Startup Funding Pulse – June 2026

The market read

Two forces are shaping the Australian funding picture this month:

• Capital is still flowing into Australian deep-tech and AI-native startups – quantum, defence-grade hardware, climate/waste robotics and AI-first SaaS all closed rounds, mostly at seed and pre-seed, and largely from local funds (Antler, Serendipity, Eastend, Archangel, Aussie Angels) plus trans-Tasman crossover (Wavemaker, OIF, Icehouse).
• Policy is the headline risk. The government’s CGT changes passed the lower house with only narrow startup carve-outs still being negotiated. That uncertainty is fuelling a visible “founder exodus” narrative and angel investors are warning the earliest-stage end of the market is being squeezed.

Globally, private-equity software deal value has roughly halved year-on-year as buyers wait to see what businesses are worth “post-AI” – a useful backdrop for thinking about later-stage valuations and exit timing.

Who’s raising (Australia/NZ)

• QuantX Labs (Adelaide) – optical atomic clocks for defence, space and critical infrastructure. US$5M (~A$7M) Seed led by Serendipity Capital (~15% stake). First outside capital after years bootstrapping; customers already include SpaceX and the Department of Defence.
• DataMasque (Auckland) – sensitive-data masking so regulated enterprises can safely use their data for AI. US$4M (~A$6.2M) led by Wavemaker Partners, with OIF Ventures and Icehouse Ventures following on. ARR up 6x since its 2023 seed.
• Oscorp Energy (Sydney) – AI vision and robotics that pull lithium-ion batteries out of waste streams before they cause fires. A$1.3M pre-seed led by Antler.
• Nitrosend (Adelaide) – AI-native email marketing platform (the founders’ second act after SmartrMail). A$700K Seed led by Eastend Ventures Fund 1, with Archangel Ventures and Aussie Angels.
• Nardo (Sydney) – platform for grassroots club apparel and kit. A$1M pre-seed, with ex-Socceroo Tim Cahill among the backers and signed on as a strategic partner.
• Megaport (ASX: MP1) – network-as-a-service. Raised $518M via an $827M entitlement offer to fund an AI/Nvidia infrastructure push; Citi lifted its price target 41%.
• Diraq (UNSW quantum spin-out) – silicon quantum computing. Secured a US$38M letter of intent from the US CHIPS R&D Office (for a minority stake) and appointed ex-Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor as chair; in the running for a further US$300M via DARPA’s benchmarking program. Flagged a future raise to fund US expansion.

Trans-Tasman but global in scale: Supabase (NZ-born CEO Paul Copplestone) raised a US$500M Series F at a US$10.5B valuation, led by GIC, with Accel, Y Combinator, Craft, Felicis, Coatue and Stripe participating.

Grants and government funding

• Amber Electric – $13.6M ARENA grant to scale Australia’s largest residential vehicle-to-grid trial from 50 to 1,000 homes (total government backing now $16.8M); BYD and StarCharge on board.
• ANDHealth+ – up to $9M awarded across five digital-health companies (Australis Scientific, Corcillum, Earflo, Kraken Coding, More Good Days) from a record applicant pool.
• NSW Government – $4M Diversity Pre-Accelerator (run by the University of Newcastle’s I2N) to support up to 188 female founders over two years.
• South Australia – the Malinauskas government is tipping $50M into a new R&D accelerator fund (while shelving the proposed “Startup Year” loan scheme).
• Airtree Frontier – a new Sydney residency offering a $250K uncapped SAFE to very early-stage founders.

M&A and exits

• Fishburners (one of Australia’s oldest founder communities) was bought out of administration by ASX-listed Scalare Partners (ASX: SCP); brand, programs and community assets preserved.
• Perx Health split in two – the US arm sold to Clutch, the Australian business merged into Navigator Group.
• Airwallex acquired Leapfin to automate financial reporting.
• Aether (NZ AI presentations) acquired by Ideally.
• Allianz bought Nib’s ANZ travel insurance business for up to $50M; Perpetual took 70% of Interfi Systems.

On the other side of the ledger, property buyer’s platform Dashdot collapsed into voluntary liquidation (40+ redundancies), with its founder pointing to the cost-of-living squeeze and proposed negative gearing/CGT changes that cut clients’ borrowing power 20-33%.

Insights – what it means for the AU market

1. The CGT overhang is now a capital-formation story, not just a tax debate. The budget lifted ESVCLP/VCLP thresholds (good for funds) but left the ESIC angel incentive untouched since 2017. Aussie Angels’ Cheryl Mack says that, stacked on the wind-back of the 50% CGT discount, it leaves angels worse off (“I may as well just put my money into an ETF”). Expect sustained pressure for an ESIC fix – directly relevant to our advocacy work and our Horizon investors.
2. The “founder exodus” has receipts. Three Australian companies made the latest Y Combinator batch (including Brisbane’s Alloovium and NSW’s GutGutGoose), and New Zealand is openly marketing zero CGT and easier company setup to Australian founders. Scott Farquhar’s talent-and-capital retention argument is the one to amplify.
3. A workable definition of “startup” is emerging. Blackbird has floated a legal test (under 15 years old plus at least one of active ESS, a successful RDTI claim, ESVCLP/VCLP investment, or ESIC eligibility) to make any carve-out actually administrable – a useful anchor for the policy conversation.
4. Deep-tech is Australia’s bright spot. Quantum (Diraq, QuantX) and climate/industrial AI (Oscorp, Amber) are pulling in both grants and private capital – a sector story worth leaning into for members.
5. Software is being repriced globally. PE software deal value fell to about US$50B in the first five months of 2026 (from US$88B a year earlier), with software multiples down roughly 8% on AI uncertainty – a watch-item for later-stage rounds and exit timing.

Sources: Overnight Success (Aussie Startup & VC Summary, 6 June 2026), Capital Brief Standup, Letter of Intent, PitchBook (via FT), AFR, Startup Daily, InnovationAus, The Australian.

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