The demand evaporated within two days after brokers said the book was covered at $11 per share. Investors were wary of loose lock-ups that would have allowed more than half of the register to sell on day one, last-minute disclosures, including the end of its CDC partnership, and a valuation resting on capacity that isn't built yet. Beyond existing backers, local fund managers showed little interest.

For all its size, Firmus has little to do with Australian venture capital. Its $4.7 billion in equity has come from global investors Coatue, Nvidia, Blackstone and Jane Street, and local listed-equity managers including Ellerston, Regal, Wilson Asset Management, Paradice and Tectonic, which first bought in 2021 when Firmus was still a bitcoin miner. None of the big local VCs is on the register; the closest from my research is 1941, a small national security fund run by Ellerston and Joe Hockey's Bondi Partners.

It does flatter this year's funding figures, making up $3.7 billion of the $6.8 billion Pheme has tracked so far in 2026 (see KaaS). The more likely knock-on for startups is a colder ASX IPO window. Sharon AI, for one, was waiting for Firmus to debut before starting its own dual listing (see Aussie Raisins below for more details here, too).

About 40 per cent goes to Fund 6 for early-stage deals and 60 per cent to Opportunities Fund 3. The full history of its funds is in New Fund, Who Dis? below.

The compute comes through ResetData's Australian AI Growth Program, part of a program designed by Nvidia, which ResetData revealed at the AI inquiry on Wednesday. Heidi and Innovation Victoria are its foundational partners. The deal value and size of the stake haven't been disclosed, and Heidi says nothing is final yet. Heidi was valued at $1.26 billion (US$900 million) in its Series C last month.

The 18-member group, led by AusBiotech and including Science & Technology Australia, ATSE and Cicada Innovations, wants the planned age limit on the refundable R&D offset scrapped altogether. It argues that deep tech companies often take more than 15 years to start earning revenue and depend on the refund as working capital, so a cut-off risks pushing later-stage development and manufacturing offshore.

Chalmers has already extended the limit from 10 to 15 years for therapeutics developers. If a limit stays, the group wants at least 20 years for life sciences and deep tech, matched in the IBCC, and none for companies running clinical trials. It also opposes dropping 'supporting' R&D activities from the scheme, estimating that would cut some life science companies' refunds by up to 60 per cent. (InnovationAus)

Tech lobby groups and tax advisers say the 10-year limit is harsher than it looks, because the clock starts when the company or anyone connected to it first went into business, not at its first R&D claim. A startup can inherit the age of its founders' past ventures or its investors, and RSM's Peter Xi estimates 80 to 90 per cent of his startup clients would never get 10 years of refunds, calling it "a no-year rule for many businesses". FinTech Australia, which wants the limit scrapped, says it would deter experienced founders, VCs and corporate venture arms. (InnovationAus)

Anthropic's closed-door evidence drew criticism, creators pushed back on AI companies' calls for looser copyright rules, and local tech firms (with clear incentives) urged Canberra to buy sovereign AI rather than rely on US labs. Anthropic also warned AI could reduce demand for human work and backed support for displaced workers. Firmus withdrew from its scheduled appearance…

Separately, but still AI-relevant, Atlassian co-founder and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said he expects customers to become comfortable with Chinese open-weight models, which are often cheaper to run locally. Atlassian doesn't use them in customer environments yet, which he put down to customer preference rather than the technology.

Culture Amp’s Engage and Perform product teams are being merged, with chief product officer Chris Mander saying the changes support new agentic experiences and faster delivery. General counsel Sarah Davoren has also left, and former Asana chief people officer Anna Binder has stepped down from the board.

It's the fourth round of cuts in three years, after about 90 roles in 2023, 60 in November 2025 and about 70 in July.

The rover is being built by the Brisbane-based ELO₂ consortium, co-led by EPE Oceania and technical lead Lunar Outpost Oceania, alongside BHP, universities and deep tech startups, with about $42 million from the Australian Space Agency's Moon to Mars Initiative. Intuitive Machines, the American space exploration company, will deliver it to the Moon, where it will be operated from Australia and carry a NASA instrument to analyse lunar soil.

About 40 per cent goes to Fund 6 for early-stage investments and 60 per cent to Opportunities Fund 3, which backs larger companies inside and outside the portfolio. Square Peg hasn't disclosed the exact total or its LPs. It announced a $650 million first close in February and completed both final closes by July (Square Peg).

Square Peg says it has returned more than $1.4 billion to investors from exits in 19 companies since 2012, at a 41 per cent gross IRR, including sell-downs in Canva and Rokt and the sales of Bugcrowd, Deci.ai (to Nvidia) and PropertyGuru (to EQT). It backed Airwallex's Series A in 2017 and holds stakes in Stripe and Thinking Machines Lab.

Arkeus has secured an Australian Army order for its AI-powered Warden hyperspectral sensing systems, which will fly on the Army's Integrator drones. Warden processes sensor data onboard to detect, classify and track objects in real time. The value of the order wasn't disclosed, and it follows a $25 million Series A in May. (Defence Connect)

Perth's Chironix has won a $13.6 million (US$9.53 million) contract from the US Office of Naval Research for Project Guardian Daemon, which lets an autonomous vehicle monitor the shock, vibration and conditions affecting an injured passenger and adjust how it drives. It's the company's fourth consecutive ONR contract. (Defence Connect, Chironix)

Breaker has signed a teaming agreement with Rheinmetall to integrate its software into the Army's Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles, letting crews direct teams of drones and other autonomous systems by voice. In a demonstration, one crew member with under 30 minutes of training commanded a drone swarm through a standard headset while driving. Breaker raised a $9 million seed round led by Bessemer, with Main Sequence, in February. (Defence Connect, Rheinmetall, Forbes Australia)

Diraq builds quantum computers from modified silicon transistors, the same building blocks used in everyday computer chips, with each qubit storing information in the spin of a single electron.

Diraq joins the likes of IBM, IonQ and Atom Computing in Stage C, alongside Microsoft and PsiQuantum, which entered through an earlier pilot. The first tranche funds 12 months of technical demonstrations as DARPA's team tests whether Diraq's silicon-based machines can be built and run as designed.

Founder and CEO Andrew Dzurak says Diraq is scaling on an existing manufacturing base, as its silicon spin qubits are compatible with conventional semiconductor production.

Ticketing sites only list their own events, and streaming platforms only host recordings, so someone looking to find where to catch drum and bass live in Sydney this month has no comprehensive answer. Sub Connect builds its graph scene by scene from public listings, tracing every fact back to its source.

It already covers more than 2,000 nights, nearly 4,000 artists and more than 450 venues, starting in the Northern Rivers and on the Gold Coast. It's free for fans, with paid tools for promoters and artists from 7 November.

Leslie, a former HR executive at Westpac, Microsoft and BHP, bootstrapped Swipejobs until late 2020, then raised about $75 million in an unannounced round at a US$243 million valuation. Backers include Caledonia co-CIO Will Vicars (personally), Robert Whyte's Audant Investments, David Paradice and James Packer, with private equity firm Ironbridge also on the register. Leslie still owns almost 70 per cent, and Vicars says it hasn't raised equity in five years.

It now pitches itself as AI-native rather than labour hire, with the US and UK its main markets. It booked $1.39 billion in 2025, with about $178 million in net revenue and $71 million in EBITDA, and Barrenjoey, UBS, and Bank of America are working on the deal.

Sharon AI is valued at about $2.6 billion (US$1.8 billion), up 85 per cent in six months, and has expanded its AI factory capacity to 212 megawatts, with more than 68,000 Nvidia GPUs expected by mid-2027. Macquarie Capital, Canaccord and Barrenjoey are also advising.

The regulator said Grow's ability to compete was weakened by its financial position and uncertain viability, following last year's botched migration of HESTA's member systems, which left about 1.1 million members unable to access online services for nearly six weeks.

Grow was burning about $3 million a month and lost $34 million last financial year. Most shareholders, including AirTree, will get little from the deal, while Series E investors, including HESTA, which put in up to $20 million earlier this year, will get their money back and some profit.

Wood has been charged, not convicted, and his lawyer says the charges will be defended. 28 continues under COO Mark Watkin. Wood co-founded the business in 2016, and DBG Health-owned MyDNA bought it in 2022 for $71 million.

There's $15 million in this round. Applicants need an Australian-incorporated, for-profit company with technology at TRL 3 or above; university and research spinouts are eligible. Results are expected in mid-December. Apply here.

Categories include AI and Advanced Technologies, Defence and Dual-use Technology, HealthTech and Translation Hero. Early-bird entries cost $100 plus GST, and winners are announced at a gala dinner on 18 February. Enter here.

New research outfit Pheme, from Karen Chan (ex-Perennial) and James Guo (ex-eBay ANZ), has published its first quarterly funding report: $6.8 billion raised across the first three quarters, with Firmus alone accounting for $3.7 billion, or 55 per cent.

Strip Firmus out and funding is $3.1 billion across 164 companies, up 45 per cent, with the top five deals taking 68 per cent. AirTree did the most rounds (12), ahead of Main Sequence and the NRF (11 each).

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