G’day and welcome to your weekly edition of Overnight Success - your download on all the important things that have happened in the Aussie startup ecosystem. 🚀
I'm super excited to get back to writing. As mentioned two weeks ago, the OS took a week off (and shifted this newsletter by 2 days) as I was climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, visiting the wonderful work that Forever Projects does and seeing first-hand the Tanzanian Tech ecosystem. I wrote an initial reflection on the trip here.
Next weekend, we’ll be back to normal Saturday morning sends. This newsletter covers the previous fortnight. I hope you enjoy it!
👀 Headlines 👀
💰 Aussie VC exits surge to $2.9B in H1 2025, matching all of 2024 (AFR)
Australian VC-backed exits hit $2.9 billion across 25 deals in the first half of 2025, nearly matching the $3.1 billion total for all of 2024. 75% of exits were through acquisitions, with only one local IPO (Tetratherix). The biggest deals: Accel-KKR’s $500M buyout of Phocas Software and GoZero’s $400M sale.
AirTree’s Daniel Petre warned that some exits are out of necessity as funds approach end-of-life.
Investors are eyeing pre-IPO rounds, company buybacks, and secondary sales to generate liquidity. Canva, SafetyCulture, and Rokt have all tapped this route.
🫢 Seek pushes back in Employment Hero fight, alleging data misuse following legal clash between investor and startup, which both operate in increasingly similar fields. (Capital Brief)
Employment Hero has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court, alleging Seek wielded its market power unfairly by cutting off access to a crucial integration (which enables customers to post job ads via Employment Hero).
Seek has accused Employment Hero of misusing data accessed via its API, claiming it repeatedly raised concerns before blocking the startup’s access. The job platform giant says it will strictly monitor Employment Hero’s adherence to its API terms going forward.
Employment Hero was backed by Seek’s Growth Fund in 2018. Seek later sold a portion of its $95 million stake to KKR earlier in 2025, but still holds a “meaningful” investment in Employment Hero. Employment Hero’s $22 million in Series C funding, announced in 2019, was led by Seek.
The Federal Court has ordered Seek to maintain Employment Hero’s API access during the trial and barred it from disrupting or degrading functionality, pending resolution. Employment Hero serves 300,000+ businesses and 2.5 million employees. Its AI-powered recruitment tool, SmartMatch, is increasingly overlapping with Seek’s core job board business, intensifying competition.
The court has requested Employment Hero to pursue its claim "expeditiously". A hearing date has not yet been set. If Employment Hero breaches API terms, Seek may terminate access with five days’ notice.
🏢 Tank Stream Labs acquired by Scalare Partners for up to $5.5M (Startup Daily)
ASX-listed Scalare Partners has acquired coworking network Tank Stream Labs for up to $5.5 million as TSL exits the soon-to-close Sydney Startup Hub. The deal includes cash, shares, and performance-based earn-outs.
Founder and CEO Bradley Delamare will remain in place, overseeing seven TSL locations and more than 200 resident companies. Revenue grew to $12.1M in FY25, with profitability expected by FY26. The move is part of Scalare’s consolidation strategy, following deals for Inhouse Ventures, Tech Ready Women, and the Australian Technologies Competition. TSL will be fully integrated into its ecosystem.
🚀 Gilmour Space delays third Eris rocket launch with new window pushed to start on the 27th of July. (Innovation Aus)
Gilmour Space scrubbed its 16 July launch window for the Eris rocket due to upper-atmosphere winds at the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Queensland. The new target is "no earlier than" 27 July.
The launch follows two previous setbacks, one due to weather and another caused by an electrical fault that opened the rocket’s nose cone. Despite delays, CEO Adam Gilmour says each attempt has delivered critical learnings.
Eris is on track to be the first orbital rocket launch from Australian soil in over 50 years, marking a milestone for the local space industry.
🧠 Square Peg backs Mira Murati’s (former OpenAI CTO) $3B AI startup Thinking Machines (AFR)
Aussie VC Square Peg has landed a spot on the cap table of Thinking Machines Lab, Mira Murati’s ultra-hyped AI startup, which just closed a $3B seed round led by a16z at a $12B valuation.
The round included backing from Nvidia, AMD, Cisco, ServiceNow, Jane Street, and Accel.
The former OpenAI CTO and interim CEO has kept product details under wraps but promised “multimodal AI” and open-source collaboration to rival closed models like OpenAI’s GPT and Anthropic’s Claude.
Co-founder Andrew Tulloch is a former Sydney Uni student and Meta engineer, offering a rare Australian connection in a company poised to play at the frontier of AI innovation. Clare Birch, ex-Blackbird “Scientest in residence”, has also joined the team.
📈 Queensland VC bounces back with $417M surge, up 37% YoY (Startup Daily)
Queensland startups raised $417 million in FY25, a 37% jump from FY24, marking the state’s largest year of funding since ZIRP era of 2021.
A total of 109 deals were tracked, comprising 76 venture rounds and 33 angel or accelerator raises. Sub-$5M rounds saw the biggest growth, fuelled by a wave of new early-stage investors.
The Median seed ($3.3M) and Series A ($7.2M) rounds outpaced national benchmarks, and Queensland topped east coast states for funding to startups with at least one female founder. Women-led ventures captured more Series A+ capital than the national average.
With state-backed $200K grants, quantum hubs (PsiQuantum), and space launches (Gilmour), Queensland’s comeback has the feeling of structural change in momentum, not just cyclical change.
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⚡ Startup Retro ⚡
JustFund locks in $200M debt facility to fuel growth in divorce lending
Founders: Jack O'Donnell and Andy O'Connor
Sydney-based fintech JustFund has secured a $200 million debt warehouse facility from MA Financial to scale its fast-growing legal loan platform for people going through divorce. The facility adds to a $75 million debt deal from Global Credit Investments and $11 million in mezzanine funding secured last year.
Founded in 2022 by former lawyers Jack O’Donnell and Andy O’Connor, JustFund offers lines of credit to individuals locked out of traditional finance options due to frozen assets or financial control issues common in family law disputes. Loans are assessed based on expected property settlements, not credit scores or income, and repaid once legal proceedings are finalised.
JustFund has already approved $175 million in credit for over 2,000 clients, with nearly two-thirds of users reporting domestic or financial abuse. The company charges 9.85% interest, plus monthly and assessment fees, and offers legal oversight via in-house family lawyers. The new funding will power continued growth in what JustFund calls a “unique” niche. Co-founders retain majority ownership, but are joined on the cap table by Startmate, Up founder Dom Pym, and fintech veteran Luke Howes.
Due Diligence: AFR
Linkby raises $23M Series B to scale performance PR platform in the US
Founders: Chris Wirasinha, Andrew Chak and Adrian Fagerlund
Sydney-based adtech startup Linkby has landed a $23 million (US$15M) Series B round led by Boston’s Volition Capital, the firm’s first Australian deal, to accelerate its US expansion and product roadmap.
Founded in 2020 by Pedestrian.tv cofounder Chris Wirasinha, alongside Andrew Chak and Adrian Fagerlund, Linkby bridges the gap between branded content and affiliate marketing. Its platform enables over 3,800 brands to pitch content to more than 600 premium publishers, paying only when readers engage, using CPC or CPM pricing to deliver measurable outcomes.
Clients include Charlotte Tilbury, T-Mobile, and Lululemon, with publishers such as News Corp, Condé Nast and the Daily Mail in the mix. The platform gives advertisers control over how their campaigns drive conversions, awareness or traffic, and plans are underway to integrate AI-led tools, including Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)..
The Series B follows a $4M Series A in 2024 and $5M seed in 2022, with backing from Perennial Private Investments and OIF Ventures. Linkby now operates in the US, UK and Australia, with the new capital focused on expanding its go-to-market team and platform capabilities.
Due Diligence: Startup Daily, SmartCompany
Source raises $2.15M pre-Seed to automate retail procurement with AI startup
Founders: Liam Fuller and Yoan Gabison
Source, (also known as QuickFind AI), an AI-driven procurement platform for retail buyers based in Paris and founded by an Irish Australian teenager, Liam Fuller, and Yoan Gabison (25) has closed a $2.15 million (US$1.4M) pre-Seed round.
The raise was led by Square Peg, making Fuller the youngest founder it has ever backed. Additionally, other investors included TEN13, ex-Stripe CTO David Singleton, Eucalyptus co-founder Charlie Gearside, and several other angels.
Built out of frustration with outdated stock ordering processes, Source helps retail teams forecast demand and generate purchase orders directly from Excel, email, and ERP data. The AI-assisted platform suggests what to buy and when, with humans reviewing and approving final decisions, streamlining a workflow still dominated by spreadsheets and back-and-forth emails.
The duo is now based in Paris and is set to launch pilots in the US, relocating to San Francisco later this year. Source is already incorporated in Delaware and aims to become a key AI tool for overlooked “real-world” problems like inventory management.
Due Diligence: Startup Daily
Eclipse Ingredients lands $7M to produce human lactoferrin with precision fermentation
Founders: Siobhan Coster
Brisbane-based biotech startup Eclipse Ingredients has raised $7 million to scale the production of human-identical lactoferrin using precision fermentation. The round includes $2.9 million in Commonwealth Government funding via the Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA), alongside backing from AgFunder and support from CSIRO and QUT.
Founded by dietitian and MBA graduate Siobhan Coster, Eclipse aims to commercialise lactoferrin, a multifunctional “wonder protein” found in breast milk and immune cells, for use in skincare, supplements, and immune-boosting nutrition. Unlike traditional bovine-sourced alternatives, the company’s fermentation process produces a bio-identical, scalable alternative that avoids the inefficiencies and costs associated with dairy extraction.
Operating out of Queensland University of Technology’s advanced facilities, Eclipse is capital-efficient by design, avoiding the need for costly R&D infrastructure. Its first product, a skincare-grade lactoferrin, is set to launch in 2027.
AgFunder’s Michael Dean said Eclipse addresses a “critical bottleneck” in producing complex functional proteins, with potential to reshape the global wellness and functional foods markets. While lactoferrin is the flagship, Eclipse is developing a broader ingredient pipeline targeting hard-to-access compounds through its fermentation platform.
Due Diligence: Innovation Aus, SmartCompany
Everlab raises $15M to scale AI-powered preventive health platform globally
Founders: Marc Hermann, Anshul Jain, Dr. Steven Lu and Sam Kothari
Melbourne-based healthtech startup Everlab has raised a US$10 million (A$15.3M) seed round led by Left Lane Capital to expand its AI-driven preventive care platform globally. The platform, which has already detected life-threatening conditions in 2.5% of users, helps patients uncover blocked arteries, aneurysms, and early-stage cancers through deep biomarker analysis and decades of medical history.
Founded by exited entrepreneur Marc Hermann, alongside Anshul Jain, Dr. Steven Lu, and Sam Kothari, Everlab utilises proprietary AI to automate medical record analysis and diagnostics, replacing 15–20 hours of GP work per patient with real-time insights. It’s built to be inclusive, factoring in ethnicity-specific risks often overlooked by standard pathology ranges.
Everlab offers subscription-based care starting at $1,200/year, with a $3,000 premium plan. Customers are typically aged 40–60 and motivated by personal experiences with sudden illness. The startup is exploring partnerships with insurers and recently signed its first enterprise contract. With 2,500 users and 20x growth expected this year, the team plans to expand into the US, UK, and Asia-Pacific by 2026. Hermann calls the ultimate goal “autonomous healthcare,” which is AI-led care that is affordable, accessible, and deeply integrated with national health systems.
Due Diligence: Capital Brief
Voqo AI raises $800K to bring AI voice agents to Australia’s $10T real estate sector
Founders: Adam Ma
Sydney-based Voqo AI has raised an $800,000 pre-Seed round led by Blackbird Ventures, with support from Mark Bouris and the University of New South Wales, as it looks to eliminate missed phone calls in Australia’s massive real estate market.
Founded by Gen-Z engineer Adam Ma, along with a team of recent graduates from UNSW and the University of Melbourne, Voqo AI is tackling one of property’s biggest inefficiencies and sources of frustration: unanswered calls. Up to 60% of real estate calls go unanswered, often outside business hours.
Voqo’s AI-powered voice agents mimic natural human conversation to answer inbound phone calls in real time, 24/7. The system captures caller intent, handles FAQs, pitches property listings, schedules viewings, escalates urgent issues, and transcribes and summarises calls, all without human intervention. Setup is plug-and-play and integrates with existing phone systems with no extra hardware, and delivers call summaries via SMS or email; voice agents can be customised via prompt templates and knowledge bases
The company has already onboarded early adopters like Barry Plant and Yellow Brick Road, aiming to replace legacy call centres and manual admin with always-on voice support. Voqo’s system is built entirely in-house and is already live in pilot agencies. With fresh funding, the team is now accelerating product development and expanding its rollout, targeting a future where no real estate call goes unanswered.
Due Diligence: The Australian
Visionary Machines raises $3.5M to scale stealth defence tech as battlefield demand grows
Founders:
Sydney-based Visionary Machines has raised $3.5 million from existing backers Folklore, OIF, Salus Ventures, and Significant VC as it pivots fully into defence tech and moves from R&D into commercial rollout. The round marks its first raise since 2021, when it secured $7.5M from In-Q-Tel, the CIA-backed VC.
At the core of its offering is Pandion Sentinel, a cluster of passive camera sensors that enable autonomous navigation and drone detection, without emitting signals like Lidar or Radar, making it ideal for covert military operations. The CEO, Sonny Foster, a 20-year aerospace veteran, was appointed to shift the company from lab to battlefield.
The startup scored a $2.5 million defence contract in 2024 and recently inked an MoU with $14B South Korean defence giant Hanwha Systems to co-develop products for international deployment. It has also hosted the Estonian ambassador, hinting at growing interest from nations close to drone warfare.
Visionary Machines is part of a rising cohort of Australian defence tech players, buoyed by global instability and soaring valuations in the sector.
Due Diligence: Capital Brief
Elita banks $1.1M pre-Seed to build a stem cell bank for dogs and pet longevity
Founders: Paloma Newton and Jackson Gritching. Special advisor: Edgar Allan Paws
Melbourne-based biotech startup Elita has closed a $1.1 million pre-Seed round to scale its pet stem cell banking platform, with backing from LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund, Startmate, Side Stage Ventures, Archangel Ventures, M8 Ventures, and XA Network, marking the latter’s first Australian investment.
Founded by Paloma Newton and biomedical engineer Jackson Gritching, Elita enables pet owners to store their dog’s healthiest cells during routine procedures like desexing or dental work. These cells can later be used in regenerative treatments for arthritis, hip dysplasia, and other chronic conditions that affect up to 80% of dogs by age 8.
Elita charges a one-time fee of $3,899 for cell banking, plus a monthly subscription of $16.50. Elita aims to evolve into a full longevity platform that integrates stem cell storage with predictive health data for proactive pet care.
The idea was sparked when Newton, a former brand strategist, discovered that her dog, Edgar Allan Paws, was genetically predisposed to arthritis. Elita’s preventive approach is already reshaping how veterinarians and pet owners think about pet health. With new capital, the team plans to expand its operations and grow nationally.
Due Diligence: Startup Daily
Mondus raises equity and secures $100M debt facility to tackle Australia’s deposit crisis
Founders: Nir Davidson and Lucinda Hartley
Melbourne-based proptech Mondus has secured a $100 million wholesale debt facility from an institutional lender and WLTH, alongside a new equity raise backed by Gold Coast-based VC Admiralty Capital Group and family offices, to scale its 0% deposit shared equity home loan platform. The raise follows the startup’s recent win as “Startup of the Year” in the Buying and Owning category at the 2025 Proptech Awards.
Founded by Nir Davidson and Lucinda Hartley, Mondus aims to eliminate the biggest barrier to homeownership in Australia: the deposit. Its model funds the entire purchase price through a blended mortgage structure, requiring only a 2.2% upfront fee to cover legal and settlement costs. Homeowners repay Mondus by refinancing after five years, at which point the company takes a 13% share of the appreciated value.
What sets Mondus apart is its AI-powered tech stack, which forecasts suburb-level capital growth across 80+ data points to help buyers choose high-growth locations. The startup is already housing customers in growth suburbs, with demand surging from first-home buyers shut out by rising prices and the decline of the “Bank of Mum and Dad.”
With fresh capital and a national rollout underway, Mondus is offering a new path to ownership for the next generation.
Due Diligence: Startup Daily, Capital Brief
Provectus Algae raises $10.1M Series A to scale methane-slashing seaweed tech
Founder: Nusqe Spanton
Queensland-based biotech Provectus Algae has raised a $10.1 million Series A round and secured a $2.5 million grant from the Australian government to scale its breakthrough algae biomanufacturing platform. The round was led by At One Ventures, with support from Methane Mitigation Ventures, beef giant Mort & Co, Hitachi Ventures, and others. This raise brings the company’s total funding to $33.5 million.
Founded by marine biotechnologist Nusqe Spanton, Provectus is tackling livestock methane emissions with a next-gen system that grows Asparagopsis, a red seaweed proven to reduce cattle methane output, in closed, AI-powered bioreactors. Unlike traditional ocean farming, the startup’s modular platform offers rapid, controlled, and contamination-resistant production, making seaweed-based feed additives commercially viable at scale.
The flagship product, Surf ‘n’ Turf, is a shelf-stable powder that can be added to animal feed and is currently undergoing large-scale trials with Mort & Co. Provectus plans to reach 30,000–50,000 animals per day by early 2026 and expand into international markets soon after. Cattle farmers are excited by the potential for Provectus Algae’s product to reduce the carbon emissions of their herds while increasing the yield of their animals.
Due Diligence: Ag Funder News
💸 Wins💸
🐨 The Industry Growth Program (IGP), administered by the Department of Industry, Science, and Resources, supports companies that advance sovereign capabilities in critical sectors and transition novel technologies from prototype to market. A total of $16 million in grants has been deployed. Here’s who they funded! (Innovation Aus)
Gilmour Space Technologies (QLD) – $5.5 million. The Gold Coast-based rocket company received funding to accelerate development of its large-scale liquid rocket engine and ground systems for future Eris rocket missions. The grant supports Australia's push toward sovereign space launch capabilities, with Gilmour aiming to deliver the first orbital rocket launch from Australian soil in over 50 years.
Endua (QLD) – $5.37 million. The Brisbane-based clean energy startup Endua secured funding to commercialise its hydrogen-based microgrid energy storage system. Designed to replace diesel generators in remote and off-grid communities, the modular tech provides long-duration, zero-emissions energy storage.
3ME Technologies (NSW) – $3.29 million. Based in the Hunter region, 3ME Technologies was awarded funding to support the rollout of its rugged lithium-ion battery systems for underground mining and military vehicles. The batteries are built for safety and performance in harsh conditions, advancing electrification in diesel-heavy sectors.
MLB Industrial (NSW) – $1.86 million. Newcastle-based robotics firm MLB Industrial received support to bring its Australian-made autonomous mobile robotic platforms to market. The sovereign robotics tech is designed for industrial and defence applications, boosting productivity and resilience across manufacturing and logistics sectors.
💰 New Fund, Who’s This? 💰
🥝 Icehouse Ventures launches NZ$30M Seed Fund IV, aiming to back 30 Kiwi startups over the next 3-4 years. (Startup Daily)
The New Zealand VC has secured NZ$15 million of its target NZ$30M for its fourth early-stage fund. The NZ$15M first close was raised in just one month from 80 investors, over half of whom had backed previous Seed Funds.
Fund IV has already made its first investment in Harth, an AI-powered collaborative building design startup co-founded by Modlar’s Scott Barrington and Auror’s Tom Batterbury.
Icehouse’s Seed Fund I (2016) backed unicorn Halter, Sharesies, Tradify (sold at 23x), and Dawn Aerospace, ranking in the top global decile for returns. Later funds backed Tracksuit, Partly, and Zincovery.
Seed Fund IV will continue to raise the remaining NZ$15M, with a minimum commitment of $50K (in 25% tranches), targeting wholesale investors only.
✌️ Victoria’s startup agency, LaunchVic, has announced a $3.75 million investment to strengthen early-stage capital, university entrepreneurship, and community engagement. The package includes $2.1M for new VC funds, $1.45M for university pre-accelerator programs, and $200K for community startup events. (Capital Brief)
The VC funds that are each receiving $300K to establish Victorian operations are:
Advance V
Boson Ventures
FundBase
Tidal Ventures
Triple Bubble
Scale
Unlock Capital
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🧠 KaaS (Knowledge as a Service)
Will’s Pick 💁♂ Africa’s Tech Pyramid by Tech Safari
After spending the last few weeks in Tanzania and even meeting with a group of founders to exchange ideas about the Australian and African startups, I was struck by the differences in focus between our two ecosystems.
A few days later, I caught up with Caleb Maru, founder of Tech Safari, Africa’s premier publication on the tech ecosystem in Africa. We spoke extensively about the Pyramid of Tech that Africa has begun to climb. He pointed to an article from his archive, and it’s a fantastic summary of the problems and opportunities in Africa’s startup ecosystem, starting with things we perhaps take for granted, such as payment rails and solid communication networks.
On a personal note, it was great to catch up with Caleb, who launched his newsletter at the same time as Overnight Success, during the Startmate Media Fellowship.
Caleb Maru (Tech Safari) & Will on Safari! Spot the giraffe off Caleb’s left shoulder
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‘Til next time,
👋 Will