Five Australian startups closed funding rounds last week, ranging from a nine-figure raise that created the country’s newest tech unicorn down to early pre-seed cheques for logistics and national security tech. Here’s who raised what, who backed them, and what each company actually does.
Future Secure AI raised $115.3 million
Sydney-born startup Future Secure AI raised US$80 million (A$115.3 million) via convertible notes, in a round valuing the business at $1.7 billion and making it Australia’s newest tech unicorn, according to the Australian Financial Review. Square Peg, Yarra Capital Management and Firetrail led the round, alongside Macquarie Asset Management. It’s the company’s third funding round since it was founded three years ago, following a previous raise in June 2025.
Future Secure AI builds AI “co-workers” for large organisations, assembling teams of AI agents, each given a name and face, to handle complex tasks across investment banking, consulting, healthcare and law, overseen by a human supervisor. The company is reportedly targeting annual recurring revenue approaching $100 million by the end of 2026, and now operates out of Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Chicago, Austin, Toronto and São Paulo.
i14 raised $9 million
Melbourne AI infrastructure company i14 raised $9 million in a seed round from Salus Ventures, IP Group, Tin Alley Ventures, Hostplus, Archangel Ventures and Virescent Ventures, according to the Australian Financial Review.
i14 is developing technology that helps enterprises train large AI models while cutting compute energy use, an efficiency play aimed at reducing the escalating hardware and power costs that come with training frontier-scale models. The round lands amid a global chip and memory shortage, with i14 targeting neoclouds, hyperscalers and other heavy AI users looking to cut their compute bills.
Copy Geek raised $2 million
Sydney startup Copy Geek raised a $2 million pre-seed round for its non-custodial crypto trading platform, which lets professional traders automatically copy trades across partner exchanges. The round came from a group of angel investors, led by Dr David Issa and Thomas Boga. The funding will go toward product development, engineering, and signing further exchange partnerships.
Forward Deployed raised $1 million
Melbourne-based Forward Deployed raised $1 million from Innovation Victoria and Swinburne University of Technology to take its portable chemical threat detection platform into production. The company builds field-ready sensors designed to let defence and security teams identify hazards within seconds.
Indrus raised $750,000
Perth startup Indrus raised a $750,000 pre-seed round led by Purpose Ventures, with Melt Ventures and Curtin University also participating. Founders Ryan Liebregts and Dre Siwela met in a robotics class while studying mechatronics engineering at Curtin University. Indrus uses a site’s existing security cameras to automate yard and dock orchestration, helping logistics operators track trucks, trailers and equipment and cut truck turnaround times without installing new hardware. The funding will go toward expanding the team and deploying the technology in more logistics yards.
Clutch Industries won $6.77 million
Clutch Industries, a 75-year-old Victorian auto parts maker, won $6.77 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) toward a $19.35 million pilot production line for PowerNet, a 20kg, 4kWh solid-state battery pack designed to stack into a home battery system or detach for use while camping. The grant is aimed at helping an established manufacturer pivot into next-generation battery production rather than funding a brand-new startup, a slightly different story than the rest of the roundup (a legacy manufacturer retooling, rather than an early-stage company raising venture capital), but it fits the same week and the same “who got funded” format if you want to swap it in or add it as a sixth.