Private valuations are now more rigorous, more structured and more closely scrutinised than they once were. Just in time for the market to put them to the test.
Venture capital
The dual acquisition, announced ahead of next week’s Canva Create in Los Angeles, brings together agentic AI and marketing automation as the design giant signals its most ambitious transformation yet.
A string of startup acquisitions is putting liquidity back on the table for VCs, even as questions linger about lost breakout potential.
When one Slack post at Canva can spark mass redundancy fears, it says more about the software sector’s anxiety than the company itself.
The Medical Research Future Fund can move money, but without matched capital and demand signals it will not build the companies Australia needs.
Canva’s acquisition of Doohly adds another piece to its push beyond design and into a broader AI-powered marketing stack.
The purchase of the digital out-of-home startup is the latest in a string of deals by Canva as it looks to own the entire marketing stack.
As performance becomes the catch cry of the AI era, data suggests companies pushing culture to a breaking point may be undermining the very transformation they are trying to achieve.
Adelaide’s homegrown tech conference delivered its usual mix of AI hype, unlikely guests and deliberate weirdness.
The story of how Koala became the accidental talent incubator behind Eucalyptus, one of Australia’s biggest venture exits.
Jessy Wu has caught the startup ecosystem’s attention before. This time, it’s with an 80,000-word novel featuring a longevity startup scandal — and a sex scene or two.
The longevity platform founded by former iflix CEO Mark Britt has closed its first VC round — backed, in large part, by its own members
When a VC firm with no Australian registration, no public profile and no obligation to explain itself keeps backing unicorns, it’s worth asking where the money comes from.
Marbruck Investments has quietly backed some of Australia’s most recognisable startups. But very few people know who is behind it, or where the money has come from.
SafetyCulture founder Luke Anear is returning as interim CEO after the AI revolution made running a platform rebuild from New York untenable.
The Eucalyptus sale is the biggest Australian startup exit in years. It’s also proof that the local ecosystem can build globally competitive companies, back them properly and actually get paid.
With roughly half of $40m locked in, Archangel is betting the pre-seed and seed gap is a tailwind for small VCs.
Blackbird and Airtree are counting extraordinary returns from the $1.6 billion Hims & Hers deal — and the sector is watching closely as paper gains finally start converting to cash.
Australia’s biggest VC firms won’t be able to co-invest with the government’s newly established defence tech investment fund. Their critics say that’s a problem.
Matt Allen spent six years financing those misunderstood by traditional banking. Now he’s using that playbook to do the same for artists.
The Hims & Hers acquisition of the telehealth startup will benefit VCs and advisers, but will also trigger the biggest staff payout in the Australian ecosystem to date.
Seek is selling its stake in Employment Hero, one of its best-performing investments. Turns out the lawsuit was just couples therapy.
Mitchell Hughes says universities are producing brilliant young founders — so he built a fund to find them first. Some of Australia’s top VCs and founders are now supporting it.
The Australian-led startup has been accused by a rival of inflating biomarker claims, doctoring a Reddit post, and fostering a culture where employees inject each other with experimental compounds “for fun”.
