ANAO’s first audit finds the NRF, which was set up in September 2023 to deploy $15 billion in loans, equity and guarantees across seven priority sectors, still lacks a formal investment strategy or stakeholder engagement framework nearly two years on.

Since launching, the fund has invested $434.5 million across nine companies, including Harrison.ai, Vault Cloud and Quantum Brilliance.

Originally modelled on an 85% loans / 15% equity-and-guarantees split, actual investments have been 55% debt and 45% equity, with no board-endorsed metrics to guide or constrain deviations.

Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that two early investments showed no standalone financial due diligence, late-arriving external advice and was missing conflict-of-interest or confidentiality declarations for advisers.

ANAO urges finalising the investment and financial strategies, formalising engagement frameworks and tightening risk, due diligence and conflict-disclosure processes. NRFC says most actions are already underway.

16-storey office tower fully financed, delivered and owned by the South Australian government, with construction starting in 2026 for move-in by late 2028.

77 per cent of the 17,000 m² floor space already committed, including anchor tenants BAE Systems Australia, the $60 million Australian Defence Technologies Academy, $20 million Innovation Hub and $20 million Space Assembly Integration and Testing facility.

The new tower will join neighbours such as the Australian Space Agency, Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (A3C), Australian Institute for Machine Learning and MIT’s Big Data Living Lab, alongside startups and global tech firms like Amazon.

In December 2024 the NSW Government confirmed the Sydney Startup Hub at 11 York Street would be shifted out of the CBD to the Tech Central precinct by October 2025, breaking its existing lease three years early to cluster startups closer to researchers and larger companies (Innovation Aus)

As covered last week, the move forms part of a broader $79.2 million package for the startup sector from the NSW government, including $38.5 million to “turbocharge” Tech Central, of which $5 million is earmarked specifically for the Hub’s relocation, or the closing of the Startup Hub. (Startup Daily)

Although originally slated for “next October”, tenants were later told their final day at the York Street site is 31 August 2025, with relocation into Stone & Chalk’s Scaleup Hub near Central Station expected from September 2025, a move that has annoyed quite a few founders who call the Startup Hub as they need to move out faster than expected. 

The decision has drawn sharp criticism from the NSW Liberal Opposition, who accused the government of abandoning early-stage founders and questioned its commitment to the ecosystem. (Smart Company)

On the positive side, anchor tenant Stone & Chalk welcomed the relocation, describing it as a “new chapter” that positions Tech Central as a world-class innovation district and leverages successful global precinct models. 

Atmo Biosciences’ ingestible gas-measuring capsule, born at RMIT and licensed in 2018, secures FDA 510(k) clearance and will go on sale in July 2025. Safety and efficacy were demonstrated in a clinical study of over 200 participants across 12 sites in the US and Australia.

How does it work? The pill-sized device is swallowed and enters your gut, measuring gastrointestinal gases as it moves through, and wirelessly transmits data for quick analysis.

In April this year, RMIT transferred all patents and related IP to Atmo in exchange for an equity stake, accelerating commercial rollout.

Co-hosts Alec Renehan and Bryce Leske insist they’re in it “for the long haul”. 

Apparently, Editorial independence is guaranteed. Despite Betashares’ passive-investing pedigree and over A$50 billion in funds under management, the firm won’t dictate Equity Mates' active stock-pick content. And thank god, it would be pretty dull if Alec and Bryce just spoke about diverse ETF strategies.

Equity Mates raised a $1.2 million seed round in 2021 from Magellan Financial Group, Zip Co-founder Larry Diamond and Stake founder Matt Leibowitz.

The deal follows last year’s $1.4 billion Bendigo Super acquisition and the launch of Betashares Direct, its zero-brokerage ASX share platform.

Northern Rivers-based Owls Eat Rats, founded by Alastair Duncan, installs nesting boxes, hunting roosts and ecological monitoring to bolster barn owl populations as a natural, long-term rodent control solution on farms. Duncan says the funding will help “create owl-friendly habitats” and reduce reliance on chemical rodenticides by partnering with more farmers.

Hatch, now in its fifth year, has deployed $488,000 in funding and matched 29 teams with over 100 mentors tackling problems from packaging waste to land restoration.

Other participants in the program included:

In Tom's bullish op-ed on Australia’s being a leader in AI he arguest that we’ve already established homegrown foundational models like Phoenix (Leonardo AI), rad.1 (Harrison AI) and Marqtune (Marqo) demonstrate local prowess.

On the talent side of things, Australia is overweight AI talent. Apparently, Australia makes up 0.6% of the region’s population. Australia accounted for 9% of Asia-Pacific’s working AI experts in 2022, with AI jobs up 500% year-on-year and 62% of Q1 2025 startup funding going to AI ventures.

Looking at immigration, Australia is ranked ninth globally for AI expert inflows, Australia retains 59% of its AI PhD graduates, 88% of whom are international students, creating a talent pipeline.

Cameron’s bearish op-ed claps back at Tom’s. He argues that we’re participants, not leaders: Branding Australia as an AI frontrunner risks complacency, and global peers outpace us in scale, speed and ambition. “Punching above our weight” is no excuse: Our small size should drive fiercer competition, not comfort under relative success.

He also makes the point that private capital can’t do it alone: Exceptional VCs fuel startups, but sovereign compute, R&D infrastructure and industrial capacity require public investment.

Cameron also argues that while we generate 1.88% of AI research, we only create 0.18% of patents. This suggests we’re good at capturing talent value, not enterprise value.

On the capital side of things, he says we’re a small fry. Leading AI firms raise billion-dollar rounds; Australia’s entire ecosystem barely cracks $1 billion in a quarter.

The new facility will enable Kashcade to double its active loan book by Christmas, financing over 250 new companies.

Kashcade offers non-dilutive loans (no warrants, equity or restrictive covenants) against anticipated R&D Tax Incentive refunds, with approvals in as little as 24 hours.

Founded in 2023 by Alex Simmons (former CBA lending strategist) and Patrick Nappa (ex-Apple software engineer).

The current active loan book stands at $25 million across 100 customers, with $50 million deployed over the past 12 months.

Join the Airtree Explorer 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.  

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. 

The super cohort will culminate in October with the ScaleUP Showcase, an all-day innovation expo. Startups will exhibit their solutions and semi-finalists will pitch to a high-profile audience of investors, ecosystem leaders and partners.

Applications are open until midnight 7 July for founders with at least one team member affiliated to UQ (student, staff or alumni).

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! We’ve also reduced prices!

For the first time, Amazon will employ more robots than humans in its warehouses, with over 1 million machines in operation.

Facilities using these robots process goods up to 25% faster, contributing to a dramatic rise in packages shipped per employee (3,870 now vs. 175 a decade ago).

On a more positive note, Amazon has trained over 700,000 workers for new, better-paid roles that involve interacting with robotics; some former pickers now earn 2.5 times their starting wage by overseeing these systems.

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