weeks ago | smartcompany.com.au | Tegan Jones

Intrepid is one of Australia’s best-known travel companies. After 36 years of operation, it has long been associated with small group tours and a stated commitment to responsible tourism. But until recent years, this was entirely focused outside of Australia. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a notable shift in its operating model, pushing the company to invest more heavily in domestic travel and long-term partnerships with hyper-local and Indigenous small businesses.

2 weeks ago | smartcompany.com.au | Eloise Keating |Tegan Jones

We’ve just seen the biggest startup raise of the week so far this year, thanks to Airwallex. Coming in swinging with a Series F worth a cool $466 million, it’s safe to say it operates firmly in the scaleup space. But we’ll still take it. But the SaaS unicorn wasn’t the only winner this week. Six other Aussie startups also landed some cash for a combined total of at least $495.8 million.