Australia's innovation scene moves fast – from corporate ventures to startup breakthroughs, there's always something happening.The CDH Innovation Download keeps you across news from both sides of the fence, so you never miss what matters in Australian innovation.
This is the Innovation Download, a monthly update on what's happening in Australia's startup and innovation ecosystem.
This issue is about capital. Who has it, where it's going, and what happens when it gets cheaper to build but harder to exit. We dig into the Cut Through Venture and Carta reports on Australian startup funding, look at why the country that produces more unicorns per VC dollar than anywhere else still can't take its best companies public. Plus Marc Andreessen on the cost of not backing something versus the cost of backing something that fails.
The rundown: Australia's startups raised $5.4 billion across 390 deals in 2025, a 31% jump and the third-largest funding year on record. But the headline simplifies the picture. Deal count dropped 20%, the top 20 deals captured 58% of all capital, and two companies alone account for a disproportionate share of the total. What the report describes is a two-speed ecosystem: AI-native companies with strong metrics moved
