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. 🚀
After two and a half years, Gemma is stepping back from Overnight Success. Gemma and I met during the Startmate Media Fellowship, and after a few months of me writing this newsletter solo, she graciously stepped up as a co-founder and co-author.
It’s been an absolute pleasure to have built Overnight Success to what it is today with her, and I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing her all the best! You can see some cute photos from the journey and see her announcement here.
From the notebook
The AFR reported that Canva employees are being forced to sell their equity to cover a tax hit caused by the company. In contrast, Capital Brief reports that Australia’s largest VCs are establishing new continuation vehicles that will allow their investors to maintain positions in high-growth companies past their original mandates.
The irony shouldn’t be lost that the employees who helped build the value are being forced to take equity off the table while investors can create new vehicles. More on each of these below, but I wanted to get an opinion from a thought leader in this space, so I asked Charlie Gearside, co-founder of Eucalyptus, who has since launched a YouTube series on the value of ESOP, for his thoughts on the situation.
It’s a classic good problem to have, sitting on 10 years of Canva equity... but it’s still a problem when tax hits before liquidity. Canva offering loans takes the sting out, so for 99% this isn't a crisis, and this will continue to be a massive boon for the Australian ecosystem
👀 Headlines 👀
🏢 The NSW Government has allocated a total of $79.2 million for the Innovation Blueprint, aiming to position NSW as the national leader in commercialisation and startup growth. Perhaps the most tangible change for the ecosystem is the closing down of the Sydney Startup Hub and its transition to the Tech Central precinct.
Here’s how the ~$80 million is being split. $38.5 million for the Tech Central precinct, $20 million for the Emerging Technology Commercialisation Fund (housing & energy), $6 million for the MVP Ventures early-stage grants, $6 million for manufacturers adopt innovative technologies, $4 million for innovation in construction, $4 million dedicated for training female founders and regional tech leaders and $700K to extend the National Space Industry Hub.
It’s fair to say the response from leaders, particularly around the cost of closing the Sydney Startup Hub (estimated at $5M), has been mixed. In this Startup Daily article, Juggle Street founder David James: “As a taxpayer, I shudder to think what the ROI is… this soulless ghost town will become another government white elephant”.
Fishburners CEO Majella Campbell warned of a “serious gap in infrastructure” for early-stage founders and urged the government to deliver necessary support
While Stone & Chalk’s CEO Chris Kirk welcomed the heavy investment in Tech Central, noting that the new location is closer to Australia’s largest VC funds and that many tech companies are closer to Surry Hills and Central Station.
SmartCompany did a good wrap-up of how the NSW budget will affect startups and SME’s here.
🌡️ A corporate restructuring by Canva will trigger a taxable event for hundreds of current and former Canva employees, causing share options to vest and resulting in tax liabilities by October. (AFR)
The taxable event occurred when a February corporate restructuring moved the parent company to Delaware and reissued shares
Many affected Canvanauts now face six-or seven-figure tax bills despite not having realised any gains through an IPO or sale. 😬
To alleviate pressure, Canva has offered a September secondary share sale, capped at US$1 million per participant and covering up to 20% of vested equity, to help cover taxes. However, many former employees, particularly US residents, are ineligible or sceptical of the terms. The other complaint is that they feel “cheated” and pressured into selling at potentially unfavourable valuations to meet looming ATO or IRS obligations.
Canva has conducted the restructuring for its planned US listing.
📈 As portfolio companies remain private for longer, Australian VCs are increasingly adopting continuation vehicles (CVs), which are specialised funds that allow GPs to transfer selected assets into a new vehicle to prolong ownership. (Capital Brief)
This delivers liquidity to exiting investors while enabling others to stay invested in high-potential businesses beyond the typical 10-year fund life.
Leaders from OneVentures, Airtree, Blackbird, and Square Peg highlight the benefits of CVs (flexibility, extended value creation, and tailored liquidity) but caution about challenges such as pricing negotiations, new fee layers, and potential conflicts of interest.
These continuation vehicles are really to keep ownership of the best of the best. Companies like Canva, Go1, Employment Hero, Airwallex, Rokt and Safety Culture that continue to grow past the traditional 10-year horizon of a VC fund.
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⚡ Startup Retro ⚡
Halter lands $155M USD Series D for livestock collars that create virtual paddocks
Founders: Craig Piggott
Halter, a New Zealand agritech startup, has developed a solar-powered “smart collar” that replaces physical fences with virtual ones controlled via a smartphone app. Worn by cattle, the collars use mobile-network connectivity to guide livestock with sound and vibration cues, and only a low-voltage pulse during initial training, allowing farmers to shift herds between paddocks without manual fencing.
Having already been trialled on beef and dairy farms across Queensland, Tasmania, New Zealand and 18 US states, Halter’s platform has driven its valuation to US$1.5 billion following a US$155 million Series D led by Bond Capital. Key backers include Blackbird Ventures, now Halter’s largest external shareholder, as well as NewView Capital, Icehouse Ventures, Bessemer, DCVC and Promus Ventures.
Founder and CEO Craig Piggott, whose parents were his first customers, says the collars boost land productivity by optimising grass use and rescue farmers from dawn-early paddock moves. With a new US head office in Boulder, Colorado, Halter is pushing for regulatory clearance in the remaining Australian states—and eyeing sheep and other livestock—while preparing for a future IPO.
To get a sense of how the product works, head to their ‘how it works’ page here for some fantastic demos and timelapses of cows moving to where the grass is greener.
As virtual fencing gains traction abroad, Halter aims to capitalise on a global market of millions of farms, promising cost savings, improved animal welfare and a radical rethink of farm infrastructure.
Due Diligence: AFR
Acorn raises US$12.3M Series A in first institutional capital round to grow performance learning management system internationally
Founders: Blake Proberts
Acorn, the AI-powered performance and learning management platform based in Canberra, has closed a US$12.3 million Series A round led by New York–based growth equity firm Level Equity. This marks the company’s first institutional raise, and will be used to accelerate global expansion, enrich product development and deepen strategic partnerships.
Acorn bridges the gap between learning and performance by providing a unified Performance Learning Management System (PLMS). Its Capabilities AI automatically identifies the specific capabilities required for each role, maps them to existing content and job descriptions, and generates personalised career development plans in minutes. This approach ensures that employees know exactly what they need to do to succeed, while leaders gain clear, measurable insight into workforce impact.
Acorn works with typically large enterprises like KPMG, Alinta Energy, and civil engineering firm Garver. Often, customers use Acron as their staff require training to stay compliant and track a number of professional development hours per employee.
The fresh capital will also support the recruitment of approximately 13 new roles across engineering, product and go-to-market teams, enabling Acorn to scale its platform and serve more organisations. With a proprietary library of over 1,600 capabilities and 4,800 proficiency levels, Acorn empowers HR and L&D professionals to create customised capability frameworks, integrate learning with performance metrics and demonstrate the business value of development initiatives.
This milestone funding not only validates Acorn’s vision but positions the Canberra-based startup to redefine corporate learning and performance on a global scale.
Due Diligence: Acorn Announcement Post, Founder LinkedIn Post
NexusMD raises $6.3M Seed to automate hospital tasks using AI agents
Founders: Mike Zhu, Neo Nie and Kevin Sun
NexusMD, a Melbourne-based healthcare AI startup, has secured a $6.3 million Seed round led by Square Peg to automate time-consuming administrative tasks in hospitals.
The company’s customised AI agents integrate with existing hospital systems, using ambient listening and image-based text capture to process clinical content. In three Victorian emergency departments, including Peninsula Private Hospital in Frankston, NexusMD reports a 30 per cent improvement in consultation efficiency since its 2024 rollout.
Early support from Austrade and Invest Victoria has underpinned NexusMD’s growth. The new funding will accelerate expansion into additional hospitals and extend the agents beyond emergency units into other critical care settings. Unlike transcription-only services, NexusMD compiles structured clinical notes and coding, streamlining documentation and delivering real-time insights to improve operational workflows.
NexusMD was co-founded by Mike Zhu, whose previous venture, Baikemy Net, was acquired by ByteDance in 2020, and Neo Nie and Kevin Sun, the team combines deep healthcare and tech expertise. Zhu, who grew up in a family of doctors, says the startup’s mission is to “transform care in Australia” before scaling globally, empowering clinicians to focus on patients rather than paperwork.
Due Diligence: Startup Daily, Capital Brief
FoundIt secures $2M pre-Seed to better match buyers with properties through early listing access and buyer's agents
Founders: Joel Tomaino and Angus Ferguson
FoundIt, a Melbourne-based proptech founded by ex-Domain executive Angus Ferguson and former Frazis Capital fund manager Joel Tomaino, has closed a $2 million pre-Seed round led by strategic real estate operators, including Realbase co-founders Frank and Jacques Greeff, Realtair’s Peter Matthews and Propps’ Daniel Bignold.
The platform combines data analytics, technology, and Australia’s leading buyer’s advocates to halve the typical home-buying timeline and equip purchasers with the same market insights and representation traditionally enjoyed by sellers.
By pairing each client with a local buyers’ agent supported by proprietary research and a streamlined sourcing toolset, FoundIt levels the playing field—addressing what Ferguson terms a “A$500 billion blind spot” where buyers shoulder the risk of a 25-year financial commitment armed only with three comparables and a brochure.
With agents onboarding nationally and a full consumer launch slated for late August, the team anticipate that buyers’ agency will grow from 8 per cent to over 25 per cent of property transactions within five years.
Due Diligence: Startup Daily
MTPConnect invests $12.07M through its Targeted Translation Research Accelerator to support 14 Australian life-science SMEs and start-ups
MTPConnect has committed A$12.07 million through its Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) Drugs and Devices program to support 14 Australian life-science SMEs and start-ups developing novel therapies and medical devices for cardiovascular disease and both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The funding, drawn from the federal Medical Research Future Fund, was announced at the BIO International Convention in Boston and is matched by over $17 million in industry and partner contributions, creating a nearly $30 million investment pool.
Half of the funded companies are women-led, exceeding national averages for female leadership in STEM. Recipients will also receive mentoring and commercialisation support from MTPConnect and partner organisations CSL and Roche Diagnostics.
The investments are going into drug development and
TTRA Drugs Investments
Anaxis Pharma (VIC): $333,236 for targeting cell-death pathways in diabetic kidney disease.
Argenica Therapeutics (WA): $1,000,000 for an adaptive Phase 2b/3 trial of ARG-007 in acute ischaemic stroke startupdaily.net.
Aspecthera (TAS): $500 000 to develop eye-drop therapy for non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Atherid Therapeutics (WA): $750 000 to establish GMP production of a biologic for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Endo Axiom (NSW): $1.08 million for oral insulin delivery in type 1 diabetes.
Inosi Therapeutics (VIC): $968 193 to develop an IRAP inhibitor for diabetic kidney disease.
Nanomedx (NSW): $750 000 for inflammation-modulating treatments in peripheral arterial disease.
ProGenis Pharmaceuticals (WA): $369 706 for PGP-011 RNA therapeutics to enhance insulin sensitivity.
TTRA Devices Investments
CathRx (NSW): $1.1 million for the ElectroPulse pulsed field ablation system to treat atrial fibrillation.
ID&E (NSW): $1.2 million for an ocular drug delivery platform startupdaily.net.
Theia Medical (SA): $1 million for a hybrid 3D-printed intravascular imaging device to detect high-risk coronary lesions.
Venstra Medical (NSW): $1 million for the lowest-profile temporary heart pump for cardiogenic shock.
Wavewise Analytics (VIC): $996 995 for real-time, non-invasive blood flow monitoring (ARGUS) for stroke detection.
ZiP Diagnostics (VIC): $1.02 million to develop a rapid point-of-care test for preeclampsia prediction and diagnosis.
Due Diligence: MTPConnect Announcement, Startup Daily
💸 Wins💸
🥛 Got milk? A University of Queensland team led by Professor Esteban Marcellin has scaled precision fermentation of dairy proteins from lab bioreactors to industrial units in collaboration with Sydney-based start-up All G. (AuManufacturing)
The process mirrors beer brewing—using controlled oxygen uptake, pH levels and growth conditions—to produce animal-free dairy proteins instead of ethanol.
Senior Scientific Officer Dr Aidan Beauglehole customised the fermentation protocol to meet All G’s production requirements using FaBA’s research bioreactors.
All G CTO Dr Guillaume Barbier says the optimised bioprocess will fast-track the development of precision-fermented dairy products “good for people and the planet.”
The project was funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Education through the Trailblazer Universities Programme.
This marks a major step towards commercialising alternative dairy production in Australia.
❄️ Sydney-based quantum startups Diraq and Emergence Quantum have jointly developed an integrated silicon-based quantum dot and cryo-CMOS control system, significantly reducing the footprint of electronics needed to operate qubits. (Startup Daily)
Qubits must be kept near –273.15 °C to preserve coherence, but conventional CMOS control circuits generate heat when placed nearby and long cables are impractical at scale.
Emergence Quantum’s cryo-CMOS technology operates at cryogenic temperatures without compromising Diraq’s high-fidelity quantum dots.
The collaboration began as an academic partnership between the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney, and has since evolved into a commercial alliance.
Here’s a simple explainer… Imagine you have a super-powerful computer made of special “bits” called qubits, but these qubits only work when they’re almost as cold as outer space. Normally, the gadgets that control and read these qubits (tiny electronic circuits like those in your phone) run at room temperature and give off heat. If you put those warm gadgets next to the qubits, they stop working properly. To keep them cold, you’d have to run long cables from the cold qubits up to the warm electronics, and with millions of qubits, that quickly becomes impossible.
🏅 The 2025 FinTech Australia’s Finnies took place this week with WeMoney taking home three separate awards.
WeMoney, the debt payments platform, was crowned Fintech Organisation of the Year and also picked up Excellence in Wealth Management and Best Innovation in Open Banking.
Monoova, which handles payment processing, was awarded for Excellence in Industry Collaborations & Partnerships (with Carsales) and Excellence in Payments.
Primary, the treasury management platform was crowned Emerging Fintech Organisation of the Year.
Onto the people, Gaby Rosenberg of Blossom App won Emerging Fintech Leader of the Year, Caroline Tran from Hello Clever won Female Fintech Leader of the Year and Anna Hawter of Lumi won Outstanding Fintech Leader of the Year.
💰 New Fund, Who’s This? 💰
🌅 Eastend Ventures passes $10 million first close on its debut fund, making it South Australia's first unconditional ESVCLP – and tracking toward a $50 million target.
The new fund’s mandate will target up to 30 early-stage enterprise software startups from SA, WA & QLD; Australia’s mid-sized markets historically underserved by VC.
The Cheque size will be between $500k – $2 million, with follow-on capital available.
The fund provides LPs with access to a portfolio of high-growth potential companies outside the Sydney- and Melbourne-centric VC bubble.
The fund is led by Josh Garratt (Southern Angels: $12.5m into 36 startups) and Canadian/US operator-turned-VC JD Sheard (scaled and exited global oil & gas tech business; now based in Adelaide).
The fund is already active, having backed Heatseeker, JackApp, and Priori Analytica.
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📆 Notice Board 📆
🏆 Startup World Cup Australia pitch competitions in Melbourne (July 22) and Sydney (August 7).
Winners at each city secure a place at the Global Grand Finale in San Francisco, vying for a US$1 million investment.
The Melbourne event will take place on July 22, with the application deadline on July 1st
The Sydney event will take place on the 7th of August, 2025
Early-stage startups and scale-ups from any sector are welcome to pitch. Apply here.
👼 Keen to learn how to become an angel investor?
Applications are now open for Cohort 9 of Airtree’s free angel investing Explorer Program.
Join the program to receive world-class education in angel investing, connect with one of ANZ's best angel networks, and get an insider's view into Airtree's investment process. I completed the Explorer Program two years ago, and it significantly helped build my confidence in making angel investments.
Applications close on Sunday, 13 July 2025. The program begins in August and runs for eight weeks, featuring weekly online sessions and exclusive invitations to networking events for Explorers. Apply here.
🏔 Want a shot at your startup’s logo and flag to be planted at the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, have a heap of fun and raise money for a great cause? Come to our trivia night in Melbourne!
In partnership with Forever Projects, Overnight Success is hosting a trivia night on 10 July. Tickets include food and drinks, and all proceeds will go towards helping me raise $5,000 for Forever Projects, an amazing organisation that supports women in Tanzania to break the cycle of poverty.
Grab your ticket here!
The best place to find upcoming events to attend and promote any events you’re hosting is the ANZ Startup Events Calendar.
Would you like to promote an event or an opportunity? Enquire about a Notice Board promotion here.
🧠 KaaS (Knowledge as a Service)
Will’s Pick 💁♂ Why you need to start BEFORE you feel ready, by Below the Surface (Blog post)
Imagine you’ve got this huge project or idea you want to start. You’re probably overthinking every tiny detail about how you’ll hit roadblocks and problems.
This blog post is a remedy for that overthinking. Get moving, don’t wait: Jumping in will teach you what you really need to know, and you’ll build confidence as you go.
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👔 Connect with us on LinkedIn: Overnight Success, Will
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‘Til next time,
👋 Will